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Is decision making linked to project success?
Regardless of whether you are on the sporting field or working on a project, decision making and communication are vital elements.
Good decision making skills are vital during a complex project.
In any team-driven environment, communication and decision making play a critical role in getting your task over the line. Whether on the footy field or in the office, without these two elements, your team is never going to be strong enough to meet expectations.
This was the very topic of the Project Management Institute's (PMI) Capturing the Value of Project Management Through Decision Making report. Part of its annual Pulse of the Profession, the PMI polled 1,237 professionals to highlight the challenges facing project managers and offer solutions to ensure they improve their skills.
According to the report, 79 per cent of projects meet expected goals and business intent when managers have a clear and formal decision making process in place. If project managers have the right information and organisational strategy established, they are in a much better position to drive the entire effort forward.
Challenges in achieving formal decision making
As the old saying goes, if it was easy everyone would be doing it, which is why many projects fail due to a lack of formal decision making. Based on the findings in the report, 81 per cent of project managers don't have the right level of information at the point of decision.
This lack of data included risk assessments (46 per cent), resource insight (40 per cent) and overall project information (35 per cent).
PMI President and CEO Mark A. Langley explained the importance of formal decision making in more detail.
"Informed decisions guide projects and programs through planning, implementation, and completion," he said in an August 5 media statement.
"To achieve business goals, organisations need to proactively empower project teams by consistently providing the right information to decision makers at the critical points in the project lifecycle."
Project management is a fluid environment which means recruitment is always a challenge. Talk to the expert team at Ethos to gauge the market and ensure you get the right professional to take your project to the next level.
Ethos Corporation is an Australian-owned Executive Recruitment Consultancy specialising in the $120k - $400k candidate market.
By Matthew Bown