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Integrating Benefits Realization and Strategy Execution … What Took Us So Long?

August 18, 2016 | by Deborah Bigelow Crawford

Benefits Realization isn't a luxury … it is key to sustained organizational improvement.

I just finished reading PMI’s new research on the “Benefits realization management and strategic project success analysis of UK, USA, and Brazil.”   I found the research quite interesting, and it energized some thoughts, starting with revisiting our approach to strategy execution.

PM Solutions’ Strategy Execution model is based on the idea, which also underpins the BR model developed by our colleagues in the United Kingdom, that “you start with the end in mind.” You need to strategize on what change initiatives will benefit your organization most.  Once you know what changes you are pursuing to add value to your organization, then you select projects that will provide the output and outcomes necessary to meet those strategic objectives, and thus produce those business changes.

The next step, after developing your business strategy and prioritizing your portfolio with these benefit-driven projects, is managing and monitoring these projects.  Doing this with a “benefit management mindset” makes this process more forward-looking than our traditional way of managing projects.  This new approach is dynamic always looking for and identifying emerging benefits and dis-benefits.  A Benefits Profile should be developed for each benefit, noting how it will be measured, associated KPIs, the dependencies, and any other pertinent information. Throughout this process, you are not just creating your Precedence Diagram for project activities but, in parallel, you are creating a Benefits Dependency Map.  In addition to the traditional Risk Register, you now have a Benefits Register.  You can see how benefits management can easily be integrated into project management but there are a few major differences that we will be capturing in our Strategy Execution model:

  1. Benefits Realization begins in Strategy Development, and filters down through the portfolio selection process, with the anticipated benefits clearly described and planned in the business case.
  2. New tools, such as a Benefits Register, Benefit Profiles, a Benefits Realization Plan, and a Benefits Performance Scorecard are done in parallel with our traditional project management tools.
  3. The Benefits Realization model is forward looking, always trying to identify emerging benefits and dis-benefits.  It is an iterative process with continuous looping back in all process areas.
  4. The Benefits Realization model exists beyond the project closure.  As such, transition of the benefits management must be accounted for in the project’s work breakdown structure. The embedded changes are continuously measured and reviewed until the benefits projected in the business case are realized.

Integrating Benefits Realization into Strategy Execution is not  a luxury … it is key to sustained organizational improvement.  We’re excited to be leading this new way of thinking in a way that makes Benefits Realization adoption stick!    

About the Author

Deborah Bigelow Crawford

Deborah Bigelow Crawford has more than 20 years of experience in business management and handles the operational and administrative functions of PM Solutions. Ms. Bigelow Crawford also serves as President of the PM College®, PM Solutions' training division, where she is responsible for the fiscal management and quality assurance of all training and professional development programs. Prior to joining PM Solutions, she served as the Executive Director of the Project Management Institute (PMI), and was instrumental in providing the foundation and infrastructure for the exponential growth that the Institute has maintained over the last 10 years. In addition, she served as the Executive Director of the PMI Educational Foundation. Over the last decade, she has authored numerous articles in PM Network, Chief Project Officer, and Optimize magazines. Ms. Bigelow Crawford is also co-author of the book Project Management Essentials. She has presented a variety of papers as a speaker at international symposia and conferences, and is a member of the National Association of Female Executives and the Project Management Institute.

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Deborah Bigelow Crawford

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