Learn about the value of PMOs with Stacye Brim of STB Consulting.

hello and welcome to our impactful projects and planning series I'm Jamie asdani in today's session we've got Stacy brim she is the founder and principal consultant at stb Consulting and we're going to be talking about the importance of pmos or project management offices so thanks for joining me Stacy absolutely happy to be here yeah happy to have you here so tell us a little bit about your work and your business STD Consulting what impact are you hoping to create for your clients sure so as you said I'm the founder and principal consultant for stb Consulting and we partner with both non-profit and for-profit organizations in the areas of strategy and project management and really um for mission-based organizations the goal is to help non-profit leaders in their teams align on their strategy and their tactics to help them maximize their impact to the communities they serve wonderful so um you know you and I have talked about this off live before that um we both offer both project management and strategic planning Services um we're both pmps and and these are kind of the service we that that we've come up with um how do you think these two areas intersect there is a natural connection between the two um you and I both know that so in the world of strategy I like to use the term strategy management because there's the strategic planning piece and then there's a strategy execution please some people automatically think oh we've done all the work to to create that beautiful three to five year plan let's put it on the shelf and now we can go about our business but the whole goal is to execute that plan put it into action and you've got a host of strategic initiatives they are projects they're programs project management is how you put them in place so it's really a natural connection between the two yeah and that's that's exactly how I feel that states it so so eloquently um for me I feel like it's yeah it's it's all planning it's just happening at kind of different levels um and I know for me and we're going to be talking about pmos in a in a second but the kind of bringing some of the strategy and aligning that with the project management I think often people only think of project management for a single project or program or initiative but we really want to be aligning it with our strategy whether that happens kind of as part of a strategic planning implementation process or through some kind of approval process for your projects they really are aligned across the organization and so it's great to I think for for organizations have folks like us who are able to kind of bring those two pieces together I agree and just from a practical standpoint you meet a lot of people who are project management professionals and Specialists a lot of people who are strategy professionals but not many that overlap so it was really fun when we initially connected Jamie yes yes definitely okay so let's talk about um pmo so can you tell us a little bit about your pmo work um and you know what's what's the value of a pmo particularly for non-profits and Mission driven organizations absolutely so pmos stands for project management office sometimes you may see program management office or portfolio management office but whatever that P is for pmo it's really the body the organization sometimes it's one person um depending on the org that can standardize project management processes across the organization support those leading projects across the organization share methodologies and lessons learn and that communication so that projects and work can be executed in a more efficient way really that's that's the heart of what the pmo can do so I think it's a benefit to many organizations of varying sizes so or medium to large organizations probably benefit more from pmos especially those that may have more complex projects that are cross-functional working across orgs but honestly I see value and project management for for work of all sizes so when you're working with clients on on kind of pmos is that kind of establishing pmos establishing how the piano is going to work for their organization what does that usually look like absolutely so it can look like a couple of different things for some organizations I'll just hold a pmo workshop leadership workshop and really the purpose of that is aligning the leadership on language around project management so everyone has a common terminology talking about what pmos can look like because one size does not fit all pmos have different flavors shapes sizes purposes talking about having facilitated discussion around what's working well what's not working well what could be done differently around project execution in their organization even if it doesn't have a term or methodology and then talking about okay do we think a pmo could work for us and if so what could that look like do we want more of a supportive pmo or a controlling pmo what do we want the function to be um because there's just a process you're not going from zero to you know having a gazillion processes and templates in place that's way too overwhelming but where are we now and where do we want to be next yeah and so I do think that um you know kind of what type of pmo is really I think something that is important to think about because as you said there's so many different flavors from ones where yeah maybe you're just introducing that common language offering your project managers like some training or a couple of templates um that are going to help them manage things more efficiently or access to particular tools to you know kind of a very um although I don't always like the term controlling but a a much more kind of organized and perhaps controlling approach where folks are are really um maybe the the project management office sort of um manages the project managers and and Doles them out to different initiatives um they may be kind of um you know assessing how projects are going and pulling that information in they may be making decisions about which projects um to to do or not to do and kind of how to to intervene and so um you know when you are working with non-profits in particular are you seeing kind of more of a controlling versus um you know kind of less less controlling sort of thing yeah in non-profit spaces I've seen less controlling pmos and more so supportive pmos in the corporate space and even in large public sector organizations I've worked with it's been more of a controlling pmo where you have clear stage rates and requirements before you can pass from one you know stage of the process to another but in non-profits it's um more supportive than controlling so you may have some project management processes in place here are some helpful templates this is the reporting we would like you to do to leadership on the initiatives that you're leading um putting some training in place if that's a need whether it's on processes how to be a good project manager or project management tools and oftentimes people and organizations might think okay we just need a tool okay we want to get on Asana we want to get on smartsheet oh I heardmoney.com is great and I I reel it back let's take a step back let's do an assessment where are you as an organization what are you doing now because a tool is not always the answer you need to have a process and the tool should support that process right so absolutely yeah I do think you know and I'm someone who loves technology and and loves to use all kinds of different tools but I often tell people the tool will not fix all of your problems you know despite despite what the the salesperson May today and the tool is not a process right that's right the tool is just a tool and um if you're if things aren't working well and your teams aren't communicating you are just switching the formats for them to not communicate um and not kind of that's where things do things well so um yeah I think that's yeah the tool can be part of it but it's not the only not the only answer and there's so many different ways to use these tools right and so yeah coming up with what your processes are and I know you know um just kind of as an example recently I worked with a a non-profit executive who yeah and her organization it was sort of called a program program development was kind of the term that they were they were using and really all we were doing was kind of coming up with a standardized process they tended to do similar sorts of projects related to kind of programs and Grant initiatives just coming up with kind of a standard way that they were going to move through their projects because there were some things that had to happen during initiation and there were some certain types of reporting at the end and there were some ways that they tended to engage stakeholders and kind of bring in vendors and it was just about kind of putting that process together for people and so I think that was valuable for them but that's a way that if anybody's out there listening um and thinking about this for your organization there are lots of ways this can look absolutely I have a similar experience with a current client now and that is the level of you know pmo or project management that we're putting into place it doesn't have to be all or nothing and so that was a really great example yes so um as a project coach because you talked a little bit about pmos having you know some coaching and I know that you you coach folks as well um but what are some areas where you tend to see folks struggle as they manage projects and is there advice that you tend to give yeah well first of all there are many people who are in who are leading projects who are project managers but don't have the title and I've seen that a lot in non-profit organizations more in corporate you know you'll have a project manager program manager role that's your title that's who you are been in nonprofits I'm seeing a lot of people who do the function of our project manager and maybe several several other things but they don't have that title so because they don't have that title they are leading work um facilitating a body of work to accomplish a certain goal it's what project managers do without the knowledge the tools the skills so you know really it's assessing where they're at and then helping them get where they need to be so sometimes it's just the lack of basic PM knowledge sometimes they struggle with leading project teams of people who do not directly report to them on an org chart I mean you'll see that in non-profit and corporate space some have challenges with holding people accountable um whether it's project team members whether it's um external vendors that they're working with on a project or even volunteers and that's it's a whole different challenge right um sometimes there's challenges with creating a solid project schedule you and I both know that if you don't have a realistic schedule that's been built with the people who are doing the work and you've got some contingencies in there then you're gonna struggle you're gonna be late if you haven't considered certain stakeholders certain risks involve the right people in the work etc so developing a good project schedule is another challenge stakeholder management is another area so taking the time to identify who are the stakeholders the people impacted by this work and having a plan for communicating and engaging with them so those are a few of the things that I'm seeing yeah and love helping people with yeah those are things that I see um as well and I do you know it's funny I I had a whole career and and libraries in higher ed and even though in those spaces I managed a lot of projects lots of folks around me were managing projects and the only areas that had people with the title project managers were like in the kind of facilities construction area and sometimes in I.T there might be somewhere but that's it you know that's that's the only place that there were and I I see that a lot in other mission-driven environments that people are managing projects but that's not their primary role and it can be really really challenging and particularly that stakeholder management yeah peace and sort of managing people across kind of an outside of a hierarch because sometimes you're managing projects with board members um you know leaders of other departments in your organization volunteers and none of those folks do you get to tell

