Getting under the bonnet of the managing benefits framework
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-03-2015-0028 |
| Published date | 08 June 2015 |
| Pages | 103-104 |
| Date | 08 June 2015 |
| Author | Anne McGrath |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Employee behaviour |
Getting under the bonnet of the managing
benefits framework
Anne McGrath
Anne McGrath is based at the ILX
Group, London, UK.
Many organisations are
seeing a disconnection
between the large amount
of money they are spending on
programmes and projects and the
minimal benefit to the organisation.
Programme and project managers
are not getting the support,
guidance or time they need with the
right people in the business and so
are delivering the capability they
think is required rather than what is
really needed to deliver measurable
benefits to the organisation.
To address these issues, a global
certification body The APM Group
introduced the managing benefits
guidance in 2012 to complement
and build on existing best practice
in portfolio, programme and project
management such as PRINCE2
®
,
MSP
®
, P3O
®
, MoV
®
and MoP
®
.
Human resource (HR) professionals
who deliver training in the managing
benefits framework to the right job
functions at the right time can drive
a real and measurable difference to
the benefits delivered by
programmes and projects in their
organisation.
The key to successful
implementation of the managing
benefits framework is to make sure it
is not just programme and project
managers that attend managing
benefits training. Very often project
and programme managers have
received training across all the
various accreditations, but they
simply cannot make a difference
unless the strategic level staff and
business change managers/senior
users understand the role they will
play in delivering the measurable
benefits of the programme.
If all levels of staff work together to
understand how to manage benefits,
this will drive the best results. Some
forward-thinking businesses have
sent staff from all levels – senior
staff setting the strategic direction of
the programme, through to
programme and project managers
and business change managers –
on training courses together. This
allows the trainer to use the real-life
change they are aiming to make
together as a case study to
demonstrate the use of the
framework. Senior strategic level
staff may not have the time or
inclination to attend a five-day
course with an exam at the end, so
it may be necessary to adapt the
training to offer these senior staff an
overview.
Managing benefits – a health
warning
Managing benefits training comes
with a health warning. Once
introduced, it could lead to a
seismic shift in the organisation.
Employees will start to look at work
with the end in mind, i.e. “what
benefits will we get?” rather than
“what will we deliver?” It opens a
Strategic commentary
DOI 10.1108/SHR-03-2015-0028 VOL. 14 NO. 3 2015, pp. 103-104, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 STRATEGIC HR REVIEW PAGE 103
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