PM ADVISORY:

Leading Global Project Teams: Putting Skin in The Game!

Part Two of a Six - Part Series

By Jim Waddell, Independent Consultant
Tim Rahschulte, Associate Professor, George Fox University
and
Russ Martinelli, Intel Corporation

USA

In part one of this series we outlined the five most prominent barriers and three most common challenges of leading global project teams. We will be addressing each of these as we proceed through the entire article series. In this installment of the Leading Global Project Teams series, we will further detail a component of the fifth barrier to global team success – lack of or insufficient support by senior management.

During our research for Leading Global Project Teams (Multi-Media Publications, 2010), we interviewed Jarred Mills. Mills leads a program team located in four U.S. states, including Oregon, California, Texas and New York, as well as locations in Switzerland, Poland and India. He told us that the expanse of globalization in recent decades has severely complicated work. “To say there have been significant challenges [with executing the global strategy] is a vast understatement,” stated Mills. Specifically, he said, “In the beginning, it was easy, or at least easier. There was just one team, one site, and one manager. Then the ‘Global Strategy’ was handed down from our senior leadership team to implement. The strategy aimed to create better products, faster, and cheaper. We started using global teams as part of this strategy. As this new strategy unfurled, facing new complications and complexities became routine.” Like many of the managers in Mills’ company, he became an ‘accidental’ global program manager. The senior leaders of his firm handed down the strategy and simply expected smooth execution to occur...

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About the Author Jim Waddell Co-Author Jim Waddell, former director of program management for Tektronix, is currently an independent management consultant in his fields of expertise: program management and mergers and acquisitions. He has held a variety of management positions, has been a speaker at numerous conferences, and is a co-author of Leading Global Project Teams, and Program Management for Improved Business Results. Jim is a co-founder of the Program Management Academy (www.programmanagement-academy.com). Jim can be contacted at jim.waddell@programmanagement-academy.com.

About the Author Tim Rahschulte Co-Author Tim Rahschulte is responsible for international management and leadership studies at George Fox University in Oregon. Additionally, he consults with state governments on matters of organizational change as a business transition architect. He is a co-author of Leading Global Project Teams, and is an executive director at the Program Management Academy (www.programmanagement-academy.com). Tim can be contacted at tim.rahschulte@programmanagement-academy.com.

About the Author Russ Martinelli Co-Author Russ Martinelli, senior program manager at Intel Corporation, has many years of experience leading global product development teams in both the aerospace and computing industries. Russ is also a co-founder of the Program Management Academy (www.programmanagement-academy.com), and co-author of Leading Global Project Teams and the first comprehensive book on program management titled Program Management for Improved Business Results. Russ can be contacted at russ.martinelli@programmanagement-academy.com