Outsourcing and Trust

Recently, Peter Tarhanidis, published a blog on outsourcing. The blog was on projectmanagement.com in Voices on Project Management. The blog was right on target for having a successful outsourcing program. However, there was a major aspect of outsourcing that was  not addressed. Outsourcing can degrade trust within the organization that is being outsourced.

People are the foundation of an organization/company. When a part of the company or an entire organization is outsourced there are employees involved. The employees may initially hear about the outsourcing via informal means such as the company's grapevine. Once the grapevine is acknowledged by the company, the employees are worried.

Worse yet, some companies have been known to notify affected employees to report to a conference room and they are presented a package. This is the first notification of being outsourced. You ask what is the package. It advises the employee they have 48 hours to make a decision to go to the outsourcer or to resign. Sometimes the salary is dictated with a radical decrease in pay and benefits that have eroded. Panic and anger ensue

What would employees think about the company they are being outsourced to? Can you imagine what the employees are thinking? This was unethical! What could the leadership of these two companies be thinking? They decided to outsource our work and us and still expect us to go to the same job everyday at a reduced salary and benefits!

How are the employees that were not outsourced feeling? There is mistrust on their part as well. They are thinking that they could be next. Trust is again eroded. The remaining employees are also quite uncomfortable. Why? They are now working with the outsourced employee who is doing the same work for reduced pay.

Once the outsourcing takes place, those employees that elect to stay with the outsourcing company now are disillusioned, have no trust in leadership, believe there is a lack of ethics within the company and probably are looking for a new opportunity, or maybe even decide to quit. They most likely are embarrassed and ashamed because they now have to do the work in front of employees who have stayed with the company that outsourced them.

Outsourcing may help the bottom line but is it important enough to erode trust, ethics, and maybe even the quality of work? I will always say no, it is not worth the value that a good employee provides a company. Can you imagine running a project with employees that have no trust? I can't.

Will IOT Disrupt the Mobile Industry?

 

The Internet of Things (IoT) will change the cell phone landscape.

 

For many years, the smartphone has been our link to apps. We could lock our cars, play games, spy on our pets—the list is almost exhaustive.

But, I am constantly brought back to a question of whether or not smartphones will always be necessary—or will they become obsolete as more IoT devices are created that combine the hardware, software and user interface into one place.

Is this pie in the sky? Based on how our technology is rapidly progressing (which I started discussing in my last post), I don’t think so.

As Maurice McGinley, design director for Amsterdam-based AVG Innovation Labs said, “Instead of having one universal device—your smartphone—controlling your environment, you would have simple controls placed where you need them, available when you need them.”

While I have no insight into the strategic direction of the companies developing smart devices, I would contend this is the direction they will be going.

And this is great for the project management discipline.

Smartphone manufacturers and network providers (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) will need to change or broaden focus, and that means investing in new projects and programs. And the portfolio manager will need to ensure the projects and programs are on the roadmap to deliver the right value for the enterprise.

Smart device manufacturers will need to figure out how to provide a friendly user interface similar to the mobile experience.

The project management discipline would be used in a similar way as the cell phone industry. The portfolio manager should scan the enterprise for projects and programs that meet the need. If there are none or not enough to help drive the strategy, the portfolio manager needs to work with the portfolio sponsor to determine the issues. The project and program managers would deliver the capabilities needed.

So, where will you be when the industry is stood on its head? How will you help to focus the IoT to deliver the right technology for consumers and companies?

Project practitioners that truly understand their industry and where it is going can be drivers of that change.

Originally posted on PMI's projectmanagement.com

Will IOT Disrupt the Mobile Industry?

 

The Internet of Things (IoT) will change the cell phone landscape.

 

For many years, the smartphone has been our link to apps. We could lock our cars, play games, spy on our pets—the list is almost exhaustive.

But, I am constantly brought back to a question of whether or not smartphones will always be necessary—or will they become obsolete as more IoT devices are created that combine the hardware, software and user interface into one place.

Is this pie in the sky? Based on how our technology is rapidly progressing (which I started discussing in my last post), I don’t think so.

