CHAPTER 42
The Trifecta: Project Management, L&D, and Talent Development
The importance of effective project management can’t be overstated. It allows everyone in the organization to focus on the work that matters, ensures strategic alignment, maximizes resources, controls cost, and encourages teamwork. A solid project management approach is critical for talent development and learning and development.
IN THIS CHAPTER:
Identify how to use project management to ensure that talent development is being implemented effectively
Leverage a project management charter and project schedule to define, plan, manage, and review talent projects
Establish the rationale for consistent practices to create synergy among talent development, learning and development, and project management
As TD and L&D projects continue to get larger and more complex, our need to incorporate a solid project management approach grows larger too. You are likely serving multiple customers with conflicting needs, changing business requirements, and other uncertainties. And, your projects may seem more complex due to constant multitasking.
When creating L&D workshops in the past, you may have been able to wing it. However, we are now not only being asked to develop course materials about things we know little about, but we’re also tasked with delivering that content in a week or less. L&D experts must become experts at negotiating requirements, working with multiple clients, and building workshops with face-to-face, online, and hybrid options. The realistic project management processes shared in this chapter will help you grow and pivot in your ability to deliver learning.
Dare to Properly Manage Resources is a mnemonic for simplifying the project management process in four critical steps or phases:
• Define
• Plan
• Manage
• Review
We call this the Dare project management approach.
The Synergy of Project Management, Talent Development, and L&D
Talent development and L&D professionals must be able to constantly juggle multiple projects. However, without a specific, repeatable, and realistic process, it is not possible to for us be effective if those projects change. The COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Now, as we go back to our workplaces or experience a hybrid work model, we must evaluate our work’s purpose and processes, how teamwork may change, and how project management (PM) could help improve our workplaces.
Talent development focuses on the building of knowledge, skills, and attitudes to help an organization’s employees achieve success in their field. When done well, it allows organizations to succeed and grow. Fostering employee learning, development, and engagement, talent development helps employees drive organizational performance, productivity, and results. It is an important tool for unleashing human potential, so much so that the heart of talent development is people. Talent development offers a set of practical capabilities for driving organizational results and creates effective processes, systems, and frameworks that advance employee development, define succession planning, and create other employee opportunities.
If talent development is going to be effective, it must be intentional, planned, and executed well. To be most successful, the TD function should:
• Get leadership involved.
• Align to the organization’s mission.
• Identify talent needs accurately.
• Ask for employee feedback.
In some organizations learning and development is a subset of the talent development function that focuses on solving problems using learning strategies. The goal of L&D is to identify, design, and implement strategies to solve specific learning needs. Once called “training,” this can include coursework, curriculum, workshops, case studies, and other learning processes. Talent development tends to be focused on the future, as a continuous process to develop professionals for their next position of responsibility. L&D is often a partner in this process.
If L&D is going to be successful, its role must be well defined. It is responsible for developing and implementing an organization’s learning strategy and should:
• Develop and implement learning strategies and programs that meet the business needs.
• Evaluate organizational and individual employee development needs.
• Ensure that the L&D function is aligned to the organization’s business goals.
• Optimize learning processes to drive ROI.
• Manage and procure L&D technology (virtual, hybrid, and face-to-face).
• Implement consistent and shared organizational training methods.
Every organization defines the boundaries of talent development and L&D differently, so you may see some crossover of responsibilities between the two. However, both have responsibilities that require a general process to ensure efficiency, accuracy, quality, and consistency of purpose. That’s where project management comes in.
Defining Project Management
A project management process is required whether talent development is building a culture of learning or implementing an employee engagement survey, or L&D is designing team-building events to engage remote employees or evaluating its digital delivery systems. Effective project management generally follows the four steps or phases in the Dare project management approach: define, plan, manage, and review.
Before you begin any project management process, be sure that everyone is on the same page by defining terms such as project, process, task, project sponsor, project manager, and stakeholders. It’s especially important to clarify what task, project, and process represent, because many mistakenly believe they are interchangeable:
• Task—a single unit of work able to be completed in one sitting
• Project—a group of tasks that work together to complete a project
• Process—a series of steps that repeat
In addition, you and your team should clarify who is filling three important project management roles:
• Project sponsor—the business champion and steward of the project
• Project manager—the person who owns the planning, organization, and managing responsibilities that keep the project moving; note that this person does not own the project and cannot control it
• Stakeholders—everyone else involved, most of whom are working on smaller projects within the overarching project; stakeholders must receive something from and provide something to the project
Several common mistakes can cause challenges as you build your project:
• If you are allowing individuals to juggle multiple roles during a project, they may become conflicted and overworked, creating poor results.
• Having more than one project sponsor or project manager creates churn.
• A project manager should not try to own the project—collaboration is critical on a project team.
