Clocks, Toddlers, and Project Management

When you facilitate workshops (or teach, or train, or preach, or….), you have to pull illustrations from wherever you can.

Even a toddler’s bedroom. Let me explain.

People marvel when my wife or I explain how we enforced bedtimes (and wake-up times) with our kids when they were young.

When I explain the simple technique, and the principle behind it (The External Authority), any parents in my Project and Vendor Management workshop start scribbling notes furiously. It may be the most high-impact takeaway in the course!

Here’s what we did – we used THE CLOCK as the authority. When THE CLOCK says it’s 8:00 pm, then it’s bedtime. It’s objective and non-personal, and you can’t argue with Mom and Dad, because the external authority has decreed what the reality must be.

Even better – they weren’t allowed to leave their bedrooms in the morning until THE CLOCK said 7 am.

In this way, we remove any nagging negotiation between parent and child by pointing to something “above” all of us, something that carried with it a sense of inevitability and external authority. How can you argue with the march of time??

(Have young children at home? I know you’re scribbling notes right now!!)

OK – so, what does this have to do with project and vendor management, or any other facet of corporate life?

A great deal.

When projects begin to go off the rails due to miscommunication or scope creep, it’s generally because there hasn’t been a carefully defined and articulated project plan. An agreed-upon project definition, with an agreed-upon process, a defined timeline and budget, and an agreed-upon scope of work.

That project plan is THE CLOCK.

The last thing you want to get into as a project manager is a schoolyard brawl with internal stakeholders or external vendors over what has happened to a going-south-project. The project manager(s) often end up getting the blame in these scenarios. This is prevented is by creating a detailed project plan that everyone consciously agrees to up-front. The plan, and its scope, becomes the external authority, reigning in unauthorized changes and enforcing a level of project discipline on all contributing stakeholders.

Now, it’s not you against them. It’s you and them being accountable to The Plan. Which can only be changed by high-level stakeholders (ultimately) responsible for budget and timing.

You can see how the appeal to an external authority is used all the time in corporate life. Sometimes, with very good effect; other times, as an excuse and evasion of responsibility.

For example – what sounds better: “I’m firing you because I just don’t like you,” or, “According to our manual of company behavior, we’re going to have to let you go because you violated Rule #37b on April 12th.” One of these is strictly personal and can lead to a lawsuit; the other has a whiff of objective inevitability.

Or this: “I tried to herd all the cats, but somehow the project ended up 20% over budget and 3 weeks late,” vs. “The VP of Sales signed off on a change to the original scope in order to include 2 extra videos on August 3rd, which impacted the budget by 20% and pushed back our final deliverable by three weeks.”

Are you involved in managing projects or vendors? Your best friend is detailed definition and up-front agreement. You always want to the clock on your side!

Also on the Impactiviti blog: Tossing Trainers into the Deep End of the Pool 

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Let’s Stop Committing Training Malpractice!

Malpractice. I’m on a mission to stop it.

Specifically, the malpractice that happens when unprepared trainers are put in charge of managing projects and vendors.

You can help me stamp out training malpractice! Here’s how…

By and large, people do not join our training departments with these skills already developed. That’s where Impactiviti comes in.

We set you, and your department, up for success by providing training and consulting services to implement best practices in vendor and project management.

Here are our unique offerings to set your department up for success:

• Focused workshop on Best Practices in Vendor and Project Management, imparting the skills and knowledge necessary to transition from field sales, to effective training management and collaboration (coming soon – on-demand eLearning version!)
• Targeted vendor recommendations – we talk about your needs, and I identify (through the Impactiviti network) the ideal vendor(s) to consider.
• Vendor Optimization/Alignment Consulting – see this post about the benefits of a strategic “reset” of your vendor roster.

So, call me and let’s talk (973-947-7429). There is no charge for discussing your training needs, or for receiving vendor recommendations. I can explain more about how that works when we talk.

Let’s set your people up for success!

