Business Results and Performance Management

Depending on its size, an organization today may have at least one, or in many cases several, transformation projects underway. With the pace of change rapidly increasing, it is more important than ever to ensure that your organization is getting the most out of its projects. It is troubling to hear that, according to some statistics, up to 70% of projects fail to meet their intended business objectives. Measuring the performance of your projects – both from the traditional project metrics, and from the more important business impact and results perspective – is essential for you to confirm that your projects are helping to deliver on your desired strategic and operational performance goals.

How We Can Help

If you are unsure of what is the best way to measure project and individual performance in relation to targeted business results, we can help. Our trusted consultants, project managers, and human resource professionals have many years of experience ensuring that projects and project teams are on their way to delivering their promised business value. We will come alongside you and your tools to develop custom metrics, methods, and incentives specifically designed to help your project achieve maximum business results – which of course, at the end of the day, is what a transformation is all about.

Specifically, some objectives we can specifically help with include:

  • Providing clear targeted outcomes for the project against which progress can be measured and that define “success” for the transformation
  • Obtaining a regular indication of the overall “health” of the project and its likelihood of achieving the intended project objectives and business results, within the budgeted time frame and budget, so that any needed corrective actions can be taken
  • Implementing specific project/transformation methods and strategies to identify and complete any required modifications
  • Providing information on cumulative financial and non-financial costs of the project so that the ROI can be assessed to a reasonable degree of accuracy

Key Considerations

Questions to Ask

  • Do we have standard project evaluation processes in place to get the most out of our initiatives?
  • Do we only measure project performance during the project, or do we continue to measure its results after implementation?
  • Do we record our project results and short-comings to improve future project results?
  • What do we consider project success? I
  • s project success measured by cost and time only or the deliverance of high-value to our organization?

Thoughts to Consider

  • The two main enablers of business are IT and HR; and transformation projects will often focus on and/or need to address one, or both, of those enablers. Each scenario will have different mixtures of “art and science”
  • It is important to have a clear understanding of what is considered a successful project. More often than not, organizations and project managers focus on narrow metrics such as timelines and budgets, and ignore the business objectives and results anticipated for the project. While timelines and budgets are important and should not be overlooked, they are meaningless if a completed project does not deliver on the business outcomes it was intended to achieve.
  • As project characteristics change, conventional recruitment and performance evaluation methods become outdated and need to be reviewed accordingly.
  • Project performance management does not end once the project has been completed; post-project review is crucial for improvement and to understand if the benefits of the delivered project are resilient and sustainable.

There are many benefits to having a solid understanding of your project’s business results and performance management including:

  • An increased likelihood of project success
  • Improved positive project impact on business results
  • A clear indication of the health of a specific project
  • Better employee uptake and less resistance
  • Project stability and maintained level of stakeholder
  • Increased performance on subsequent projects