Project Management for Human Resource Managers

As an HR Manager, you are asked to juggle a wide range of assignments and sometimes add on special assignments as needed. Attracting new talent, completing annual performance reviews, launching and executing new training programs, are some examples of the projects that you complete. You are also often called upon to handle organization-wide projects that involve multiple departments and interdisciplinary teams.

Getting the results your organization expects, doing things effectively, efficiently, and systematically requires you to have fundamental knowledge about project management. In this article, you will learn what project management is and the various approaches to project management. Developing your project management skills will not only help you build a good reputation but will also reduce stress for yourself and your team members.

Understanding Project Management

Project management is the process of achieving goals that contribute to the objectives. Projects often have deadlines, fixed budgets, and involve a number of activities and people. Project managers organize, monitor, and take appropriate corrective actions when necessary.

Project Management Methodologies

Following are some of the most widely used project management frameworks

PRINCE2B.
PRINCE2B. is a globally-recognized, customizable, methodology that teaches the fundamental skills needed for project managers. Project managers use PRINCE2B. to manage project risk, establish base costs, keep the lines of communication open, and clarify people's roles.

Human Resource professionals can use PRINCE2B. to create a workforce capable of taking a multi-skilled approach to developing the business. You can continue to produce new teams or enhance service delivery by skilling up people using this approach. PRINCE2B. can greatly help in reducing the risk of duplication of effort, complexity, and disagreement.

PMBOKB.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) standards provide guidelines for achieving a specific project, program, and portfolio management results. The PMI PMBOKB. Guide and Standards centre around common project management skills such as budgeting, managing inputs and outputs, and more.

PMBOK breaks human resources management down into human resource planning, acquisition of team members, developing the project team, and team management.

Agile Project Management

Agile Project Management (APM) is a way by which a project can be broken down into smaller cycles called sprints, or iterations. It allows teams to release segments of the project, that are completed.

Agile processes can be used by HR teams in many ways such as holding retrospective and daily stand-up meetings, incorporating agile into the hiring process, employee training, continual learning, and monitoring employee feedback.

Building a Strong Foundation for Your Project

The first step to setting up a project is to evaluate many factors that include objectives, risks, benefits, and budget. This includes building a business case to get approval and funding, using tools such as Risk impact or probability charts to estimate the likelihood of their occurrence, and using a project charter that sets up the project's purpose and expectations for the team members.

Setting up Your Project

Scheduling helps in juggling a number of people working on different tasks during a project. Effective scheduling tools include developing action plans for small projects that outline the important steps or tasks, Gantt charts for medium and large projects for efficient delivery, and Gap Analysis that helps identify what you need to do to meet the objectives of the project.

Managing the Scope

Tools used to help prevent scope creep, and keep your project tightly focused include Business Requirements Analysis, the MoSCoW Method wherein you agree with Stakeholders what will and what will not be delivered as part of the project, and scope control that controls people making too many additions or changes during the project.

Developing Support for Your Projects

Your project may need to win over, gain the approval and support of several stakeholders that include your leadership team, your customers, or your suppliers. To identify prioritize, and understand your stakeholders, a process called Stakeholder Analysis is used in project management. To define responsibilities for key tasks, a tool called 'The Responsibility Assignment Matrix' is used. Influencer maps are used to identify the noticeable and not so noticeable influencers on your project.

Communicating Your Project

Tools used to communicate your project effectively include project dashboards, project milestone reports, and scrum meetings. They help in communicating with speed, evaluating the progress of the project, keeping the team motivated, and project moving forward.

Managing Change

Managing change requires project managers to learn how to approach cultural issues that could slow down or derail a project, and learn how to implement a change the right way. Also, project managers use a framework called Kotter's 8-Step Change Model to achieve the project's objectives.

Project Analysis

Project Analysis is critical to evaluate the progress of the project and keep it continuously improving. 'After Action Review (AAR) Process' helps evaluate and make adjustments as necessary and boost performance. Post Implementation Review (PIR) is a process wherein a project manager takes time to reflect on the completed project to make improvements for the future.

The many approaches, processes, tools, and tasks discussed in this article require project managers to be instructed, educated, and trained in the area of project management. It is one of the most important skills that a Human Resource Professional must acquire and enhance.

We welcome you to attend our 3-Day Certification Program Project Management for Human Resources. You will learn to plan, execute, and manage projects to get desired results on time, on budget, on target; prevent scope creep, stop firefighting, and put your effort into solving the problem; define potential risks and develop contingency plans; use simple tools to manage projects of any size; and provide stakeholders with the results they expect. This program is highly interactive, with many workshops, activities, and a Case Study. In the Case Study, you will apply all the tools and techniques and lock in your learning. You will leave with many resources and a plan to implement what you have learned at work.