Project management is an important aspect when it comes to business performance and success. It becomes even more critical as businesses expand to a global scale. As businesses expand beyond borders, different challenges come into play. And that’s where global project management comes into play!
Businesses have to deal with differences in culture, language, and time zones in a global context, not forgetting managing a dispersed team. Without a structured approach to business projects and operations, the chances of failing are very high.
Project management brings that much-needed structure to projects, allowing businesses to complete projects within the required scope and allocated budgets. Project managers possess leadership, technical project management, and business management skills that are vital for success in a global landscape. In this article, we look at the benefits that project management offers global businesses.
We also look closely at the best practices global businesses can adopt to ensure successful project management.
Benefits of global project management
There are so many moving components in executing projects for global businesses. As said earlier, overcoming the challenges that come with an international business requires structure. Project management skills become valuable in planning and executing projects to realize the vision and take the business to the next level.
Here are some benefits that project management offers global businesses:
1. Brings control into projects
What would become of projects where there is no proper management? The project will most likely lack focus, clear objectives, and direction. Team members will be left confused about what task to do. Moreover, with the complexity of executing a global project, everything would be chaotic.
Project management becomes vital in preventing chaotic situations in running a global business. Project managers are able to define project objectives clearly. They assign tasks, making sure that each team player understands what he or she needs to do at any given time.
This way, team members don’t have to stay confused about what has been completed and what hasn’t. In addition, they use Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to break down projects into small manageable tasks. By breaking down tasks, they help keep the team focused on what is important to achieve the set goals. This way, the projects are completed within the desired timelines.
2. Use realistic project planning
Proper planning is the basis of the successful completion of projects. Without it, it is easy to get over-ambitious with the budget and project timelines. This might mean delivering projects in a rushed manner and way out of budget. Unfortunately, rushing projects can lead to overlooking some necessary steps, resulting in poor-quality project outcomes.
Project management helps in planning the projects realistically. A good project manager has the skills to set realistic deadlines and budgets. They analyze the available resources and create a realistic schedule while anticipating possible hurdles. Project managers also ensure that the deadlines are easily achievable, allowing everyone to work with reasonable expectations.
The good thing about realistic planning for global businesses is that it helps nurture good business relationships with clients. When milestones are achieved within the set time and required quality, the clients are happy, which is essential for succeeding internationally.
3. Align goals with business objectives
Achieving business goals and objectives takes aligning every business operation with these goals. This is to say that every project global businesses undertake should be geared towards realizing the bigger picture. However, that would be impossible without proper alignment.
Project managers do a good job of tying project goals with the organization’s objective goals. They ensure that each project’s goals align with the bigger picture. They architect each step and milestone to deliver value toward achieving the overall business goals and objectives.
Dynamics change quickly in the international business arena. And businesses are expected to adapt to the shifting dynamics quickly if they are to remain competitive. This means that strategies and goals are bound to shift rapidly as well.
Project managers ensure flexibility in planning in case this happens. They make sure that if goal realignment happens, the project’s goals change in that direction as well. This way, global businesses are able to realize their goals and objectives for continued business growth.
4. Keeps proper track of projects
The goal of successful project completion is to make sure that the project progresses according to the original plan. Considering the complexity of projects in a global context, continuous and proper tracking is vital to ensure that the project doesn’t deviate off course.
Project management comes in handy by doing continuous status reporting. Status reports basically give insights into the progress of projects and how they mark against the planned milestones and timelines. When projects start to get out of track, project reporting makes it easy to catch them, which makes it easy to correct them.
In addition, providing project status reports is an important task for stakeholder management. They help clients be in the know of how their projects are progressing, which enhances the trust of clients and other stakeholders.
5. Enhanced collaboration and communication
In teams where members are dispersed across different locations and time zones, collaboration and communication become necessary for organizational success.
Nifty is a tool that global businesses can use to enhance team collaboration and communication. Unless the whole team works together, achieving the desired project outcome would be difficult.
For global projects to succeed, team players must come together to discuss the project. They have to brainstorm on the progress and way forward. They also have to meet to iron out issues and problems. The result of working together regularly is increased team morale and employee engagement, something that is duplicated in the entire organization.
6. Resources allocation optimization
Proper allocation of a company’s resources is important for business growth. This is especially important when expanding to other areas of the world. Proper project management ensures that resources are optimized to avoid waste and drive success.
Project managers have the skills to identify when the talents and knowledge of different team members would be most needed in the completion of projects. This makes sure that every talent is utilized optimally to bring valuable contributions to the project and organization at large.
Also, they use project management methodologies to ensure the proper allocation of budgets. This, together with constant project reporting, project managers are able to keep costs in check to avoid budget overruns.