Also on the blog: Tossing Trainers into the Deep End of the Pool

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Hitting “Reset” on Your Vendor Roster

I recently had the opportunity for most of a week to sit down with a number of my T&D clients and talk about their outsource vendor landscape. As you may relate, every department comes up with a series of vendors that are accumulated over time (by various people, for various reasons), until the picture looks somewhat like this:

Look familiar? Don’t worry, you’re in good company!

It’s called accumulation by accretion, and it happens all the time (this is especially prevalent in companies that have been growing rapidly, have re-organized recently, or have been through a merger).

In that collection there are a few go-to vendors (who may be getting overloaded), there are under-performers, and there are definitely some mis-matches. And, with the turnover of training personnel over time, there is often a lack of clear understanding of vendor competencies.

Every once in a while, a department needs a Reset, which is what several clients were discussing with me:

The Reset process involves a department-wide analysis, evaluation, and categorization process, including an aligning of current vendors with their core competencies, and the identification of new suppliers to fill in current and future gaps. The outcome? Strategic resource alignment and a go-forward Vendor Map.

This brief video explains:

Operational excellence only comes about by intelligent planning. It’s something we do here at Impactiviti – partnering with clients to bring order to the outsourcing process.

This process, joined to a training workshop on Best Practices for Project and Vendor Management, is a big step forward in Operational Excellence for the department. Optimization of outsource resources can result in major budget savings and far more successful execution of projects.

Also on the blog: Tossing Trainers Into the Deep End of the Pool

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Tossing Trainers into the Deep End of the Pool

I have often likened what happens to new Life Sciences sales trainers coming in from the field as being tossed into the deep end of the pool – at least, when it comes to figuring out how to perform unfamiliar tasks like vendor and project management!

And yet – what is one of the most important competencies listed by our life sciences training leaders? That’s right – Project Management.

The ability of training managers to plan and execute projects is crucial to their success. The last two editions of LTEN FOCUS Magazine certainly make that abundantly clear:

(derived from LTEN/TGaS Advisors survey, FOCUS magazine, Spring 2017)

(derived from LTEN/TGaS Advisors survey, FOCUS magazine, Winter 2016)

Over the last 20+ years working with Life Sciences T&D departments, I have found a consistent gap in the on-boarding and developmental training of staff in the key skills required for project and vendor management. I don’t know how many people I’ve talked to who have nodded knowingly when I talk about “the deep end of the pool.”

Yet, here’s a crucial perspective to understand – the competencies developed for this role are central to ALL future roles, because, if you think about it – it’s all about pro-active collaboration skills (planning, influencing, communicating, defining, process-shepherding, teaming, evaluating, etc.).

It’s not merely project management – it’s corporate life.

So, here’s the 10 million dollar question – are we training our trainers to become effective vendor and project managers? Or are they being thrown into the deep end of the pool to “learn as they go” the hard way?

We certainly don’t send sales reps out that way, do we?

So…what’s the solution?

Impactiviti offers industry-specific training for Project and Vendor Management. This targeted program (delivered either on-demand or live) is built specifically for Life Sciences training departments, and has been embraced by many top companies over the past 6 years.

We address all the money-saving best practices that lead to successful engagements with vendors. The things that you definitely don’t want to have to learn the hard way. Here’s an overview of what we cover:

The Impactiviti workshop is available in both live and on-demand formats.

It’s time to put an end to lost training budget dollars and preventable mistakes that lead to project failures. Contact Steve Woodruff at Impactiviti (973-947-7429; AskSteve@impactiviti.com) to discuss how we can help you implement these best practices in your training department.

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A Titanic On-Boarding Disaster

Way back over a decade ago, when I was still working with a vendor company, we ended up involved in a project that started taking on water and sinking fast.

The main reason why? Company failure to effectively on-board a new training manager.

