PROJECT MANAGEMENT
How to deliver good governance
Martin Samphire, chair of the Association for Project Management’s (APM) Governance Specifi c Interest Group, tells PSE about the fundamental principles of delivering good governance on change/projects. David Stevenson reports.
G
ood governance is a term being used more and more often in the public and private
sectors. However, actually delivering it is easier said than done.
But why is this the case with regards to the world of change/projects? Martin Samphire, chairman of the Association for Project Management’s (APM) Governance Specifi c Interest Group, told PSE that one of the reasons good governance fails to be delivered is because organisations, at times, do not enforce learning from past mistakes or successes, or make good governance enough of a strategic objective.
Andrew Bragg, chief executive of the APM, often says “there is no such thing as project failure, just failure of governance”.
Well-established guidelines
Samphire told us: “I believe good practice guidelines are well established, but the problem is we keep failing to follow them.
“When projects go wrong – and it is more prevalent in the public sector because it all gets reported by the Public Accounts Committee
“We have had a number of conversations with organisations concerned with improving corporate governance, for example the Financial Reporting Council, and they also agree that – although it is not explicitly written down (for instance in the UK Governance Code) – the board, or senior leadership team, has ultimate responsibility for projects and the governance of project management,” said Samphire.
The right culture
Universal Credit director general Howard Shiplee at the Work & Pensions Select Committee, Dec 2013.
38 | public sector executive Oct/Nov 14
He added that there isn’t one right way of delivering ‘good’ governance, but applying the basics helps. This includes having ‘line of sight’ between all project objectives, and their overall business strategy; having single point sponsor
– I could pretty much guarantee that ‘poor governance’ is one of the top fi ve reasons for failure.”
As an example of this, Samphire highlighted last year’s National Audit Offi ce report on the Universal Credit Programme. This revealed a number of governance failures, including an over-ambitious timescale, an unclear implementation strategy, lack of appropriate controls, use of a novel (for the department) methodology and a lack of continuity of sponsor.
The APM has published a guide on good governance for project management (see box out on facing page). Of particular importance is the board’s (or equivalent body’s) “overall responsibility” and “accountability”.
accountability; applying proper stage gate reviews; and having fully competent people in all positions (project management roles).
Samphire said: “We don’t assume we will win the Premiership with non-competent people in positions on a football pitch – why do we assume project success by fi elding non- competent people on the project management fi eld?
“And in this respect, the role of senior managers and board members is crucial. They need to be fully competent in their ‘project role’ to achieve project success. Good governance is not just about having a good project manager – he or she is only one player on the pitch.”
Delivering good governance comes mainly through a change of culture, behaviours and relationships, Samphire told us. “Yes, you do need a coherent structure and processes for project management that transcend the business, but you need a culture and behaviour of people that actually want to do things in the right way.
“You could have the best structure in the world, and all the right review or authorisation bodies set up, but if the behaviour is wrong – and someone wants to play a game or circumvent lessons learned and good practice – then good governance is destroyed. For me, the culture is one of the most important things – and this has to be driven from the top, as the board members sit at the apex of governance. Only the senior people can set, reward and enforce a culture of transparency, openness, collaboration,
© PA
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