Case study
Client: London Pension Fund Authority
Sector: Local Government / Finance
Benefits Experienced by the Client:
Effective Project Delivery
- Increased capacity for effective project delivery
- Decision making that evaluates the cost of new projects against the potential benefits to ensure projects will contribute to key business objectives
- A project management tool kit for project managers and team members
- Support for Senior Management during a process of change
In addition to the increase in project management skills, the organisation has benefited from having a consistent language for project management and a process that identifies individuals with leadership abilities who are ready for development.
Strategic Objective:
Delivering Projects that Create Efficiencies and Increase Value
The London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) is one of the largest Local Government Pension Schemes in England with over 75,000 members and assets of over £3 billion (at March 2009) and also provides third party pension administration and other services.
They wanted to put in place the capability to deliver successful projects (using their own evolving project management approach) that would support their continued focus on cost and efficiencies that enable it to compete in an increasingly commercial market place.
The Solution Provided:
Senior Management Support and Practical Project Management
Maven Training developed a process model for the client’s own project management approach and used the client’s current templates throughout the training to ensure consistency.
A one day master class in project and programme management was delivered for the senior team responsible for authorising all project activity with a keen focus on the benefits of a structured approach and the decisions and guidance needed for successful project delivery.
A starter kit of documentation and the design and layout of an implementation toolkit for hosting on the client’s intranet site were provided to enable organisation wide access to project management tools and guidance.
The one day Introduction to Project Management course provided a practical approach to project delivery and was used to train programme team members, project managers, business unit managers (who provide resources and maintain the solutions delivered) and project team members.
One to one mentoring was provided to the senior manager to support him as he defined the programme to deliver a range of business improvements and embedded project management in the organisation.
Working together:
The client’s objective as a project
The LPFA, under the guidance of a senior manager, had taken initial steps to introduce a project management culture into the organisation and felt they needed some additional support to drive the adoption of a best practice project management approach across the organisation.
We worked together closely to develop a process model for the client’s approach that could be used in the training, carried out a briefing and agreed that two levels of training were required;
- senior management training which would give guidance on decision making
- and a more practical course for project managers and project team members
Having gained an understanding of the organisation, its culture and its challenges, Maven Training were able to provide mentoring support to the senior manager, providing him with some additional programme expertise and giving him support, guidance and advice during this period of growth and change.
The Client Experience
“Maven’s experience and knowledge has helped the LPFA to improve both its Project Management techniques and embed the culture to a wide group of staff. Their approach and style fits well with the LPFA and has proved to be a positive working relationship and learning experience.”
“Our objective was fully met.” Les Higgs, Programme & ICT Manager
The Maven Project Team
Melanie Franklin has extensive experience in project, programme and change management, in the Financial Services sector, undertaking such roles as European Manager for quality and process improvement projects and Global Programme Director for emergency planning for a global bank. She is also the author of a series of books on the skills needed to support successful projects and programmes.
Graham Devine has over 30 years operational and Project and Programme Management experience in commercial, not for profit and public sector organisations, and loves to bring out the best in people through coaching, mentoring and training.
The Next Chapter:
Taking Project Delivery to a New Level
Project and programme management capability continues to grow with members of staff attending the accredited PRINCE2 & Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) courses to increase their knowledge.
