Out of all the high-performing companies, more than 85% agree that proper training for project management for their teams has played a big role in their success. While this may be the case, many projects are focused on creating and completing those set tasks and meeting deadlines. As a result, there is no additional value generated from these projects. Over time, organizations need to think outside of finishing their assigned projects and working towards meeting their business goals. This is where strategic project management comes in.
Introduction to Strategic Project Management
Strategic project management involves organizations working together to align the goals of the project to the goals of the business. The strategic goals and the project goals need to be linked with every project a company takes on. This may seem simple enough, but most project managers and business leaders do not realize that all projects they undertake are about more than just completing them successfully and on time. Projects should help organizations advance their own business goals as well, and strategic management helps with that.
Checklist to Develop a Strategic Project Management Plan
How can organizations make sure that all the projects they are taking on are a part of their overall business strategy and goals? Creating a checklist that will help them develop a strategic project management plan that can be implemented across their projects, that can help achieve this goal.
A strategic project management plan has three main components:
- A strategic analysis of the ongoing projects to help organizations see how aligned they are to meeting their company’s overall business strategies and goals.
- Companies need to choose their upcoming projects strategically as well. They should carefully analyze and select the ones that help them meet their business goals.
- The final component is implementing the strategic project management plan where teams work collaboratively to achieve project and business goals.
Strategic project management can enable an organization’s growth while maintaining its projects. It creates a path where the organization can grow simultaneously. Some of the factors used by project managers and business leaders to check and see if the project aligns with the business goals of an organization are:
- Measuring the growth in finances
- Getting regular positive customer feedback
- Constant learning from each project and implementing it in the next strategic project management strategy
- Measuring the metrics of internal business processes
The basic steps involved in developing strategic project management for organizations are listed below:
- Understanding the business objectives of the organization
- Accurate assessment of all resources
- Prioritization
- Creating the strategic plan
- Implementing the plan in projects
Understanding the Business Objectives of the Organization
Before creating a strategic project management plan, the first step should be to understand the organization’s goals. Once project managers have a clear idea of the goals and objectives they are trying to meet on a large, enterprise-wide scale, they can create a plan to help them meet the same.
Accurate Assessment of all Resources
Project managers need to create accurate reports of all the resources they have available to them. In addition, they need to get a clear assessment of their team members to manage their capacity. No employee should feel overworked, and no resources should go underutilized. Accurate assessments of resources and capacities can help eliminate this issue.
Prioritization
There are many organizational goals that all companies hope to achieve. However, including every one of them in their projects is not a feasible option. It will create confusion and disrupt the already existing processes. This is why project managers and business leaders need to work together to create a prioritized view of their overall business objectives. This way, companies can focus on achieving the most impactful and important goals first.
Creating the Strategic Plan
This is the actual planning phase of the strategic project management plan. Once project managers have all the information about the organizational goals and resources in the company, they can work towards creating a plan that will align both their project goals and the business goals.
Implementing and Improving the Plan in Projects
Both projects and organizations evolve over time. Some objectives that were considered to be a priority in a company a year ago may not hold that much value today. The organization might have already met some goals. Using the same strategic project management plan in these scenarios does not add any value to the organization. This is why the plan needs to evolve as well. Continuous feedback and improvement of the strategies in place will result in gaining the most from them.
Benefits of Strategic Project Management Approach
More than 65% of companies that use project management software claim to have maintained their original budget for the project up until the end. A project management plan based on a strategic level for the organization will add to the benefits reaped from the project management software. Some of the main benefits of using a strategic project management approach for companies are:
- The success rates of the projects completed are higher when they are aligned to meet the company’s strategic goals. A recent study showed that the projects aligned to the organization’s overall business goals had a 57% higher chance of profiting from their project.
- Organizations select the projects they take on more carefully when they use a strategic approach to project management. This reduces the chances of project failures and also project waste.
- A strategic approach to project management creates a new outlook for teams as well. Instead of focusing on completing the list of deliverables and finishing the project, they can focus on using their project to improve the company’s position. This change in approach can act as a motivating factor for teams because they are working towards the ‘bigger picture.
- Once all business goals and project goals are aligned, project managers and their teams will see how their efforts are being realized on an enterprise-wide scale.
- Projects completed with a strategic plan to meet organizational goals help generate more value for the end-users, team members, and the organization as a whole.
Final Thoughts
Strategic project management is key to unlocking organizational success, and a professional training course like PMP Certification in Bangalore takes you a step further.
Certified project managers and trained working professionals are qualified and have the expertise to create strategic plans for their project management. They work alongside business leaders and help organizations grow with each project they complete.
