I've been working for more than two years with a large multinational company to develop a culture where risk-informed thinking is embedded in 'the way they do things'. For all of this time, with my client, we've been working to engage the Board and Executive Committee to define their appetite for risk in achieving those objectives.
I've written lots about this, and implemented risk appetite frameworks in a number of other firms, but this one has been more challenging. So, it was great today to have a breakthrough and to start craft an approach that the top team can use to help their risk-based decision-making, and improve their control of the business.
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I was talking to a great lady at the recent APM Awards Dinner - someone who was there with her partner - someone who said she didn't really understand project management. Then, with no sense of irony she explained that she was restoring a 15th century spanish villa whilst being a single mum with three children, one disabled - and all this while working on a freelance basis to pay the bills.
I laughed and suggested maybe she should be the one getting the award! She asked me what it took to be a great project manager. My answer... Someone who is naturally organised, but is also willing to be flexible. Someone who naturally engages people, but is also skilled in communicating difficult messages. In my experience there are some people who are naturals. It's always great to meet them. ... is attributed to Ana Dutra - a brazilian national who is CEO of Korn/Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting, a 120million dollar business.
"Leadership is what you do when you don't know what to do" This may seem like a strange thing to blog about, but I wanted to share today how proud I am that my 13 year daughter's head teacher said to her today, "you've got opinions Helen and you know how to express them, you must have got that from your Mum and Dad". Of course, Helen was mortified, her preferring for her Mum and Dad to keep their mouths shut where school is concerned. I'm proud that I've got a daughter who has things to say for herself.
My experience in leading change for nearly 30 years now is that it's difficult to be effective if you can't find ways to have the difficult conversations with all sorts of people. You have to start developing that skill when they're still young! A few thoughts came together today when I was reflecting on a great conversation with my son, Josh, last night. He's an art student, with his practice of art having a very contemporary twist - the sort of thing that you might ask "is that really art?" He had been listening to the Reith Lectures - this year delivered by Grayson Perry who, across four programmes, discusses what makes him an artist, the limits of contemporary art, how to gauge the quality of new artworks and the future of the avant-garde. You can find all the recordings on the BBC website. Anyway, Josh was talking about the process of 'group critiques' at art school where the work of each student is openly (and often quite ruthlessly) critiqued by the tutor and other students. The objective is to get students used to a creative process where concepts and ideas are created, destroyed, re-created etc in an innovative upward spiral. He was explaining how he deals with that, practically and emotionally, when his ideas are not shared by others. It reminded me of a great talk I listened to at the Academy of Management conference a couple of years ago. Some learned business school professors were talking about management education, specifically MBAs and how they are taught, and they were bemoaning the fact that somehow in management, we've become formulaic, rule-following and so protective of our egos that the concept of a manager undergoing development going through a 'group critique' as in art school would be unheard of. As a result we are ill-preparing our managers for innovation in future - innovation that can only happen if we allow ourselves to be vulnerable (see blog posting on this from 4th November 2013) So, I just wanted to share that as a thought I'd had at that conference and forgotten until now. I wonder how we can learn to be more creative, more resilient, less 'right', and in doing so transform our organisations in a fast-changing world? One of the highlights of today was a great conversation with my friend and colleague Martin Price. Martin and I always have entertaining discussions, and we started this morning getting 'hot under the collar' about gross generalisations that we hear and read being made about planned change. We were agreeing that it's really sloppy and pointless to talk about changes been a success or a failure; or about leaders being great or poor; or about communication during change being effective or ineffective. In my experience, life in general and planned change in particular is complex, nuanced and ill-explained by 'black or white' generalisations.
In change we search for benefit to be created, recognised and used to create even further value; we aspire to be leaders who inspire and build commitment, yet who do so whilst not shirking the most difficult of topics; we aim not so much to communicate, but to connect with the many people who have a stake in the change. In striving to create benefit, lead courageously and connect with people, there is no black or white, only many and varied shades of grey. Since the National Audit Office published its review of the Universal Credit programme in September there has been a flurry of media comment - a large percentage of which has been partially informed and short-sightedly binary in its views. For a complex transformation change such as Universal Credit then statements about success or failure, things been done right or wrong etc are crass and miss the point.
