Ensuring Successful Project Management
Project Overview
Hiscox is a world leader in high-end, specialist insurance products, underwriting personal and business risks, with offices across 12 countries. It provides home insurance to over 47,000 homes in the UK and business insurance to over 110,000 SME businesses. The industry was undergoing rapid change and the company identified a need to overhaul their approach to project management, aligning to corporate strategy and programme management. Afiniti was commissioned to bring in techniques around reporting and budget management, develop project tools, especially for communications, information sharing and progress reporting, and provide training to embed change. Afiniti was tasked with:
- Assessing what was currently in place;
- Establishing the areas to be developed;
- Identifying quick wins;
- Developing and rolling out processes with IT managers and IT project managers;
- Running a Project Office to embed processes;
- Handing over to the internal project team.
Our Solution
As part of a discovery phase, Afiniti worked to understand the business and the project management function within it. From this, Afiniti created a tailor made project methodology and training programme. Afiniti adopted a 3D (“Disciplined, De-Risk, Dependable”) methodology tailored to the client’s culture, size and ethos to provide company-wide visibility of progress against strategic objectives. Afiniti ran a one-day workshop which delivered training on the bespoke 3D Project Management methodology, outlining its features and benefits and training on governance, method detail and best practice. Afiniti designed and delivered a training programme of one-day workshops for all project staff and two-day workshops for project sponsors and senior users involving blended learning – a mixture of instructor-led and experiential learning.
To improve the management of change in the organisation the bespoke ‘Project Management Apprentice’ experiential learning programme was designed and created by Afiniti. This initiative develops project management skills for staff working as part of project and change teams. Afiniti delivered customised one day experiential learning events to initiate and actively engage delegates into the discipline of project management.
The Differences We Made
- Built an enhanced ability to manage change through the efficient use of the 3D method
- Sustained behavioural change in the project delivery teams underpinned by recognised and proven best practice principles tailored to be fit for purpose to the organisation’s need and culture
- Project staff trained in using the new robust approach to project management found that their new knowledge enhanced success in project delivery as well as providing an efficient platform for managing an increase in the amount of business change
- Experiential learning – mixture of learning styles ensured delegates gained relevant and practical experience in applying and using the 3D methodology
- Increased trust in and acceptance of change by using real client examples for case studies and key learning points.
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