As Maurice McGinley, design director for Amsterdam-based AVG Innovation Labs said, “Instead of having one universal device—your smartphone—controlling your environment, you would have simple controls placed where you need them, available when you need them.”

While I have no insight into the strategic direction of the companies developing smart devices, I would contend this is the direction they will be going.

And this is great for the project management discipline.

Smartphone manufacturers and network providers (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) will need to change or broaden focus, and that means investing in new projects and programs. And the portfolio manager will need to ensure the projects and programs are on the roadmap to deliver the right value for the enterprise.

Smart device manufacturers will need to figure out how to provide a friendly user interface similar to the mobile experience.

The project management discipline would be used in a similar way as the cell phone industry. The portfolio manager should scan the enterprise for projects and programs that meet the need. If there are none or not enough to help drive the strategy, the portfolio manager needs to work with the portfolio sponsor to determine the issues. The project and program managers would deliver the capabilities needed.

So, where will you be when the industry is stood on its head? How will you help to focus the IoT to deliver the right technology for consumers and companies?

Project practitioners that truly understand their industry and where it is going can be drivers of that change.

Originally posted on PMI's projectmanagement.com

Sponge vs. Trampoline

Recently Mark Langley, the CEO for the Project Management Institute, posted a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article on LinkedIn. The article was about listening. As kids and even many educators and academics tell us that active listening is about being silent while the person talks, giving visual and oral clues that acknowledges we are listening. And finally, paraphrasing what the person heard.

However, the HBR article equates this to being a sponge and really is not active listening and it does not help either party. What is suggested in the article is to be a trampoline vs. a sponge. The trampoline listener asks questions periodically that may include challenges to old concepts, provides a positive experience which includes suggestions (and criticisms), and are not defensive by any party.

Portfolio management is about being a trampoline. As a portfolio manager, your discussions with leadership should be about listening but actively asking questions about what you are hearing, challenging old styles of portfolio thinking and making suggestion. Will the leadership be open to this type of listening. Maybe not, but you don't know until you try.

Also, leadership will slowly come around to this style of active listening. Remember you must couple your trampoline listening with results. There is another part of the portfolio family that also needs trampoline listening, the project and program managers. The project and program managers provide updates to the portfolio manager. Your active listening will help to create and update a more realistic roadmap. You, the portfolio manager, need to understand how to provide the best value to the portfolio and this is done with benefit realization. To do this, the portfolio manager needs to have a keen understanding of the health and the resources for each project and program. This can only be done with trampoline listening.

So, will you continue to be a sponge or will you jump towards being a trampoline?

Incorporating Millennials

 

Millennials get a bad rap. Some think they are lazy because, let's face it after college they go live with their parents and do nothing. They always have some device in their hand. Don't be so quick to judge. This generation of young adults are the most educated of the last five generations. Many  have a graduate degree.

Think about the economy when the millennials graduated. Nobody was hiring. It was hard to find a job let alone a brand new graduate with no job experience. My take is that companies are short sighted.

Everything we do today involves technology and being able to get the tasks done in a responsible and ethical manner. Recently, I attended the UT Dallas PM Symposium. There were several presentations on the various generations and how to encourage collaboration between the generations and how to integrate the millennials into the work environment. Conrado Morlan was quite informative. He had many good ideas about integrating millennials.

One of the suggestions he had was to give the millennial the big picture. Millennials want to understand how their work fits into the organization. So, if you have a millennial in your portfolio or in your project explain that their task must be done on time because it affects tasks down the road. If the millennials task is late then potentially the entire project/program/portfolio is now behind schedule. A client will be upset which may delay or minimize payments and eventually could give the company a bad name which also affects the bottom line. Explain how a portfolio works to provide value to the company's strategies.

Millennials love technology. Work with the millennials to increase the technology savvy within the portfolio. Give the millennials tasks and then step out of the way. If they do not know how to solve believe me they will develop a work around by researching and blogging with other millennials. Develop a relationship and trust with the millennials on your team. You will be surprised at their competencies and willingness to push the company in the correct direction!