Redesigning and Improving Efficiency in the Project vs. Line Organization
What?
A large asset project organization needed to significantly increase their scalability. Accordingly, they reorganized the powers reserved in the organization. Going forward, the EPC asset projects would operate much more as a busines unit with support from the line organization and with a separate project line organization overseeing future engineering.
The scalability was created by designing a highly matrixed organization with 85% of all staff consistently working in a matrix set-up. This enabled the organization to better stretch the delivery capability while ensuring that they not only looked out for tomorrow but also three or five years ahead in technical and competence development.
The EPC projects were characterized by being 3-year projects in which up to half of the project staff would spend 90% of their time in the project throughout the three years.
How We Make a Difference
The fundamental challenge for the organization was how to drive effective people selection, de-selection, development and assessment in this organizational structure. As such, the “core” leadership role was split between the EPC project organization and the line organization.
Our Role Was To:
Define the touch points on people matters between project managers and line managers
Outline roles and responsibilities in people matters between project managers and line managers
Deliver leadership transformation programs where we trained partly the project managers and line mangers in their respective unique roles and partly the same parties in their shared roles.
The programs would include some leadership skills training. But by far the most important thing was to train the parties in the people processes and the touch points between the parties. At the end of the day, it is to a lesser extent the lack of skills that stands in the way of success. What is much more important is the leadership mindset and the appreciation of how leaders create value in their roles.