management are really good for that but I like your point about the schedule being collaborative because that's something I often see um with newer project managers as they kind of think they have to put the schedule together themselves yeah and and you know kind of magically know how long um activity that they don't ever do is going to take for someone else and when they have time to do it and I I think transparency is really really important um and you know share it draft it up say what what does this look like um you know how often have have we seen projects where someone has assigned someone to do something and it's like that's the one week in their organization where they all take off or that's the week where that all the systems are down or yes things that happen or that's the week where they they're doing professional development in their department and if you had asked

you ask up front and then you continue to talk about it as you're executing that schedule right yes yeah so I I do think you know project management is more than just sending people reminders and hoping they listen um so wonderful um so thank you so much um Stacy this has been great if folks want to reach out to you want to know more about the the work that you're doing is there a way that they um best can get in contact with you absolutely well first of all they can go to my website stb it's my initial Stacey Thrasher brim consultingllc.com um or LinkedIn find me on LinkedIn Stacey Thrasher Bram on LinkedIn I love to connect with people and they can message me there um and my email is Stacy as you can see it's spelled a little bit differently s-t-a-c-y-e at sdbconsulting.com so I think you got my e i I'm missing an e and Jamie and yes and I got your yeah that's where it went Stacey so wonderful thank you and I I see a thank you from Julie in the in the comments there so thank you wonderful um all right well thanks so much this has been this has been really great um so thanks for participating in our Pat full projects and planning series you can visit yazani consulting.com IPP to view all of the sessions in the series and learn about upcoming events um I'm taking August off from hosting these sessions um but plan to be back in September so hope to see you then um thank you thanks Jamie thanks

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