• One project manager is better than many.
• A project manager must be able to differentiate between doing the project and managing the project.
• Allowing people to create a schedule without data results in a plan that hasn’t taken critical information into account, such as who is involved, what the risks are, and what the objective is.
Consider this definition stage to be the pre-project phase. Once you’re all clear on terms, continue with the Dare method to follow the four phases:
• Define the project. Create a project charter that includes scope, project objectives, risks and constraints, communication, and governance.
• Plan the project. Identify tasks, order of tasks, and methodologies; build the project schedule with due dates and costs.
• Manage the project. Implement, revise, adapt, track, and influence stakeholders.
• Review the project. End, transition, and evaluate the project.
Remember that all projects and tasks have a beginning and an end, which means that your project will have a beginning and an end. What do you do that has a beginning and an end? Your response might include creating a one-day workshop, designing a compensation plan, or conducting a needs analysis. Therefore, each of these is a project. On the other hand, managing a learning strategy and supervising employees do not have concrete beginnings and ends. They are ongoing and not defined as projects. Both are processes.
Project management is a process with a beginning and an end. It consists of planning, organizing, and managing work:
• Planning is anticipating and trying to predict how to set up tasks in the best order for a project. But keep in mind, the project will never go the way you hoped. Ever.
• Organizing is coordinating all the moving tasks, people, dates, budgets, and quality needs once the project begins and until it reaches its final goals.
• Managing is adapting to the reality of the project and being resilient to address any surprises that occur.
As we dive into the four steps of project management, review Table 42-1 to see the overall flow of the process.
Table 42-1. The Process Flow of Project Management
Dare to | Properly | Manage | Resources |
Define | Plan | Manage | Review |
Establish the project scope | Finalize learning objectives | Control the work in progress | Implement the learning event |
Set the initial business objective | Create the schedule | Provide feedback | Hold project reviews as needed |
List risks and constraints | Assign resources | Negotiate for resources | Complete the project for the customer |
Evaluate alternatives | Create the budget | Resolve differences | Release resources |
Choose a course of action |
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Define the Project
The define phase answers the question “Why are we spending money on this project instead of something else?” which establishes the business purpose. The project sponsor plays a critical role at this point by helping the project manager prepare for the work.
The project charter is an important outcome of this phase because it determines why the organization is doing this project instead of spending money and time on something else. Many project managers and teams build a project charter quickly to get approval from the project sponsor before they move on to the plan phase. The charter is a draft that includes the project boundaries. If you fall into the trap of trying to control or manage a project, you’ll have a difficult time, so it’s best to encourage communication and collaboration.
The define phase should take about 45 minutes and include items listed in Table 42-2, which should then be included in the project charter. Note that there can be only one business objective.
Table 42-2. Define Phase Questions
Business objective (only one) | Is the project going to increase revenue or avoid cost? |
Learning objectives | What outcomes (goals) exist for the project? |
Quick ’n’ dirty risk assessment | How might size, structure, or technology be risk factors that mess everything up? |
Constraints | What is most critical to the project sponsor: time, cost, or quality? |
Risk factors | What is the likelihood or impact of the risk? Can you prevent or react to it? |
Scope diagram | What does the graphic show about how stakeholders interact and what communication is required? |
The project charter helps organize the big picture view of a new project. Developing the project charter creates the project’s baseline. You can download a project charter template on the handbook website at ATDHandbook3.org.
Plan the Project
The plan phase answers the question “How are we going to complete this project?” The project manager plays a critical role at this point, working out the logistics for a comprehensive list of tasks assigned to specific people with due dates.
The deliverable created in this phase is the project schedule, which ensures everyone can remember what to do and when. During this phase you’ll also determine milestones, schedule task dependencies, adjust for resource dependencies, and create a budget. Ideally the project schedule will include only one date and name for each task within the project. Note that the project plan may change frequently.
Manage the Project
This phase answers the question, “How can I adapt to the surprises and glitches that happen to my project?” As you begin to implement the project, resiliency and flexibility will be your most valuable traits as you manage all the changes, update the project charter, and schedule everyone with tasks. This is a good time to remember that “you can’t control a project, but you can adapt.”
During the manage phase you control work in progress, provide status and feedback, leverage governance, and resolve conflicts. The final deliverable is a finished or cancelled project—thus, your customer is responsible for defining the project’s end.
Review the Project
The review phase answers the question “What can we learn from this project that will help us next time?” The deliverable in this phase is a project that has completed a final project review and transitioned closed. In this last phase you will close the project, transition by turning over deliverables, hold a project review, and celebrate accomplishments. It’s the project manager’s responsibility to determine when the project has ended.