I'm delighted therefore to have an opportunity to put another, less sensationalist, more nuanced point of view forward - based on my work with the programme in 2011/12. This will be published in the December edition of Project magazine. Do look out for it. Hopefully the programme will go on to deliver the biggest transformation to the welfare system in our country since the 1940s. I am hopeful my children will become adults in a culture where work pays. It seemed appropriate that on the day that I received my Honorary Fellowship of the Association for Project Management, for my work on the human aspects of risk management that I talk about something very human - and very relevant to us all.
We're used to thinking and talking about how our financial, or safety objectives are exposed to risk. We are perhaps less used to thinking, and certainly less used to talking about how our emotional state is exposed to risk - how vulnerable we are - and thinking about how that might be good for us sometime. For a much better explanation that I can provide here, take a look at this TEDTalk from Brene Brown (link below). Brene's book called Daring Greatly is fantastic. It helped me to understand that vulnerability is not about weakness, but instead about courage. Brene suggests that vulnerability is the birth-place of innovation, creativity, and change. I am tending to agree with her. What do you think? Link to a fantastic 20 minute talk Whilst I wouldn't go as far as Socrates in saying that 'the unexamined life is not worth living', I'm a real advocate of increasing self-awareness so that I can manage me, and lead others better.
As a result I'm trained to use a number of psychometric tests and, for myself, I'm always most interested in the ones that give me insights into how I might 'overplay' my strengths so they become weaknesses. The Hogan Development Survey is a really good way to get insights on the darker side of personality and how you might get de-railed when under pressure. There's a great book that's been written that takes the Hogan Development Survey criteria and discusses them in terms of why CEO's fail, the behaviours that hinder progress, and how to manage them. Click on the link below to buy the book from Amazon - I'd really recommend it. And if you want to find out more about where you might be hindering your progress to being a great leader, take the Hogan Development Survey - I can help you do that if you get in touch. Why CEO's Fail Thank you to the Board of the Association for Project Management for recognising my contribution to the leadership of change in risky and important situations.
Thank you also to Penny Pullan and David Hillson for nominating me. Our work together to promote thinking on risk management from a people and performance, rather than a process-only perspective was a big part of the decision for APM I'm sure: so looking forward to sharing the presentation with you on Monday. Risk expert secures top APM accolade Posted by Dayner Proudfoot on 1 November, 2013 - 14:37 A leading specialist in the human aspects of risk management has been awarded a prestigious APM Honorary Fellowship. Ruth Murray-Webster will receive the award at the APM Project Management Awards on 4th November for her contribution to the profession, in particular, to new areas of risk practice. Ruth is credited with helping to develop techniques such as the triple strand of influences on perception and risk attitude. The technique is now embedded in APM’s Risk Certificate exams. She has also proved influential in extending the use of facilitation techniques into risk management. Her expertise in these and other areas of risk management has led her to be invited to be the lead author on the latest edition of Management of Risk for HM Government. During her career Ruth has built a reputation for dealing with tricky transformational change projects. An early example that showed her promise was the project where she secured the export of isotope products from Russian nuclear reactors during the ‘cold war’, to customers in the United States. Since then she has gone on to advise other change leaders and, for the past 10 years, has worked as director for Lucidus Consulting advising clients in the NHS, central government, higher education, pharmaceuticals, IT, financial services, mining and petrochemicals. In support of her nomination, Dr Penny Pullan said: “As the best project, programme and portfolio managers of the 21st century know only too well, results come from working together with others, collaborating, drawing the best from each person to achieve the highest goals. You can see this from Ruth's work.” Yesterday, my doctoral research was submitted (to be examined on 17th January) and with this major milestone behind me, I'm ready for the rest of my life.
I know it's a most terrible cliche, but it seems to me that sometimes it's worth a day being put aside for big thoughts about the future, so... Today, I'm thankful for what I have, and excited about my future career and opportunities. More on all that to come. Whether you are motivated by a spiritual dimension in general, a faith in something bigger than what we see in particular, or a feet on this earth humanist, I hope you agree that for those of us who have been blessed with (or been lucky enough, or skilful enough) to have much, then much in turn is expected of us in making our world a better place. My thoughts on how to do that will follow every day. |