It is documented that over 65% of post FID capital projects globally are late and over-budget. And for every $1 billion dollars of Capex spent, $75M are at risk just due to ineffective communications alone.
Projects are built by people — individuals, groups and teams — yet most Project Management is focused on the technical, resourcing, structural and KRA's side of the equation. All of which are vital and extremely important.
As substantiated by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, PMI, Independent Project Analysis (IPA), Ernst and Young and the Off-Shore Technology Conference (OTC): "the majority of factors that make a project successful do not relate to technical content but rather to human behavior and human issues."
Personnel issues, mindsets, cultural norms, mores, communication, perceptions, and alignment are some of the human factors that influence individuals and teams thinking, actions, decisions and performance. What these institutions make clear is the importance of effectively addressing the 'Human Side of Performance.'
Additionally, many project teams involve multiple cultures and ethnicities at varying levels of experience. Hence Peter Drucker's famous observation: "Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast."
High Performance Projects are a new approach to conducting business and delivering projects — a departure from traditional "owner/contractor" project mindset and practices. It takes the capacity to dissolve traditional silos and continuously develop new innovative solutions to problems that seem insurmountable in the old mindset. High Performance Projects require meaningful collaboration, coordinated action and communication, and "project first" decision-making.
A High Performance Project is an initiative with a project team organised to achieve a specific set of quantifiable, industry-breaking performance outcomes. These outcomes include and are not limited to the traditional Key Result Areas for success, and require the creation of superior alignment and collaboration between often competing entities.
- Interventional skills for high-performing leadership and teams
- A common performance language to accelerate and coordinate action, productivity and results
- Greater reliability with the exchange of commitments and deliverables
- Keeping oneself and others fueled over the project's long haul
- Retiring counter-productive behaviors and work practices
- Resolving obstacles and bottlenecks with creativity and velocity
- Eliciting the active engagement and participation of stakeholders