Forty years of project management consulting and helping develop hundreds of project models in industry and the public sector have taught us that forming a strong project culture takes years. The following factors are especially important in this process:
• All organizational levels must be involved in the change process. Support from management and line managers is particularly important when developing a project culture. The organization’s ability to work in projects will be limited if awareness of the process in progress is not raised on all levels. Not only the project managers, but also management teams, line managers, workers, and those who shoulder the role of project sponsors should be trained or participate in seminars on relevant topics.
• Lasting changes can be achieved by creating energy and vigor within the business; for example, by identifying passionate people at an early stage, who can become key motivators in the change process. Such people must be prepared to support the change in a long-term perspective. This means that the startup and organization of the change process are treated as critical success factors, just as they are in any project.
• The models and working methods should be simple and clear in terms of routines and decision-making processes. A common mistake made in the change process is to start with the most complex project first, only to find out later on that no one has any energy left to apply the model to their everyday work. We believe that simplicity and clarity are best secured by choosing a general project model, which is applicable to every project in the organization. After that, a range of working models (for product development, IT development, construction, human resources, corporate development, etc.) can be linked to this model. In addition, it is often worthwhile to have a miniature version of the model for simpler tasks.
• The faster good results of the change can be established, the easier the change process will be. If no distinct and positive effects can be shown in the short term, there is a considerable risk that energy will soon be lost. It is therefore advisable to proceed step by step. The first implementation step might be a pilot test on a small scale.
• All personal development schemes performed as part of the change process must be based on projects that are relevant to the business.
