Skills acquisition as panacea for optimal productivity

Management experts have enjoined corporate bodies who seek to set up a Project Management Office (PMO) to posses organisational intelligence, deep relationship management competencies and top management support if they must succeed.

According to the experts, the effectiveness of PMO must not be assumed, but Project Managers must be ready to provide data and deliver value for efficiency and effectiveness.

Speaking at the 64th information value chain breakfast forum organised by Digital Jewels Limited, Director, Consulting and System Integration Programmes, Ericsson, Tosin Agbetusin, dismissed the widely held perception that Project Management was a commodity that could be bought off-the-shelf, without a premium on the place of a competent Project Manager.

Agbetusin said: “Not having a Project Manager leads to many projects not being completed. Project managers improve both the time of delivery and the quality.”

“The key thing for PMO is relationship management skills, there must be someone to look for issues that may arise to tackle them efficiently. When dealing with specific projects, you will require professionals in such fields.”

Pioneer Director, Enterprise Project Management Office, Insight Communications, AdeoyeAbodunrin highlighted the challenges faced in setting up a PMO. According to him, “you don’t start a PMO because you think you think you have become big. There are financial audit challenges. You should check your financial skills before setting up a PMO”, he said.

He went further to say PMO required adequate funding and the full support of senior executive management.

His words: “There must be a culture change. People must see the need for PMO. There must be a continuous engagement and continuous education of all stakeholders in the organisations concerning the PMO. Resistance to PMO will always be there because people usually don’t want to change their approach.”

Abodunrin emphasised on thekey points of value management as non-negotiable in setting up a PMO.
In having a common definition of value, he said: “Value must be clearly identified; value must be created and must be seen to be created. Furthermore, value must be calibrated and integrated across the functions of performance and most importantly, value must be remunerated.”

However, Abodunrin noted that PMO should not be a financial burden to an organisation, explaining that only corporate bodies with multiple projects required it.  “There is nothing wrong in shutting down a PMO if it’s not justifiable to an organisation,” he added.

Head, Information Technology Project Management Office, Central Bank of Nigeria, Yusuf Yila was of the opinion that unclear thinking would kill a PMO before it was even created within an organisation.

Yila said, “Language can kill the PMO, when you handle a project in a place you do not understand the language. Another peg back is wrong installation; every PMO will perform at installed capacity.” He advised that there should be a central coordination for a PMO to perform maximally, urging that a PMO mind-set and culture was required in governance.

Digital Jewels’ IVC forum is a quarterly platform where thought leaders assemble to exchange information, network and share knowledge. Participants at the forum expressed delight at the quality of the platform and admitted that the knowledge gained would assist them to position their organisations better.