7. Increased quality and productivity
In a highly competitive international business arena, global businesses can’t afford to compromise on the quality of project outcomes. This is regardless of tight budgets and short timelines that they sometimes are forced to work with. The good thing is that with proper project management, global businesses can achieve the desired project outcomes.
As Luiss College, which also offers a master in international management, quotes, “Professionals who manage global teams must have notable business fundamental skills and all the tools needed to succeed in today’s globalized world.”
Project managers have the skills to make sure that quality standards are met at every milestone. They monitor projects closely to identify areas where deliverables aren’t conforming to the set quality parameters and stakeholder requirements.
After identifying non-conformance, they recommend the best way forward for corrective and preventive actions. With proper project planning, project tracking, and quality control, they ensure that global projects are completed with the highest quality.
8. Better risk management
Risks are inevitable when running a business. Moreover, the likelihood of risks is heightened with the scope of the business. When projects are complex, as is typical for global businesses, so are the risks. This means that proper risk management is necessary if a business is to overcome risks to achieve success and business growth.
Project management requires project managers to exercise proper risk management for successful projects. They know they have the skills to identify and uncover every potential project risk. They also analyze and develop plans to mitigate these risks at the start of every project.
In addition, regular monitoring of projects allows them to uncover possible risks early. This way, they mitigate them before they can materialize.
9. Ensures the success of future projects
The continued success of projects translates to continued business success. We all know that continued business success is important for the overall growth of global businesses. Project management ensures that global businesses continue to achieve success in their projects by avoiding previous mistakes.
Project managers use post-project reviews and lessons learned to identify mistakes that happened in a project. This is done with the aim of documenting what should have happened to achieve success. They use this documentation to create a list of dos and don’ts for future projects. At the start of each project, the team goes through the previous records to gain knowledge of the best practices, ensuring success.
10. Increased customer satisfaction
Growing a loyal customer base is very important in surviving in a highly competitive global business scene. Project management allows businesses to retain and attract customers by increasing customer satisfaction. Through proper planning and tracking of projects, businesses increase the chances of delivering high-quality outcomes on a timely basis.
Continually exceeding customer expectations increases satisfaction. And when the customer is delighted, you can expect more business your way and increased word-of-mouth marketing.
Best practices for implementing global project management
Global Project management can be a hard nut to crack. Project managers in charge of global projects must be equipped to navigate the challenging business environment to deliver high-quality projects within the budget and timelines. This makes having the right strategy and practices very critical.
Common challenges faced in global project management
As expected, managing global projects comes with a number of unique challenges that local projects don’t. Achieving success in global business project management takes the ability to overcome these challenges. Here are some of the challenges to expect:
- Different time zones – Global businesses have teams dispersed in different regions of the world, which would mean managing teams across multiple time zones. This can make communication and collaboration quite challenging. Project managers for global businesses have to consider the different time zones when scheduling meetings and setting deadlines to increase engagement.
- Language differences – Likewise, managing global projects means often collaborating with team members who speak different languages. Without a good communication strategy, getting everyone to work on the same page can be challenging. Project managers have a task to provide language support where language barriers occur. This could mean hiring translation services and adopting good communication practices such as avoiding slang and active listening.
- Cultural differences – You would expect different cultures in a team where people are drawn from different regions. This means different values and beliefs regarding different aspects such as communication, employee motivation, work schedules, management, leadership, and more. Taking into account the different cultures represented in a team is vital in eliminating nuances that can rub off wrongly for different team members.
- Differences in national and religious holidays – Each country and religion has holidays and observances that are unique from others. When scheduling global projects, it would be important to keep this in mind. Project managers might be required to adjust deadlines accordingly.
- Economic challenges – Due to the high volatility of global economies, economic factors fluctuate rapidly and unexpectedly in different regions. Global businesses must be aware of the possibilities of changes in relative prices, exchange and interest rates, tax structures, trade restrictions, and inflation.
- Legal challenges – When operating on a global scale, businesses are exposed to different laws and regulations that they must adhere to. It is essential to be aware of the different laws that affect the successful running of a business and changes that might arise in the course of completing projects.
Global Project management tips for Businesses
With the myriad of challenges expected in running a global business, organizations can only adopt the right strategies and project management tools if they are to deliver projects successfully. Here are top project management tips for maximizing global project outcomes:
1. Hire a global project manager
Your local project manager won’t cut it when you start expanding internationally. For starters, you are entering unfamiliar grounds where laws, culture, language, and economic settings are probably different. You need an individual with the skills and competence to navigate these challenges.
Global project managers have the necessary skills to plan and execute projects on a worldwide scale. They have extensive language and cultural skills to enhance communication and nurture meaningful relationships with the team and other stakeholders. They are also familiar with different laws and regulations in different countries across the world.
