Project management office: A lifeline to ensure strategy execution

• Stax details Sri Lankan experience and global trends
• Says greater urgency needs to be demonstrated during project execution 
• No longer the luxury of quarters or years – it’s a dynamic environment
• Suggests companies must focus on delivering quick-wins that win over employees, early-on  

Dr. Rasitha Wickramasinghe

Shawn Silva

Execution is often the deathbed for good strategies where the best laid plans fall heavily. Such breakdowns are epidemic in businesses across the globe, and the opportunity costs beggars belief. Corporate leaders spend a lot of time creating strategies and they then take it for granted it will be executed. Any sound strategy that lacks a well-defined implementation plan or structure often results with the good work coming undone. 

Discussing factors behind failures, Dr. Rasitha Wickramasinghe of Stax points out that less than 5% of any organisation actually participates in the formulation of strategy. Thereby, strategies can become too high-level, where they have not been broken down into detailed actionable elements for the rank and file. There are many dynamics linked to bad communication, he adds, even observing instances of people stating ‘I never took part in this, why should I bother to care?’

On the other hand, during initial stages of implementation, people can be very upbeat and adopt a ‘hands to the pumps’ attitude. But this enthusiasm could wane after a while, as day-to-day responsibilities start taking precedence – execution once again falls by the wayside. 

Monitoring and control must become key elements alongside data and communication. Companies that are entrepreneur-led are less likely to have a structured approach, but have higher levels of agility on execution as it stems from one person with a command and control structure. Companies with more professional management are likely to have more defined structures.

Dr. Wickramasinghe of Stax says his company through its project management office has been offering specialised support to clients with strategy engagement. He notes it is necessary to bring to attention of corporate leaders the facts behind such failures globally, and discuss better ways to realise their objectives. 

Dr. Wickramasinghe suggests a scientific approach to implementing strategy, and avers such frameworks need not be restricted to the IT Industry as perceived by some. Even IT projects could fail without adequate definition of detail, understanding stakeholders and effective change management.

“I think with the advent of the pandemic what is important are companies’ ability to pivot and be agile. It is very important they can adapt to changing situations on a day-by-day month-by-month basis. For strategy execution one of the things we brought in was this ‘war room concept’. It’s about being very focused and having a sustained effort over a number of weeks to get something implemented. Because now we no longer have the luxury of quarters and years; it’s a very dynamic environment.”   

“Also, during the pandemic more companies are looking at transformation. Do I have the right balance when it comes to remote working and physical working? Do I have the right infrastructure to enable that and how do I reduce touchpoints with customers? COVID-19 has been a change agent for digital transformation. Companies have diverse workforces across different generations, so how do they introduce remote working and ensure privileges are not abused? There are different elements of execution to all of these, and a need to drive implementation within a very limited space of time. For that project management and execution has a key role to play,” said Dr. Wickramasinghe.

For strategy execution, one of the first steps employed by Stax is to put in place a governance framework for the programme. Besides the executive committee that presides over a steering committee, strategy programmes can have ‘initiative champions’ who will own certain aspects of the project and ‘communication champions’ who have reach and trust amongst the rank and file. The steering committee will have an overview of what is working or not and which champions are making good progress. 

Often, companies need to focus on delivering quick-wins that impact the minds of employees, and these start making a difference from rollout. Because organsations have finite resources, they have to prioritise initiatives based on investment and impact. Dr. Wickramasinghe says they help understand the level of prioritisation, before breaking down the strategy to bite-sized detailed action plans that can be implemented. 

“For strategy engagement we could be in a situation where the strategy was developed by the company and they are looking for external help to implement, or it could be a strategy the company has hired a third-party consultant to conceive and now they are looking for a party to execute. The third possibility is the strategy formulation is done by Stax and as a follow up they ask us to come implement it.” 

“I think generally what we find is that not everyone follows through. There is a high possibility of crashing and even in IT and especially with ERPs we see a lot of things get kicked-off and half way through things don’t go the right way for various reasons. It depends on leadership and how they are driving employees and the level of motivation and stability within the company. You will see different levels of success and failure based on that,” Dr. Wickramasighe added. 

Joining the discussion, Shawn Silva of Stax revealed the Sri Lanka office conducts a significant number of strategy-based engagements, where industry trends and best practices of global private equity firms and their portfolio companies are leveraged from the work carried out by its head office in the US..  

“The reason why companies require a project management office is not because they cannot do it internally, but because sometimes there is not enough focus from internal team as they are engaged with their everyday work. Whilst running their everyday schedule these employees are asked to look at these strategies which are not linked to their KPIs. They are not fully bought into how am I going to be recognised and rewarded for doing this? Another reason is hierarchy. Normally in implementing these projects, a lot of companies are reluctant to hire a very senior person to drive them because it comes at a great cost. But a mid-level executive tasked with execution will not challenge someone that has a say in your future within the organisation. These are some of the reasons the PMO aspect is becoming very popular amongst companies. It is because there are some things they cannot internally align in a way where everyone is held accountable across all levels of the company,” Shawn pointed out. 

Stax has taken a lead in the PMO sphere as the company is very sector diverse and possess significant experience, plus, the ability to adapt to the relevant business, blend-in and integrate itself to execute the initiatives, Shawn said. The company doesn’t try to separate itself from clients, which is why PMOs are based at client sites under a collaborative model. The company has with it all the tools and are renowned to make things happen in a structured and scientific manner, he points out. 

“We don’t have one clear cut approach to every company. Every project is different, it depends on the culture of the company the leadership involvement and strategy. That all feeds into our decisions on how we will setup the PMO. We have a very customised approach to make sure there is buy-in, and that an appointed Stax project manager has the necessary skills and background to add value to that project and execute it,” he stressed.

Commenting on trends in Sri Lanka’s strategy execution sphere, Shawn opined that local companies work with a lot less urgency than some of its international counterparts, as competition is far more intense elsewhere. He felt this was one reason why projects are prolonged or need crashing. “There is an eventual death. That is one of the real things that affect certain strategies being executed to a level.” 

Another factor is a majority of local companies don’t measure and compare data against recognised benchmarks. “We must come up with the right data points to address questions. Sometimes opinions are cast rather than giving actual data or facts for decision-makers to facilitate resources,” he said. 

With repositioning of global supply chains due to COVID and geopolitical tensions, Shawn adds that Stax is well-positioned to assist foreign investors and organisations looking to expand into Sri Lanka, within a framework of supportive regulations and taxes. 

The Sri Lankan Government’s Budget proposals for 2021 also provides great impetus for both foreign and local investments, with special focus on exports and also offers a 10-year tax holiday for foreign investments – the longest in Asia. 

Stax adopts a unique data and fact-based approach to projects employing real client data. Whilst some clients often pose challenges with little or no data, Stax has succeeded in developing measuring systems and KPIs to bring them closer to their objectives and distribute inventory.