Sometimes as HR professionals, the most challenging projects are the ones that feel personal. What’s more emotionally charged than assessing someone’s pay?
No matter how excellent the study, or how practiced the HR professional doing the work, there’s always the risk that someone will be unhappy with the outcome, be it the employee, the manager, the union, or any other participant in the process. In those situations, the fraught atmosphere and fear of damaging relationships can make the task at hand much more challenging.
I recently helped one of my clients, a mid-size California county, perform a classification and compensation study. My role was to act as project manager for the project, coordinating tasks and responsibilities among all of the county’s stakeholders. As the project overseer I managed project timelines, coordinated communication between departments, and made some hard decisions that weren’t popular with everyone. Although I may have ruffled some feathers, at the end of the day the study was completed without any hard feelings on the team.
A third-party project manager can make the toughest public sector assignments easier, by bringing a different perspective to the project and by enabling teams to make tough calls without lasting tension. At the end of the day, the client was satisfied with the study and was able to move forward with a clear road map for the future.
Why bring in an external consultant?
Beyond class and comp studies, I’d consider a third party project manager for anything that is potentially politically sensitive. For these types of projects, it’s great to have a neutral face running the logistics.
There are a few reasons for this:
- Avoid political implications. Certain situations require scrupulous focus on process and impartiality. An external consultant can help maintain impartiality and objectivity throughout a project.
- Get an outside perspective. External consultants like myself and my MRG colleagues give everybody our best opinion based on our experience, best practices, and the things that we’ve learned from all our clients. An external consultant offers some outside eyes, and potentially some broader experience than is available internally on an issue.
- Preserve relationships. Internal stakeholders need to preserve relationships between the city staff, departments, leaders, and other stakeholders that are involved in that project. An external consultant can be more direct and impartial without as much concern about maintaining day-to-day working relationships.
So what is the right time to bring in an external project manager?
It comes down to risk assessment. Any project leading to change can end up being unpopular or result in an unpopular recommendation, even though it’s what’s best for the organization. Consider the impacts and ramifications of the project’s outcomes and think about whether there may be lasting negative associations between individuals or teams as a result. If your project could face scrutiny in the future, or create lasting tension in your working relationships, a third party project manager may be a good option.
If you are planning a project that MRG can support, we’d love to chat. Reach out to us at solutions-mrg.com/contact.