A CIO tried to fix a struggling PMO with tools, but nothing improved because he ignored business outcomes.
This episode of the PMO Strategies Podcast focuses on shifting stakeholder engagement by reframing project challenges as business problems. Host Laura Bernard, a veteran organizational change leader, draws on her 30 years of experience to address why leaders often ignore project issues. She argues that stakeholders only act when they perceive a problem as their own, directly tied to outcomes like revenue or customer satisfaction.
Bernard recounts a case study involving a CIO named David who unsuccessfully tried to fix a struggling PMO by implementing new tools and processes. David’s team measured inputs and outputs, such as template adoption and on-time reporting, rather than business outcomes. Bernard advised shifting focus to strategic metrics like revenue growth and delivery time, which made the PMO's pain the organization's pain. She asserts that project problems are rarely about execution flaws, lack of certifications, or inadequate tools. The root causes typically lie in poor prioritization, misalignment, and unclear communication before a project even begins. Bernard references a workshop with industry figures like Mark Price Perry, who emphasized that projects and PMOs are owned by the business, not the project leaders.
A key insight is that project leaders often mistakenly wear business problems as a "badge of honor," assuming personal accountability for delivery failures. Bernard advocates holding a mirror to stakeholders who contribute to root causes like resource misallocation. She introduces a five-step impact communication framework, starting with articulating a challenge from the stakeholder's perspective. For example, she illustrates how to present a backlog of 45 competing projects by quantifying the delayed strategic value. The framework shows that prioritizing the top 10 initiatives could speed up delivery by 40-60%, unlocking an estimated $2.5 million in annual value.
Bernard repeatedly stresses that a leader's role is to facilitate business results, not own every project problem. She promotes her Impact Engine system and related mastermind programs, Leadership Momentum and Leadership Mastery, for further training. The episode has a direct, instructional, and motivational tone, blending personal anecdotes with practical frameworks. It is conversational yet packed with actionable advice, often referencing the host's book and paid community events.
Project managers, PMO leaders, and business transformation professionals frustrated by stakeholder apathy would find this episode highly valuable. Listeners seeking purely technical project management methodologies or skeptical of paid program promotions might prefer to skip it.
