Jul 10, 2017

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PM Solutions Launches New Research Initiative Focused on Helping Organizations with Strategic Execution Process Benchmarking

A recent PMI study indicates $122 million is wasted for every $1 billion invested in strategic initiatives. And this is to say nothing of the opportunity costs to organizations when strategies are not implemented fully.

PM Solutions, a project management consulting and training firm dedicated to helping organizations drive performance and operational efficiency, is pleased to announce our newest research initiative The Strategic Execution Process Benchmark: Integrating Projects, Programs, and Portfolios for Strategic Success.

For decades, business research has shown that only a fraction of the strategic plans that companies form are ever fully implemented. A 2012 Gartner CFO Advisory Forum stated that portfolio investment success rates are less than 60%; considering only investment in projects that directly relate to revenue growth, the success rate was under 50%; and only 25% of projects considered to be transformational for the organization’s future achieved success. A 2015 study covered in the Harvard Business Review explored in depth the specific reasons why carefully crafted strategies nevertheless falter in the execution phase. A recent PMI study indicates $122 million is wasted for every $1 billion invested in strategic initiatives. And this is to say nothing of the opportunity costs to organizations when strategies are not implemented fully.

Over the 20 years that PM Solutions Research has been collecting data about project management processes, we have seen an increasing confluence of strategic planning and management with program and portfolio management processes. In 2017 our newest study will focus on this confluence, asking: What is the impact on strategy execution for companies that excel at implementing processes to plan and carry out key initiatives?

This research study bridges the perceived gap between strategic planning and the processes that make strategy execution a reality. The study combines aspects of our 2006 Strategy and Projects study with batteries of questions from previous Project Portfolio Management, the Project Manager Skills Benchmark, and State of the PMO studies, along with a new set of queries into benefits realization management practices.

Similar to our book, Seven Steps to Strategy Execution, the study questionnaire is organized, around various aspects of strategic execution, with sections of questions related to:

  • Strategy Management
  • Project Portfolio Management
  • Organizational Structure (Project Management Office)
  • People and Culture
  • Benefits Tracking

As always, we will ask participants to gauge their maturity/capability on a range of functions related to each of these areas, as well as asking them to rate their company’s overall organizational performance in order to determine the combination of processes that yields higher organizational performance.

The survey will be open for participants through July 14th, 2017 and can be accessed here.