STRONG BEGINNINGS: THINKING AHEAD TO REDUCE RISKS AND AVOID PROJECT MELTDOWNS
Crystal Richards, Principal and Owner, MindsparQ
Projects fail all the time—no matter the size of the organization or the project. Unfortunately, the causes are frequently overlooked (or ignored!). Some common reasons for project failure include missed deadlines, communication breakdowns, disengaged stakeholders, project team members who are pulled away to work on other projects, and project burnout. There can be even more challenges, but you get the picture!
In 2018 Build-a-Bear Workshop ran a one-day national marketing campaign that turned into a very public project failure. “Pay-Your-Age Day” meant that children on summer break would be able to spend less than the usual $20+ to build a teddy bear. And the promotion quickly went viral. On the day of the event, customers began waiting in line hours before stores even opened—stores were quickly overrun and employees overwhelmed. The influx was so massive that Build-a-Bear Workshop shut down the event by midday. The company then had to deal with the negative publicity as angry customers turned to social media to share their ire.
Why was this project such a failure? The main contributing factor was lack of risk management. No one had considered key questions dealing with inventory levels or the ability to meet demand. If they had, the company could have put plans in place to anticipate customer demand.
Risk management is a key strategy to address such questions, but unfortunately many project managers do a lackluster job when it comes to identifying and managing risks.
Let’s review some useful tips to help you avoid project management pitfalls.
Begin With the End in Mind
A mindset of “I don’t like thinking about the worst” can bring disaster on your project. While optimism is great, failure to do a thorough risk assessment and develop a plan of action will certainly lead to trouble. The key to avoiding this situation is to look at the big picture and consider as many possibilities for failure as you can.
I like to use a crystal ball exercise to help look at the big picture. (It’s basically a premortem, but that sounds a bit morbid and clinical to me.) Here’s how it works:
• Imagine the project’s failure in detail.
• Generate the reasons for the failure.
• Consolidate the list of reasons.
• Develop action plans (and back-up action plans).
• Revisit the plan.
This exercise can help you think creatively, rather than getting stuck in the weeds. Once you identify all the risks, you can develop a plan to deal with them before they happen.
Include Stakeholders in the Risk Management Conversation
Conversations around risk management should involve everyone—from the stakeholders to the support staff. Lack of stakeholder engagement can create problems on many fronts and potentially lead to a total derailment of your project.
Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Just because you’ve spent time up front identifying risks and making a plan for how to deal with them doesn’t mean your job is done once you start implementing the project. Be ready to take action should new or unexpected issues pop up. It’s called risk management for a reason!
Dealing with project setbacks can be one of the most disheartening experiences of your professional life, forcing you to deal with fear, frustration, and feelings of failure. However, identifying potential issues that can derail your project and having a solid plan for dealing with them when they arise can alleviate those negative experiences. Remember, it’s all about planning and prevention!
Suggestions for Success
Throughout the four Dare phases, prepare to make changes to your plan. Over the years, we’ve worked with other project management experts who have documented their own processes and shared the tools and techniques they have developed for effective project management. Let’s review some of their advice to prepare you for whatever comes along.
Document the Scope
One of the most useful things you can do is spend some time on a project scope diagram like the one in Figure 42-1. We like to start by placing a star or circle in the middle to represent the project. Then we place sticky notes representing stakeholder roles around the outside of the star. The flow of information is documented with arrows going into or out of the center.
While the project manager is not shown in the graphic, you can think of that person as being “in the star” role. They sit in the middle, keeping track of the stakeholders and guiding the information flow. There are other rules as well:
• The project sponsor is always on the top. Like all work, it’s good practice to communicate frequently with the leader.
• Each arrow (in and out of the center) represents work that someone must do.
• Each arrow must touch the middle on one end or the other and should never be double-headed, because that will create confusion.
• A dotted line connecting critical stakeholders is a useful visual cue.
Figure 42-1. Sample Project Scope Diagram
Document the Project Objectives
You will have one (and only one) business objective. For example, the project may require choosing between increasing revenue or avoiding cost based on the goal. Unlike the business objective, project objectives can have many variations. Project objectives clarify the promise you made to deliver the project. Objectives are measurable and attainable. Remember, everything you establish will always be in draft until the project is over.
Communicate With Stakeholders
During the project it is critical to communicate with each stakeholder as much as possible. Great project managers build confidence by sending regular, predictable status reports.
Identify all Support Materials
Eventually, your project will be completed, and you will move on to another one. As you are building the project, be mindful of the artifacts you may need. In L&D, that may include things like facilitator guides, logistic guides, supply lists, cutover plans, marketing plans, and other support related to your development options.
Customize for Your Preferred ISD Process
There are many variations for building out the tasks and task dependencies required to complete a project. This will also include methods like ADDIE, SAM, Agile, or design thinking. Use your preferred process as a reminder of the steps to take while you create your project plan.
