Improving Project Outcomes Through Diversity

Enhancing Project Outcomes with Diverse Teams

By Professor Adam Boddison, chief executive, Association for Project Management

Comfort is the enemy of innovation. Financial services, like a great many other industries, would be doing itself a disservice to be complacent and not embrace diversity and the change that it promises to bring.

In its latest research, Association for Project Management (APM), the chartered membership organisation for the project profession, along with the Universities of Sussex and Southampton, identified nine conditions which organisations should prioritise for greater project success. While the first stage of research, comprising an in-depth literature review, revealed no mentions of diversity, in the next phase consisting of interviews, virtually all of the 37 project professionals and academics questioned remarked on diversity as a condition that could improve project outcomes.

As people from different backgrounds bring their unique knowledge, skills and experience to the table, the rest of the team learns from them, improving innovation and creativity.

If you’re thinking this isn’t relevant to you because you’re not a project manager, think again. Of the project management profession’s £156.6bn annual GVA, financial and professional services accounts for 32 per cent (£50.01bn). And with the meteoric rise of projectification, job titles of people who manage projects vary wildly from account or contracts manager to site supervisor or festival coordinator. The world of work is experiencing a major shift from task-led to project-led approaches, focused on delivering change, and few, if any, sectors are excluded from this.

The global banking and finance sector, in particular, is undergoing rapid digital transformation, embracing cloud migration, automation, AI and data analytics, all of which are re-modelling the everyday work of millions of people in the industry.

Cultivating diversity can help improve your organisation’s project outcomes. However, doing so is not without its challenges. Fortunately, some of the other findings of APM’s research offer a way forward.

Interpersonal skills

Diversity’s absence from APM’s literature review suggests companies are only just starting to truly recognise its importance and embrace it. Leaders need to be prepared to handle potential disputes and to productively, and positively, manage the conflict that may arise from a diversity of perspectives.

A massive 97 per cent of survey respondents highlighted interpersonal skills as important or very important for project success, making this the most valued condition in the study. Managers with well-developed interpersonal skills empower, motivate and influence team members, which can, in turn, enhance project outcomes. Good communication is associated with improved team-building and the ability to avoid conflict before it becomes an issue.

Team spirit

Once leaders are confident with positively handling diverse perspectives, they can set a strong example for their team members. Team ethos is another significant contributor to project success, with 92 per cent of respondents highlighting it as important or very important.

Trust and transparency are key indicators for team ethos. Without either of these, people with differing opinions or backgrounds might not feel confident speaking up or participating.

Leaders should make diversity a common value for their team to work toward, empowering all voices to contribute. This has the potential to have a significant knock-on effect, creating a legacy which team members will take to future projects.

Knowledge management

A relatively well-understood concept in project management, effective knowledge management facilitates cross-pollination of new knowledge between ongoing projects. Learning from past projects and exchanging knowledge with colleagues are important elements of this.

By creating a specific role for knowledge management within project frameworks, organisations can save on valuable resource, while helping improve the perceived value of diversity for project success.

Training and mentoring

While knowledge management and team ethos help create legacies, making a lasting, positive impact can be more challenging for less experienced or newer team members.

APM’s research highlighted the importance of balancing formal training and informal mentoring, with the latter ranked the highest success indicator. Traditionally, mentoring involves more senior members in an organisation supporting younger members to help them avoid pitfalls. Encouraging reverse mentoring as well, where the support works in the other direction, can help tap into newer and younger team members’ experiences and actively draw out diverse perspectives.

Including mentoring in a formal plan for learning, and reserving budget for it, will help make sure you don’t miss a valuable opportunity. Some UK government organisations use a 70-20-10 approach, denoting the percentage amount of learning on the job, from mentoring and shadowing, and classroom-based learning.

Looking ahead

Diversity is one of those concepts that, unfortunately, risks becoming a box-ticking exercise, superficial and meaningless. However, there are real tangible benefits for change, innovation and creativity.

Fintech disruptors have clearly demonstrated how innovations and fresh thinking can shatter the old order, and begin to meet the customer experience needs of more diverse audiences. Reaching the world’s unbanked and improving the financial health of all will only be possible if a holistic approach to diversity is embedded across organisations.

It is by no means easy, and requires strong leadership with excellent communication skills to set the tone for the rest of the team, supported by a well-thought-out approach to knowledge management and training.

Before anything else, enshrining diversity as a shared value across teams is the first step to demonstrating the real, positive difference it can make and establishing its legacy.