For some of us, the idea of embarking on a new project in addition to, or instead of, the day job is a positive. It’s a possibility that sparks feelings of optimism, engenders a positive attitude and brings with it an eagerness to embrace change.
For others, however, the thought of having to take on a project is more likely to prompt feelings of stress or anxiety. It may cause worry about the workload, or lack of knowledge or experience to manage the project. It might cause anxiety about success or potentially making career-limiting mistakes.
All of these negative feelings are totally understandable, and yet most of us are likely to be faced with a project at some point in our careers, whether we face them with dread or embrace them with enthusiasm.
The good news is that with a few simple techniques, projects – even complex ones – are entirely manageable. It is possible to keep ourselves and our colleagues on track in a way that helps everyone involved to remain motivated, organised and successful.
The key weapons in your armoury are careful planning, a communications strategy, and simple tracking and reporting. It is particularly important to ensure you keep very organised and that you prioritise different activities effectively.
Let’s take as an example the implementation of a new treasury management system (TMS), a project at the heart of many treasury departments.
Plan carefully
Before you get going, it is particularly important to establish what resources are available. This stage is absolutely key, particularly the budget. You will also need to establish the timescales you will be working to.
Begin by taking an objective look at the resources required. Be realistic about the time needed to put the system in place. Consider any obstacles that could interfere with the implementation, such as an acquisition or internal restructure.
The key weapons are careful planning, a communications strategy, and simple tracking and reporting
Consider an external consulting budget and, importantly, do consider what support might be available internally. Projects, particularly systems implementations, can provide great opportunities for a team member to step into new challenges. Consider also whether external operational support will be required.
Before launch, there are several other key planning areas that must be considered. For instance, it is important to really ensure everyone who needs to be involved is engaged from the start. Try to keep it simple by addressing the following:
Ensuring everyone stays in the loop is easier if you establish a framework and a regular pattern for meetings and catch-ups. One approach might be to:
Preparing these in advance sets up expectations among your stakeholders. It also ensures that you can get regular time with the people who matter to discuss any issues that arise along the way. Bear in mind that it is easier to cancel a regular meeting that you really don’t need than set up an ad hoc one with busy people.
A simple one-page summary of key deliverables listed by row, with key actions by column, and with room for a few words on the status of each action can be shared with all on a regular basis.
It is a simple approach and quick and easy to maintain. If push comes to shove, your summary document can provide a useful audit history if you later need to refer back to any elements or work streams that may have gone off-track.
In addition:
Knowing what to prioritise and when is critically important. Following on from the early stages of scoping and system selection, you move to the implementation stage.
The following are the key steps in an implementation:
Taking static data as an example, ensuring that this activity is considered early in the project is vital, as it will impact the ability to move to the next stages.
Likewise, understanding the rules for integration of accounting transactions into the ERP is something that needs to be clearly understood early on. Despite the fact the activity is posted ‘go live’, the configuration is done upfront.
There will be other activities that will add value to the business, such as the setting up of an in-house bank or automating withholding tax and interest calculations.
They are no less important, but could form part of a second phase of implementation, so that the initial or primary phase of implementation is not impacted by too many work streams vying for limited resource.
Generally, the tangible tasks within a project are quite objective, and will feel familiar to you and your stakeholder. For the most part, achieving buy-in around a shared set of objectives tends to be reasonably straightforward. However, a project of any scale brings change and it cannot be underestimated that change can be a real roadblock to moving forward for some.
Take time to consider the following aspects during your interaction with stakeholders throughout the project: does this person feel their job may be at risk? Do they feel intimidated by changes in technology and are worried about asking questions? Quite often people do not feel comfortable asking questions when they feel they should already know the answer.
Genuinely encourage a culture where all questions are welcome
Being alert to these kinds of issues and having empathy towards those impacted will go a long way to ensuring success for all. It can be as simple as listening a bit harder. Genuinely encourage a culture where all questions are welcome. Everyone who has an input is important, and if issues or technical matters need to be covered three times over – all well and good. What is important is to keep the team’s motivation up and provide reassurance whenever possible, and assist with finding a solution where necessary.
To wrap up, planning, consultation, resource allocation, engagement, tracking, scheduling regular calls and reporting are all key to the successful delivery of your project.
Any implementation will require broad scoping at the outset. Here are a few features that can be factored in:
Key reasons for a new TMS
Choosing a system
Key early actions
Nichol Burgess is managing director of Treasury Consultancy Services, and a treasury consultant with wide experience of transformation projects
This article was taken from The Treasurer magazine. For more great insights, log in to view the full issue or sign up for eAffiliate membership