This high-profile, pre-launch project was not with some small-time startup pharma. It was with a division of a major drug company. And there was a perfect storm of circumstances that propelled this project toward disaster.

This learning system initiative was begun with one trainer heading up this department, who then was cycled to a new position. A new trainer was brought on board from the field, who had no prior experience in training.

Or managing projects.

Or working with vendors.

And whose on-boarding (if there was any) didn’t even include awareness of the headquarters Medical/Legal/Regulatory review process!

Rough waters? Oh, it gets worse.

This drug was a co-promote with a startup that had never commercialized a product before, but which had its say in any kind of training and messaging to be developed!

Needless to say, this effort devolved into a navigational nightmare. It was not at all clear how were going to arrive at a safe destination.

Perhaps it was a mercy that the drug was ultimately not approved by the FDA.

Many vendor/partners have similar stories they can tell. A lack of best practices in project and vendor management can lead to very expensive mistakes and inefficiencies.

While there are many lessons to be learned from this incident, one of the key ones for me was: companies need to quickly and pro-actively on-board their trainers with the skills and knowledge needed for their new set of responsibilities. This is a relatively small up-front investment with a huge ROI in role effectiveness.

I never forgot how disruptive the incomplete on-boarding training was to to this overwhelmed trainer as he faced a bunch of unfamiliar challenges. In fact, it was one of the incidents that led me to eventually develop the Impactiviti Project/Vendor Management workshop for life sciences trainers, which we’ve delivered for many training departments over the past years.

Costly disasters like this one are preventable. Contact Steve Woodruff at Impactiviti (973-947-7429; AskSteve@impactiviti.com) to discuss best practices in on-boarding your trainers, including the annual subscription to our Project/Vendor Management course (also available this spring in on-demand format!)

ALSO: Five Compelling Reasons to Provide Project Management Training

 

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Do You “Own” Your Training?

– WORK FOR HIRE –

I always ask in my Vendor/Project Management Best Practices workshop – does anyone know what these three words mean?

Almost nobody ever does.

Not knowing what “work for hire” means can lead to very costly mistakes when outsourcing training development to vendors.

In this quick video, I explain why every trainer needs to know about those 3 words:

Work For Hire addresses the critical issue of who “owns” the content/solutions/platform being used for your training initiative. This is not something salespeople coming into training from the field can be expected to know about – at least, not without proper on-boarding regarding vendor and project management.

Some clients have paid for training content to be developed, but because the ownership of the actual materials (the IP, or Intellectual Property) was not properly spelled out in the contract, they have had to pay over and over again for the expanded use of the content.

In such a case, three words were missing in the Statement of Work: Work For Hire.

Other clients have ruined relationships with valued vendors by treating licensed training content as if it was now owned by the client, and therefore usable/reproducible at will.

That’s called…well, stealing.

I’ve spoken with vendors over the years who have had their workshops ripped off by clients (deliberately or inadvertently) because these issues of Intellectual Property were not properly understood and enforced. It has costly ramifications, both legal and relational (and reputational).

These matters of intellectual property, licensing, ownership, and usage are some of the many business-critical issues we cover in the Vendor/Project Management Best Practices workshop. I have delivered this workshop “live” for a number of major pharmaceutical companies over the years.

This proven program will be available this spring for my life sciences clients in on-demand (eLearning, annual subscription) format, so that your training managers can gain these skills at any time.

Contact Steve Woodruff at Impactiviti (AskSteve@impactiviti.com) for details.

SEE ALSO: Stop Losing Those Training Dollars!

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Stop Losing Those Training Dollars!

If you could invest $10 to gain $100 (or to keep from losing $100), would you do it?

I would.

Especially if that same investment could keep my team from embarrassing failures and losses. That’s why we invest in training trainers in Project and Vendor Management Best Practices.

