Project Management and the skills and knowledge acquired are increasingly important in modern business and here's some compelling reasons from a business influencer.
At a recent Unilever conference, the CEO, Alan Jope, stated that "future fit" businesses will require multi-stakeholder operating models to be successful. The traditional profit & loss business model is bordering obsolete.
We can limit our thinking of stakeholders as institutional investors as this image, "LYFT IPO Winners", portrays. (Lyft stakeholder relations are bumpy.) Stakeholders are more than just shareholders.
If you look at the stakeholder taxonomy diagram you can see that effective stakeholder engagement is more of a 3D or a 360 degree layout, than a linear hierarchy. The ability to engage well in these relationships allows us to steer an effective course towards satisfactory outcomes and more. The alternative can lead to dysfunction, delay, and derailment - all at ever increasing costs.
It is fair to say that being an accomplished project manager sometimes feels like being an octopus trying to conduct an orchestra. However, early in the Basic Course the importance of Stakeholders is illustrated in the 3 "i's": influence, impact and interest. And we are warned to identify them at initiation - if you need more "i's" on the subject: "Before embarking on a project, it is vital to understand who your stakeholders are and how best to engage with them.
So why's it important?
Well, the very existence of a project is driven by the strategic needs of an organization and will have a defining impact on r functionality or our value-chain. Stakeholders can therore be external, not directly in our line of sight, as well as internal (on our path of least resistance).
Our engagement efforts are often directly proportional to the proximity of the stakeholder and our available resources (in person, chat app / SMS, phone call, meeting, email, public statement, press release, website, advertising, marketing and so on.)
For example, Uber, a competitor of Lyft is apparently compromising on ethics, to maintain their value-chain factors for success. An outcome being broader stakeholder issues with complaints and allegations from employees, drivers, customers, who comprise direct and indirect stakeholder groups. (Business Insider reports here on the lengthy list of scandals plaguing the company.)
Unilever, a company which enjoys gross revenues of 50 billion euros, 2.5 billion customers and maintains research facilities in the U.S., the U.K., China, India and the Netherlands has to be engaged across continents and generations of consumers.
Mr. Jope in a recent interview with Goldman Sachs, elaborates on the identities of their stakeholders and the increasing importance of multi-stakeholder leadership for future fit businesses. He articulates that Unilever have continuously underestimated: the pace of change; how to change consumer behavior; and system changes required for "big hairy sustainability goals".
https://youtu.be/9ed93KYCT2A
(During his short tenure as CEO, Jope has had to deal with climate change impacts, the Ben & Jerry's Israel issue as well as political fallout from Black Lives Matter, all the while orchestrating Business as Usual operations.)
Mr. Jope, a candid communicator, has a clear message: look after your stakeholders and they will look after your projects and your business.
Comentários