Initiative management is an approach to translate your goals into projects and assure their realisation. It can be broken down into 3 main domains:
- Strategic Portfolio Management: translating strategy into programmes/projects -setting up the initiative portfolio -, assuring the allocation of the necessary resources, and maintaining the portfolio.During the set-up, it is crucial to link all potential initiatives with your strategic objectives and to prioritise the initiatives with respect to their strategic impact and their implementation feasibility.
Allocating the right resources (budgets and competences) before the start of any initiative or project is of utmost importance. Most initiatives fail before they kick-off.During the maintenance phase, you track overall progress towards your strategic goals, and you constantly monitor individual initiatives against the value they contribute to Strategy Execution.
- Program Management: managing a portfolio of projects in an integrated manner, aligned with the company strategy and within resource constraints, potentially through a Programme Management Office or a permanent Strategy Office.
- Projec Management: organising and staffing your transition, coaching the principal programme and project managers, and building a large change platform (everybody’s support and involvement is needed).
Initiative management is all about sound preparation, disciplined execution, people competences and engagement!