Putting training managers in charge of outsourced training development projects is risky business. Here are some of the common (& very expensive) failures that regularly arise:

• Poorly-defined specifications that lead to scope changes (always more $$!)
• Miscommunications with internal stakeholders and external vendors leading to missed deadlines
• Choosing the wrong supplier for the project and ending up with a costly, sub-standard deliverable
• Time and money lost trying to get an out-of-control project on track due to lack of clear process

I worked on the vendor side for 10 years and saw first-hand how costly it can be to have people running projects who have never been trained in the basic principles of project and vendor management.

I have also served as a vendor/client consultant for almost 11 additional years, and I cringe to remember all the budget dollars I’ve seen floating out the windows of client training departments. One bad decision in just one year’s time can lead to losses of 20K, 50K, even 100K or more.

You’ve seen this happen before, right? Maybe multiple times.

What’s the solution?

Impactiviti offers industry-specific training for Vendor/Project Management. This targeted program (delivered either on-demand or live) is built specifically for Life Sciences training departments, and has been embraced by many top companies over the past 6 years.

We address all the money-saving best practices that lead to successful engagements with vendors. Here’s on overview of what we cover:

It’s time to put an end to lost training budget dollars and preventable mistakes that lead to project failures. Contact Steve Woodruff at Impactiviti (973-947-7429) to discuss the best investment for your training department.

ALSO: Five Compelling Reasons to Provide Project Management Training

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Align those Expectations!

Have you ever built something that didn’t come out quite as expected?? :>)

Of course you have. Join the club.

In a recent post about successful project management, I explained the fact that we need to carefully define all aspects of the project, because we each have different meanings of words floating around in our heads (I call this the “mental metadata” issue).

Your idea of a “module” may be quite different from mine – your mental hashtags may not match mine at all, though we are using the same word. Misunderstandings like this derail many a project.

Closely related to reaching agreement on the meaning of words is this next step – being sure our expectations are aligned.

I wish I knew who to credit with this brilliant graphic, because I use it all the time in my Vendor/Project Management workshop, and it never fails to elicit a knowing chuckle:

Learning how to properly describe and scope out a project is one of the key ingredients to success. The trainer/project manager needs to pro-actively work with internal stakeholders and external vendors to make sure that there is a clear roadmap, with a well-described deliverable at the end – BEFORE any work begins!

In fact, I challenge project managers to drive agreement by distilling the essence of the project – its key expectations, including business outcomes – down to a simple, one-sentence summary:

Contact us here at Impactiviti to discuss how we can help your department move toward best practices in project and vendor management (AskSteve@Impactiviti.com; 973-947-7429).

See also: 5 Compelling Reasons to provide Project Management Training

 

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5 Compelling Reasons to Provide Project Management Training

Here in the Life Sciences training arena, we have a steady flow of people moving from the field to the home office, often involving a rotation in Sales Training.

This can be a great thing for professional development.

However, one the areas of need often pinpointed for on-boarding and developmental training is Project/Vendor Management. See the graphic below:

Why is Project Management competency so important? Here are 5 reasons:

1. Sales people moving into roles of training/management have been trained in selling skills, but rarely in operational/process skills like Project Management.
2. Managing projects and vendors is a high-profile activity involving lots of budget dollars. Failed execution can deeply impact the reputation of the trainer and the department.
3. PM training equips training managers with communication skills, and collaboration strategies, that will carry over into all subsequent leadership roles.
4. Those new to managing projects and vendors need proven tools, procedures, and frameworks in order to succeed.
5. PM training provides a standardized set of processes and a common language so that the entire department can reinforce best practices.

Successfully managing projects and vendors is learning, in a collaborative environment, how to move an initiative forward from A to B. This is a much needed corporate skill, and should not be left to chance or good intentions. Focused training is required.

Of course, not all project management training is equal. Impactiviti has devoted years to developing and customizing modules that are precisely aligned to commercial life sciences training professionals. This training can be delivered live (on-site), or virtually (or both).

Contact us to discuss how we can help your department move toward best practices in project and vendor management (AskSteve@Impactiviti.com).

