Increased Trust, Better Virtual Teaming, New Ways of Doing Business: Maybe 2020 Wasn’t All Bad
A poll of webinar attendees finds a silver lining to 2020.
Webinars can be deadly dull at times, even if you’re interested in the subject. We try to avoid putting the audience to sleep by incorporating live polls in our presentation. In October, during the How We Thrived webinar (view the recording here if you missed it!), I was particularly interested in knowing how the audience members thrived in 2020, as compared to our study respondents.
Here’s what we asked the webinar attendees, and how they responded:
Q: In 2020 did your organization change their way of doing business
- To a great extent
- Somewhat
- Not at all?
A: A third of attendees (33%) answered “to a great extent,” and another 59% said things had changed “somewhat.” Only 8% felt things had not changed at all. So, not surprisingly, the vast majority had faced at least some major changes at work.
Q: This 92% of audience members who experienced big changes in their work environment then weighed in on what virtual project management strategies their organizations had used to keep on track:
- 88% employed virtual teams
- 60% used virtual training techniques
- 42% relied on virtual project management (including cloud-based systems and/or PMaaS)
These responses mirrored the findings in our research report. Prior to the pandemic, organizations only used virtual project management “to a little extent.” The sudden shift to remote work caused a rapid adoption of all kinds of virtual practices, methods, and technologies (to see all the examples, download the research report here.) Granted, many organizations struggled with these changes. As our research data points out, the highest performing organizations were already skilled in the use of virtual teams, training, and PM before the pandemic hit. They were able to leverage their experience and know-how, while companies who had not been investing in virtual strategies had a very steep learning curve.
Nevertheless, across the board, most of our audience, as well as a majority of the research respondents, seem to feel that the challenges of 2020 yielded some benefits:
Q: Would you say the changed work environment
- Increased trust and engagement among stakeholders
- Negatively impacted trust and engagement among stakeholders
- Had no effect?
A: The majority (57%) responded that they had seen increased trust among stakeholders. Another 29% reported no effect. Only 14% felt the impact had been negative.
These answers were gratifying in two ways. First, the responses of the webinar audience echoed the findings of the study, giving us confidence in our results. Secondly, it’s heartening to hear that, in times of great change, people have come out of the crucible in a positive spirit. Virtual project management showed its quality in 2020; the effects of its adoption will be long-term and, for most practitioners, this is a satisfying outcome to a very hard period. And that's a thought to ponder this Thanksgiving weekend.
- PMaaS and Organizational Performance, Then and Now
- (More) Changing Approaches to Project Management
- What We Mean When We Say PM as a Service
- Jazzed Up About Project Management and AI
- Live from Atlanta ... People, Ideas and More, Part 2
- Live from Atlanta ... People, Ideas and More
- Value Delivery Skills Webinar Attendees Had Questions: Here Are Some Answers
- Webinar Alert: Project Management Skills for Value Delivery Research Overview
- Seven Actions for the Adaptive Organization
- PMO Staff vs PMO Leaders: Realism or Pessimism?
- High Performers Value These Skills
- PM Skills Benchmark Study: Your Second Chance to Participate
- New Research Launch: Project Management Skills for Value Delivery
- Managing Projects…Or Delivering Value? Eric Foss’s Challenge to Project Managers
- A Look Forward, With Hope and Confidence
- Some Thoughts About Governance, PMOs and the Thinking Project Manager
- The Future is Already Here for These PMOs
- State of the PMO Research Webinar – Your Questions, Answered: Part 2
- State of the PMO Research Webinar – Your Questions, Answered: Part 1
- Will A.I. Kill the PMO? Part 3 in Our A.I. in PM Series
- PMO Research Reveal: What You'll Learn in This Week's Webinar
- The Evolution of the Enterprise PMO: What Comes Next?
- Think Your Business Is Too Small for a PMO? Think Again.
- The Enterprise PMO Delivers
- PMOs: New Research Shows Benefits Outweigh Cost
- The PMO at 20: New Research Findings Released
- Extended: The State of the PMO Research Study, Thru Feb. 18.
- Why Research Is Important
- 2022: What Is the State of Your PMO?
- Your Questions, Answered: Part Four-- Agile and the PMO
Related Posts:
Tags:
(No ratings yet)
Popular Posts
- The Project Management Maturity Model … Now with Agile/Adaptive Assessment!
- PM Solutions Celebrates 25 Years of Project Management Excellence
- Managing Project Managers Within and Outside the PMO
Popular Categories
- Agile or Adaptive PM (5)
- Culture & Change Management (75)
- Project & Program Management (82)
- Portfolio Management (50)
- Project Management Office (PMO) (107)
- Project Management Research (50)
- Resource Optimization (26)
search blog:
Sign up for PM Solutions'
Insights eNewsletter
Delivered every other month in addition to periodic research, white papers, and news alerts.
No comments yet. Be the first one!