Program Management Fundamentals: Driving Strategic Change

Programs fail before they start, and there is a good reason for that. The relationships amongst portfolios, programs, and projects are not understood well nor is the role of programs in achieving change aspirations. Today nearly 70% of Digital Transformation programs fail and the reasons seem to be addressed as a guessing game; The likelihood of being in the 30% successful bucket hinges on the leadership qualities of the program team and the clear program vision and purpose supported by value-driven roadmaps. In this course, you will learn key program management principles, leadership skills, roles, mechanics, and supporting cultural attributes. This will provide you, over four weeks, the foundational understanding of the program management and program lifecycle role in executing strategies, successfully driving initiatives, developing an exploring mindset, and uncovering program management fundamental templates and toolsets, such as the Work Breakdown Structure, and skill sets, such as customer focus, applied in the real world. Syllabus Week 1: The first week starts with understanding the value of programs in the delivery of charters’ strategic outcomes from individual projects with excellence. A case example, coupled with a focus on the role of the conductor, will be used in learning how to drive and tailor the delivery of programs to achieve speed and quality of decisions and simulate complexity for better quality customer-centered solutions and outputs. Week 2: The second week explores the future changemakers and how world organizations use change management in achieving strategic results from related projects, and how change management and excellence models cover the gaps leaders miss when they tackle change programs such as digital transformation or new product introductions. The week also covers insights shared in PMWJ publication on the value of integrated decision-making and a model of digital transformation that combines culture, systems, and people attributes. Week 3: The third week gets into the importance of the role of the program sponsor as the driver for the big picture and the clear mission of the PMO. Program management needs will be best uncovered with the application of tiers of stakeholders in organizing a program’s focus. Connected program goals, project interdependencies, and the developed mindset and discipline needed for program leaders to think again for a change, will directly link to achieving business objectives. Week 4: The last week pivots to look at how getting to an end-2-end joint vision and clear strategic goals can inspire focus and commitment to the strategic plan and achieving program value. The program management office builds on the principles and methodologies of the project management institute. Successful programs will rely not only on effective cost management but also on how empathy and human connection are critical ingredients to the integrated program way of working, and the course finishes with tips for context validation’s role in programs success.