 

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Lessons from the “Dark Side”

The Star Wars Rogue One movie comes out this week, so what better time to discuss moving over to the “Dark Side” than today?

(for those not yet in the know, sometimes training professionals within life sciences companies take on new career roles with vendor-providers. This is, tongue-in-cheek, referred to as moving to the Dark Side!)

In the Life Sciences industry, there’s a close collaboration between people in Training and Development departments, and their outside vendors. In fact, many people cross over from one side to another at points in their career – some for a season, and others permanently.

 Life is not the same on both sides of this fence. We discussed what it is like to launch a consultancy in an earlier post, but for this article, I’ve interviewed three industry professionals who have worked on both the client and the vendor side. Here is the question we’re working with: what are the main lessons learned about the nature of work once we leave the training department and join the “Dark Side”?

According to Andrea Pagnozzi (who has done multiple stints in training within pharma and medical device companies, and also worked for a time with a training vendor), one of the biggest realizations was how many people, and moving parts, were involved in developing training on the vendor side. While clients within T&D departments only see a few faces (typically an account manager and a project manager), there is, in fact, a whole host of professionals involved in a tightly-choreographed dance behind the scenes. Most vendors don’t burden their clients with all those details, and rightly so; however, it is important to remember that every change or delay in a project has ripple effects in the workflow behind the scenes.

Having worked on the vendor side for many years, I know about this first hand. To help clients understand, I often show a picture of the inner workings of a clock – you know, the old-fashioned kind with lots of gears – to build awareness that there is just as much complexity and collaboration on a project on one side of the fence as there is on the other. That’s why a detailed project plan is so important – it keeps everyone on track so that the development process does not spin out of control.

David Boyle, who has worn a variety of hats within large life sciences companies as well as with training vendors, stated that he has ended up learning far more about learning development from being on the vendor side. Those who cycle into training roles in pharma/biotech/med device organizations often only receive a bare minimum amount of training in project management and instructional design, and many times are not empowered to take a holistic view of existing training assets compared to the short-term necessities of the project at hand. As an outside supplier, David has found that he can often take a more strategic view of any given project and approach the needs more thoroughly. This underscores how important it can be to allow vendors to serve as strategic partners, and to bring their expertise and outside view to bear. This approach can end up saving enormous amounts of time and effort.

Sue Iannone has occupied many leadership roles in major training organizations over the years, having worked on countless initiatives both small and large. Recently, Sue took on a leadership role with a vendor/partner, and her input to me revolved around how absolutely crucial it is (for both sides!) to arrive at a very clear project definition. Most of the time, we tend to have a basket of problems on our minds, which, when unloaded on a vendor, may lead to a lack of clarity. Sue suggests a strategic definition session when appropriate, perhaps including a whiteboard, to try to narrow down the scope of the project and arrive at the true strategic business imperatives. This approach helps clients to get exactly what they need.

Those who know me well know that I often promote the phrase, “You can’t read the label of the jar you’re in.” One of the most valuable roles a vendor can play is to bring outside perspective and holistic thinking. All of us get too involved in our own forest and trees, and working more closely with smart and collaborative vendors in the definition process will always lead to greater success.

One interesting point that those on the vendor/partner side bring up is that the opportunity set is different when working with provider companies. Vendors tend to be much leaner, and generally value creativity and initiative more than conformity and narrow focus. The pace is faster, the hats you wear are more varied, and the “cocoon” of infrastructure that one often enjoys on the inside of a client company just isn’t there. Moving in one direction or the other can be scary for some, but refreshing and empowering for others. In either case, it’s a great growing experience!

More in the Impactiviti Interview series:

Training Journey – From Major Pharma to Startup

Training for the New World of Specialty Pharma

Becoming a Consultant – Should You?

Two Keys to Successful Product Launches

Clinical Training Innovation at Depomed

Development of Field Leadership at Gilead Sciences – “Touchpoints”

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