Communications Gap: A Red Flag for Organizations

Shared values are one of the things that keep families, communities, and organizations coherent. The more our ideas about what is important diverge, the harder it is to come to consensus or act as a unified group.

(I'm not talking about national politics here, although if the shoe fits ...)

What are we to do, then, about the finding in our most recent research study, Project Management Skills for Value Delivery, that leaders (in this study, these are PMO Director level and above) and staff members hold wildly divergent views on which project management skills are important?

Leaders rate "Integrity and Trustworthiness" highest out of approximately 70 skills asked about in the study. Staff? They opt for "Following External Legal Mandates." What? Maybe this has to do with the Leaders low-rating Communication as a key skill. Or maybe these two groups are actually working in different organizations. The Staff, at least in this study, could not care less about Aligning Projects to Business Objectives, so perhaps they aren't clear what business they are in.

When you compare their views about how the organization is doing, it's another shock; Leaders and staff can't even agree on whether projects are coming in on time and on budget, something that should be a simple matter of factual data.

This is unfortunate, especially since we have a tool proven to help organizations keep on the same page culturally: training.

Over 25 years of studies have shown us that high performing organizations train more people (including execs!) for more days on a wider range of topics--including advanced topics like the ones covered in the Value Delivery skills questionnaire. Training together gives us a shared language to discuss both aspirations and problems. If your organization is not helping leaders and staff to come together over shared project management objectives and methodology, trouble is at hand, and it looks like this:

https://www.pmsolutions.com/resources/view/research-brief-performance-perceptions/