Building Executive Engagement: Lessons from four wise guides

Whilst the principles in the below image are inter-linked and mutually supporting, Principle 1 Executive Engagement is of particular importance. As a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit says, executive engagement in, and active championing of, portfolio management is especially important in:

• Providing the necessary resources on which effective portfolio management depends;
• Supporting the required cultural change by encouraging stakeholders to collaborate in pursuit of shared goals rather than silo-based interests; and
• Promoting effective communication and cooperation between those who formulate the strategy and those involved in executing it.

But how do we effectively engage our executives?  Well, three key strategies are crucial.

A few years ago I was speaking at a conference in London. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez (former global chair of PMI) was presenting a session that explored why senior managers aren’t actively engaged in project and portfolio delivery. The response of the audience was essentially, “senior managers just don’t get it”.  But I was left asking myself – “if your project can’t demonstrate the contribution it will make to the organization’s strategic objectives why would senior managers be interested?” 

How then do we demonstrate strategic contribution? Well as the PMI[1] says, “Project benefits can be considered synonymous with positive strategic impacts”.  So strategy number 1 is to develop a portfolio benefits categorization framework that provides a clear line of sight from portfolio objectives to benefits to initiatives. Then there’s a reason for your executives to be interested in your change initiatives.

Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Participation, when well-managed, leads to engagement and in turn to commitment. So involve executives in the management of the portfolio, and particularly in:

• Decision-conferencing/portfolio prioritization exercises, where executives openly debate and challenge the respective merits of the initiatives under review. In this way, the portfolio governance body comes to a collective decision on the composition of the portfolio;
• Regular monitoring of portfolio progress; and
• Stage/phase gates and portfolio reviews, where difficult decisions to stop initiatives will sometimes be required.

Laura Barnard says, we shouldn’t sell the value of the PfMO to the executive team; we should show them the value, and she advises the use of an ‘impact delivery roadmap’.  Similarly, in Managing Portfolios, Craig Kilford emphasises the importance of a agreeing a ‘value experience plan’ with the portfolio committee to highlight the specific improvements they will see, and when.

As Craig says, “Investing effort in this way, and from the very start, is fundamental to solidifying the portfolio foundations that will facilitate future collaborative attitudes and behaviours by addressing the ‘What’s in it for us’ question.”

In the next two Managing Portfolios Insights we will be examining the advice of Ella Fitzgerald – ‘Tain't What You Do (It's The Way That Cha Do It)’.

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