Why work with a project coach?
I have developed a proven method to accompany change processes and at the same time to broaden and deepen change management skills throughout the organisation.
More and more members of staff carry out the role of a project manager for important change projects on top of their day-to-day jobs. Very frequently, these people haven’t got the relevant skills in project management or improvement methodologies. Also organisations seem to overstretch their staff by giving them additional roles as project leaders or project team members, which spreads their time thinly. Sometimes also, senior managers within an organization do not have enough time to dedicate to support projects at a working level or support and coach their team members.
Stemming from this experience, I have developed the approach of the project coach. Through this approach I support organisations to carry out successful change programmes – even though initially people lack some of the relevant skills. I transfer exactly the skills to your leadership team and to your members of staff that I usually provide as an external change management consultant, helping the organisation to be more self-sufficient in the longer term. My philosophy during all my project engagements is to make sure that members of staff can achieve measureable results – more quickly and more confidently. The benefit for the organisation is that in the long term, change challenges can be tackled with a broader and more capable pool of internal resources. The results are sustainability and cost savings.
Project coach: a programme consisting of four elements:
- Half-day workshop with the leadership team of the organisation in order to prepare them for their role as project sponsors;
- Two days on-site training of DMAIC improvement methodology for middle management and experts (DMAIC is a structured and easy-to-understand approach from the Six Sigma method and is divided into five project phases for the improvement of processes);
- One day on-site project management training for programme participants;
- 5 x individual one-hour telephone coaching sessions per participant. Content: Introduction of relevant project management structures and reinforcement / development of the new performance improvement tools in a real-life project that the participants are involved in.
10 Reasons to work with a project coach:
These are 10 good reasons to work with an external project coach when embarking on a change initiative:
- Acts as interim resource when no dedicated project management or change management departments or staff is established in the organisation.
- Transfers valuable new skills to team members. These can be re-applied successfully in any future change processes, creating future self-sufficiency.
- Creates capacity for the management team and improves the chances of projects achieving their goals (as well as reducing project risk).
- Introduces tools that help staff to deal with business problems in a structured way. This helps avoid expensive mistakes or misguided solutions.
- Instils confidence and decisiveness through relevant feedback and coaching.
- Reduces potential personal or inter-departmental conflicts by coaching participants to present in a fact-based and objective way.
- Reinforces tools and methods relevant for the current project at the appropriate points in time. Explains tools and methods application using real-life examples and in an easy to understand way.
- Assesses and resolves internal politics in an objective way.
- Acts as a role model to demonstrate the desired behaviours of the continuous improvement culture, as well as to deploy common language of continuous improvement in the organisation.
- Supports members of staff to set realistic goals for improvement projects and supports them to achieve them.
If you want to find out how I can help you and your team – give me a call!