No one wants their work to be in vain and to go unrecognised and unrewarded. To help the wider business understand what your project management office (PMO) does, you need to let everyone know what you do. Why should you do this? What are the benefits of raising awareness of your PMO?
We’ve dived into the ways you can raise awareness and modernise your PMO communications. It’s one thing knowing how to raise awareness of what you do, but you need to know the why. This will help keep your message on track and allow your office to measure the success of your efforts.
In this post, we’re going to explore:
- Why you need to raise awareness of the PMO internally
- The benefits of raising external awareness of your PMO
- How you can track whether your efforts have been a success
What are the benefits of raising awareness of my PMO internally?
No matter the size of the business your PMO work in, having everyone know what your office does is important. You want to ensure that colleagues know how to contact you, interact with you, and ask for assistance in their processes or governance.
Here are some of the key benefits you’ll experience when you begin to shout about your office and its successes:
- Business alignment with data driven processes – as you tell people in the business how you drive success through data and monitoring outputs this should bring about a shift towards this way of working
- Attract the best talent to your PMO – when colleagues see the profits and efficiencies you can offer the business, the best of staff will want to become part of the projects you run
- Receive better project pitches – in a business-focussed PMO that pitches projects to the board, having people know what you can do will have them bring innovative ideas to you so they can get pitched
- C-suite will have clear idea of PMO value – with regular blogs, informative videos, and shareable infographics, everyone including the board will know about your successes and contribution to strategy
- Better internal relations equal easier project rollouts – getting buy-in for an internal project can be tricky when it’s not your area. Having everyone in the business know your PMO’s work and having trust in it will break down objections and barriers
Why should I raise the external awareness of my PMO?
Whether you choose to shout about your PMO to the whole world – or at least your industry – will depend on a couple of factors. If your business has a strategic aim to be a leader in its sector, putting your PMO in the public eye can feed into this.
You can also turn your PMO and your leadership team into thought leaders on all things project management related. By publishing blogs, explaining your wins, and discussing how you make your projects a success, other businesses and project-led businesses will respect your work.
As a thought leader in your industry, you can get first access to new technology. Collaborations with other companies in your sector will be easier when they know about your work.
Winning contracts to run projects will become easier. Having social proof and a known name in the world of PMOs will give stakeholders instant confidence in your work. It all adds to the branding strategy of the business.
How can I measure if my efforts are a success?
There are some tangible measures when it comes to PMO awareness, whilst many more may not be immediately obvious.
Tangible measures
You can look at the levels of engagement with your awareness raising efforts. Whether you use social media, blog posts, or videos to tell people about your PMO, there are clear metrics that will show increases in views and interactions over time.
It’s also possible to conduct surveys, whether they be formal and emailed across the business or a two-question pop-up on your blog page. These will give you data points to analyse to push future engagement strategies.
Intangible measures
When your PMO or leadership team begin to receive industry recognition, this is a good indicator your awareness raising efforts are working. Also, being invited to write guest posts, be featured on industry lists, or getting media requests will also be a good measure.
Internally, having colleagues approach your PMO with project ideas or requesting support shows that you’re work is recognised.
The take home
The benefits of raising awareness of your PMO are varied. Some can be measured easily, such as how many people read your blogs or respond positively to surveys. Less obvious measures include getting more requests for support in other business areas.