Remember the Keys for Scheduling
There are three key concepts for building the project schedule:
• Tasks and duration. What work needs to be done, in what order, and for how long?
• People. Who can do the work? (List names, not roles.)
• Time and dates. When must the work be completed?
If you are using a methodology like ADDIE, you’ll need to take its five steps into consideration as you schedule the work. How much time should your ADDIE process take? In 1986, IT genius Capers Jones built a guide for the time to complete phases of ADDIE. Use his estimates for your planning purposes (Table 42-3).
Table 42-3. Capers Jones’s ADDIE Guide
Stage | Time Requirement |
Analysis (needs assessment and requirements) | 30% |
Design (blueprint) | 30% |
Develop (build) | 15% |
Implement (pilot, finish, transition) | 15% |
Evaluate (measure performance change) | 10% |
In addition, consider the following:
• Analysis and design take the most time, but when they’re done well the next steps are easier.
• Expertise is critical to duration. But it always takes longer than you think.
• Always sketch out a schedule before you start.
Manage Change
Managing change is not the same as controlling change. Project managers who are determined to control the schedule will crash and burn. Instead, they need to expect change to occur. Sharing a simple project governance plan can be used to differentiate roles and define how changes will be addressed.
Learn With a Post-Project Review
After a project is completely delivered, it’s not unusual for people to run away as fast as they can. If you reflect just a little before you jump into another project, you will become a more effective project manager and stakeholder in the future.
Here are some questions to ask after a project is completed and before you start another one:
• How close was the project to the scheduled completion date and what drove the issues?
• How accurate was scheduling and could you improve it?
• How close to the budget was the final project cost? What happened?
• How would you improve the budgeting process?
• Did the project output meet customers’ specifications, and how was that measured?
• Was additional work required? Why?
• What did you learn about communication?
• How did staffing affect project success?
• How did the constraints influence the project and what was the cause?
• What techniques will you use on your next projects?
• How could you improve collaboration among stakeholders?
• If you could do the project again, what would you do differently?
Final Thoughts
To be able to deliver the quality content required for our customers requires synergy between the talent development staff, learning and development staff, and project management staff. Typically, talent development has a broad scope. People in talent development work at a higher and broader level, such as talent acquisition, onboarding and engagement, performance management, succession planning, and workforce planning. Depending on your organization, L&D could be involved with some or all of these.
In many organizations, L&D focuses on building learning artifacts (courses, activities) that may reside in only the development and performance management parts of talent development. There could be a disconnect and confusion if talent development and L&D are not collaborating to clearly identify the scope of each other’s work. In some instances, this could cause confusing overlap or gaps. Therefore, it’s important to be clear about responsibilities in each area before starting a project.
Talent development is often more of an ongoing process. Its role doesn’t end—it is a critical element of a strong learning organization. On the other hand, L&D usually builds learning projects for specific outcomes with an end date. To summarize, TD processes don’t have an end date, but L&D projects usually do. Be diligent in your work and make sure the two functions work and complement each other. Remember, the staff running each must be clear about the boundaries of their work and able to react to changes in the business quickly, efficiently, and expertly.
Project management can be used as a stable and repeatable process that keeps both talent development and L&D delivering value to customers. In any case, it is critically important to follow the define, plan, manage, and review process to ensure the results desired.
Whether talent development or L&D, both ensure that a systematic process exists to build employees’ skills and knowledge, resulting in better performance and a more productive workforce to support the organization. Project management can be an extremely valuable tool to talent development and L&D, enhancing organizational success to maximize profits for its owners and stakeholders while maintaining corporate social responsibility.
About the Author
Lou Russell, practice director at Moser Consulting, is an executive consultant, speaker, and author whose passion is to create growth in companies by guiding the growth of their people. In her speaking, training, and writing, Lou draws on 40 years of experience helping organizations achieve their full potential. She inspires improvement in leadership, project management, and individual learning. Lou is the author of seven popular and practical books: IT Leadership Alchemy, The Accelerated Learning Fieldbook, Training Triage, Leadership Training, Project Management for Trainers, 10 Steps to Successful Project Management, and Managing Projects. As a sought-after international speaker, Lou blends her humorous stories with on-the-ground experience to speak to the real problems of the people in the room.
References
Seely, T. 2018. “Build-a-Bear CEO Apologizes for ‘Pay Your Age’ Sale Fail.” USA Today, July 13. usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/07/13/build-bear-ceo-apologies-failed-pay-your-age-sale/782550002.
Recommended Resources
Devaux, S.A. 2015. Managing Projects as Investments: Earned Value to Business Value. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Russell, L. 2012. Managing Projects: A Practical Guide for Learning Professionals. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Russell, L. 2016. Project Management for Trainers, 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.