Managing initiatives in the Enterprise: How to get ideas off the ground and into execution

  • What happened to that project?
One of the problems that often arise in companies is related to the lack of execution of ideas and/or initiatives generated by the organization itself.

It is curious to see how many companies dedicate a large number of meetings, e-mails, calls, and hours to the creation of ideas and actions that after a while do not land in the business field.

Undoubtedly, each company is different and will have its own causes or analysis of why this happens, but today in this article we will address one of those causes that we believe is common to all organizations.

Business sciences provide us with an interesting set of tools on how to manage areas, processes and jobs, organize, plan and follow up, all related to the activities defined and assigned to each area, sector and people.

But all the initiatives that are generated in a company include a large number of activities which are not foreseen in the daily tasks of the members of the organization.

Therefore, in this article we will address the proposal of a methodological application to ensure the effective development and implementation of this type of initiatives.

  • Processes & Projects

One of the tools that acts as the basis of process-based business management is the process map. This map consists of a graphic representation of the company’s processes in a single scheme, similar to the organizational chart that shows the organizational areas, but in this case the processes are shown. In the same way as the organizational chart, the process map allows opening each of the processes into sub-processes related to the central one.

With this tool then, a company has its starting point of formal identification of all the company’s processes. From here, it decides and defines which are those with the greatest impact on the business and therefore management priorities are applied to each process.

Each of these processes represents a set of related activities that the company carries out in order to meet objectives and deliverables on a recurring basis. Thus, we could think that, at the limit, every activity conducted in a company should be included in one of the processes of the map.

It happens that at the same time, all companies launch diverse types of initiatives, and many of them even make these initiatives part of their managers’ annual strategic objectives.

Others arise throughout the year, either from the analysis of results or from management meetings in which unique needs are identified, thus triggering these initiatives, which are entrusted to a manager.

This shows that there is a set of activities that must be carried out by the people of the organization and that would not be included in the process map, since they are not part of the processes but are part of the initiatives launched by the company.

And this is important to us because having a process map is the basis on which the company structures its process management scheme (defining Process Owner, indicators, detailed mapping and continuous improvement). But then the question arises: under what management scheme are the activities corresponding to the initiatives; how do we ensure that the daily hustle and bustle (execution of the processes) does not clog up and leave the different initiatives launched in oblivion?

The proposal is precisely to treat these initiatives as Projects.

  • Management of initiatives as Projects

Before approaching this methodology, it is necessary to mention that with the term initiatives we are referring to any type of action idea, project, improvement or development action that the company decides to launch. We know that those projects whose magnitude merits it, are under the radar of the company’s management all the time. So here we are referring to initiatives of smaller volume or magnitude, but at the same time important enough to be assigned a management priority. We could say that we are talking about initiatives that involve different areas / people, including third parties, which will involve actions that require management level authorizations, which take a considerable period of time (e.g., over 16 weeks) and that their impact can be estimated in economic, financial or other relevant business variable terms.

Treating an initiative as a project implies carrying out its management using the tools of project management techniques.

It is necessary to adapt the use of these methodologies to each particular situation, ensuring that the tools are at the service of the effectiveness of project development, and not the other way round.

We have selected the following based on our experience and firm belief that they are appropriate for the management of initiatives:

Initial definition:

There must be a first definition of the initiative, in which what, what for, a not rigorous but sufficient definition of the objectives and an idea of deadlines are indicated.

Organization:

A person in charge must be appointed, who will act as Project Manager. Then define the team that will be part of the project, and in large organizations and for initiatives of certain relevance, it is advisable to have a Sponsor. The latter would be a member of the management team who looks after the interests of the project and makes political arrangements if necessary.

Planning:

An initial planning should be made, at least in the format of Major Milestones, in which estimated start and end dates are indicated, and then some intermediate dates of relevant milestones.

Within this planning, the frequency of team meetings will also be defined (weekly or biweekly would be advisable).

Subsequently, and if considered necessary, a project activity plan can be drafted, which would serve as the basis for the progress status meetings.

Status reports:

Define the documents to be used as meeting summaries and status reports, define to whom they will be sent and how often they will be sent.

Follow-up meetings:

This is a key point. It is because the people in an organization are aligned to processes and everything that is outside of them remains in the background, or perhaps because face-to-face meetings generate a commitment to compliance that no other means has achieved so far. But the truth is that regular (weekly or biweekly) follow-up meetings are the key to managing these initiatives. The notes of each previous meeting serve as an agenda and a review of pending issues. These meetings should avoid in-depth analysis of details and of technical issues, for which development should be organized outside these meetings. In this way, the meetings will allow to cover the entire scope of the project.

Launching Memo:

It is advisable that the main definitions of the project (many of which we have mentioned in the preceding points) are materialized in a formal document that records them as they have been defined. And this document should be distributed to the main stakeholders of the project and any area / person who should be aware of it.

The chapters of such a document should be: general description, project organization, objectives, deliverables, general plan (key milestones), budget, and any other relevant information deemed necessary.

  • Conclusions

The various existing project management methodologies have many additional tools which have not been included in this article. The central explanation is that these tools are aimed at large-scale projects and especially in specific industries such as construction, software development, aerospace, among others.

The methodology proposed here is aimed more at management projects, and the main objective is not to formalize or regularize this type of development, but on the contrary, to make them effective and efficient. In short, the aim is to ensure that they are actually implemented in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. Each professional must evaluate the best adaptability of this methodology to each circumstance, ensuring that the aforementioned primary objective of this practice is met.