Executives – Holding Back Effective Project Management?

Benefits realisation is a key indicator of the success of a project, yet it is one that is drastically undervalued in many Australian organisations. Project benefits, not benefit realisation, is often the case that organisations fall into, only investing the time to discover how a project is benefiting them after it is complete, not continually through the process, therefore restricting what could be very large benefits accruing.  The key obstacle that needs to be overcome is quite simple – who is responsible and accountable for benefit realisation? It is often assumed that the project manager assumes this role, however it can in fact span very deeply through an organisation, with executives often holding the greatest accountability, but accepting the least responsibility.

It is a shocking statistic that over 70% of PMO’s feel that benefits realisation (at the projects level) and executive buy in to the PMO is a significant challenge. Bluntly, this can often be cause with effective project management impacting their personal interests – affecting funding of their departments and potentially their staff. The benefit realisations of a project may also not be aligned with their remuneration. This issue can be overcome by effective communication that is facilitated by the PMO, which aim to establish a clear framework for benefits realisation in all sections of an organisation.