If hiring a global project manager isn’t something that you want to do, you can as well train your local project managers. Make sure that they obtain the skills necessary to overcome multicultural and language barriers.
2. Get the buy-in from all subsidiaries
It is common that most global business projects stem from ideas from the head office. However, you need the buy-in of the other branches if you are to achieve a successful completion. You need to keep in mind that employees will judge the importance of a project based on the value that it is adding to their own branch. How will the completion of the project affect individual work and experience?
It is essential to understand how a project affects not only the head office but the overseas offices as well during the ideation stage. Make sure to clarify the value that the project is set to add for overseas offices and their staff. This way, it becomes easier to reach a consensus and gain cooperation from all concerned teams.
Moreover, the buy-in doesn’t end with the team. You need to understand the thoughts of each stakeholder that is involved or interested in the project. Creating a stakeholder map can help a great deal here. When you understand each stakeholder’s expectations of the project, it becomes easy to develop a stakeholder management strategy that can be useful throughout the project.
3. Consider local circumstances early on
Another mistake that is common for global businesses is to assume that operating processes used in the head office can be applied in other overseas branches. They go ahead and duplicate what they do in other branches hoping to get results, only to be faced with resistance from the local staff and stakeholders. This prevents the projects from taking off as expected, leading to delays, stagnation, or even suspension.
It is always good to consider local circumstances in global project management. Project managers need to understand the local processes and ways of doing things before implementing the project. Otherwise, you might be forced to redefine the requirements of the projects when you realize that the head office processes can’t be applied anywhere else.
4. Adopt the best project methodology
Successful completion of projects requires defining the scope of every team player’s responsibilities, tasks, and expectations. This can be achieved by adopting a project management methodology that suits the project’s objectives. Kanban and Scrum are popular methodologies in that global businesses can streamline processes and improve transparency.
These two methodologies offer an agile and lean approach to projects. Besides enhancing transparency, they both help in reducing inefficiencies in projects. On one hand, Kanban is a visual methodology that visualizes tasks and detects bottlenecks. Kanban emphasizes minimizing work in progress to achieve continuous delivery and feedback. On the other hand, Scrum adopts a structured approach to enhance collaboration, iterative development, and adaptability.
While both bring valuable benefits and possibilities to project management, it is always good to do a Kanban vs. Scrum comparison to settle on the one that suits your team and project goals. However, you can always use both methodologies to leverage the possibilities of each one and maximize success.
5. Use common project management tools
Global projects can be complex. Planning, tracking, executing, and reporting a project of greater magnitude can be difficult. You need project management tools to assist you in assigning tasks, setting deadlines, tracking progress, and making sure that the entire team is working on the same page.
Some of the popular project management tools that you can consider include Nifty, Trello, Asana, Kissflow, Zoho projects, and proofHub, among others.
When choosing the right project management tools for your team, it is important to use tools that are equipped to handle projects and teams of a global magnitude. You need a platform that allows you to manage your projects effortlessly and efficiently regardless of where team players are located.
Most importantly, make sure that you adopt agile project management tools across all your team members. Using common tools enhances sharing capabilities and transparency. It also makes it possible for real-time project management and easier reporting at each stage of the project.
6. Minimize meetings
Getting together regularly as a team is important for brainstorming on important issues regarding projects. However, too many meetings that are unnecessarily longer can be demotivating and even affect progress.
Keeping in mind the different time zones that come with global teams, it is possible that some members are forced to create time outside their working hours to accommodate team meetings. If they are too many and meaningless, they can quickly become a burden.
It is always good to keep meetings at a minimum. As suggested, use the right tools to track and monitor projects and only call for meetings when need be. In addition, communicate the agenda in time for members to prepare in advance and avoid wasting time. This also means planning for meetings and not surprising team members with impromptu meetings.
7. Foster team-building
Collaborating with people that you don’t really know can get slow and difficult. That’s where team building comes into the picture. Because without efficient collaboration in teams that work miles from each other, projects can get delayed and the outcome compromised.
A good global project management practice is to build camaraderie and trust among the team members.
Besides collaborating in regular meetings, project managers have the task of identifying and creating opportunities for team members to interact.
For instance, you can use social media platforms to encourage team members to build relationships through fun interactions. You can also encourage physical meetings for individuals who visit a location where you have a presence.
Conclusion
Project management has become a necessary tool for businesses that want to succeed in international markets. Its impact on global business lies in ensuring the successful completion of projects to achieve business growth. Project management assists in giving direction to projects and tying project goals to overall business goals.
In addition, it helps in building positive relationships with employees, customers, and stakeholders. However, project management for global businesses isn’t that easy. Businesses have to deal with different challenges that come with managing a team that comes with differences in culture and language.
They also have to deal with completing projects in varying economic and legal circumstances. The good thing is that having a good strategy makes global project management an easy endeavour.
