Assessment Task 2 – Performance and Skills

This assessment task requires you to facilitate stakeholder engagement in a program. It includes working with stakeholders through effective communication to achieve desired program benefits.

Required

Access to textbooks/other learning materials.

Access to a computer and Microsoft Office.

Access to the internet.

Note: If you do not have access to Microsoft Office, you must save your work as PDF before uploading.

Timing

The due date of this assessment is available on your learning management system.

Submit

This completed workbook.

Assessment requirements

All questions must be answered correctly for you to be assessed as having completed the task satisfactorily.

Re-submission opportunities

You will receive feedback on your performance from your Assessor. The feedback will indicate if you have satisfactorily addressed the requirements of each part of this task.

If any part of the task is not satisfactorily completed, your assessor will provide you with written feedback to guide you on what you must undertake to demonstrate satisfactory performance. This assessment may be re-attempted twice. Your resubmission must be uploaded within three (3) days of receiving your grade of “not yet satisfactory”. You must clearly display “Resubmission” on your resubmitted work.

You have the right to appeal the outcome of assessment decisions if you feel that you have been dealt with unfairly or have other appropriate grounds for an appeal.

You are encouraged to consult with your assessor prior to attempting this task if you do not understand any part of this task or if you have any learning issues or needs that may hinder you when attempting any part of the assessment.

Assessment Cover Sheet

Student name:

Student ID

Trainer’s Name:

Date Submitted:

Student declaration:

I declare that:

I have read and understood all the information provided in relation to the assessment requirements to complete this unit, the instructions and the purpose and processes of undertaking this assessment task

This assessment is my own work and where other’s works or ideas have been used, I have appropriately referenced or acknowledged them

I understand that plagiarism is a serious offence that may lead to disciplinary action.

Student signature:

Case study: Grow Management Consultants

Grow Management Consultants specialises in leadership consultancy. It has been operational since 2010. The company offers a range of services to assist companies to assess leadership behaviour of existing managers and their performance metrics. They also design and implement customised leadership programs based on the assessment. Services are offered Australia-wide.

The company offers regular professional development workshops on all aspects of leading and managing staff. The workshops are conducted every 3 months in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, where they also double as networking events. The workshops are also offered to businesses, who run them as part of their management education programs. In 2018/19, the company ran a total of 36 workshops. The Operations Manager, Donna Chisholm, is responsible for organising and developing all the workshops.

The senior consultants run the workshops. They and their assistants (who also work as consultants), then use the contacts generated there to get commissions to carry out management-level assessments and projects for the company.

The workshops are the principle means of advertising for the company’s consultancy services, where most of Grow Management Consultant’s income is generated.

Each year the company runs a Leadership Conference in October and Dan Streep, the Administration Manager, has been responsible for the conference for the last 2 years. The speakers are invited Industry and academic leaders who are well known and respected within the industry. Most of them rarely speak in public, which means that the conference is always well attended. It has shown a small profit every year it has been run.

The company has also produced an e-book titled Business Growth Leadership Techniques. The e-book has had reasonable sales, but these have mostly been restricted to workshop attendees, where they have been well received. Several senior consultants have expressed interest in writing an e-book in their area of expertise. The e-book was identified as a company asset that could generate more income with more effective marketing, and Erin O’Donnell, who has been the company’s marketing manager for three years, was appointed the e-book Project Manager.

You have recently been employed by Grow Management Consultants as Program Manager. You are responsible for co-ordinating these three company projects, ensuring that they support each other in accordance with the Strategic Plan and Project Management Policy and Procedures.

The key objectives of the program are:

For the conference, workshops, and e-book publishing to support each other to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

For all Grow Management consultants’ projects to be financially viable and inclusive.

The CEO as the project sponsor has given you their full support, and will participate, and/or intervene, whenever you consider it to be necessary.

To undertake this work, review the following company document (see Appendix):

Project Management Policy and Procedures

Stakeholder Relevance and Interests

Stakeholder

Relevance to project objectives

What are the stakeholder interests and expectations?

Add stakeholders as required

IMPORTANT NOTES:

This part of the assessment includes a role play of planning meeting with Project Managers. Please follow the instructions below:

Students taking face to face classes:

You can do the role play face-to face during class hours. You will be required to arrange fellow students to do the role play with you however they must be briefed on their role and prepared to ask you questions and provide you with feedback. Please see further instructions in the assessment on the number of participants required for the role play.

Your trainer will complete a Role Play Observation Criteria as evidence of your participation in the role play (this will either be completed in hard copy by your trainer and handed to you in which you will be to photograph it and upload it OR it will be completely electronically by your trainer who will upload it as part of your assessment record).

Students taking online classes:

You must arrange participants to do the role play with you (participants can include fellow students, friends, family members, or work colleagues however they must be briefed on their role and prepared to ask you questions and provide you with feedback. Please see further instructions in the assessment on the number of participants required and the length for the role play.

You must also video record the role play using your phone and upload it to learning management system. You can also do the task using an online platform such as WhatsApp or Zoom and record the session.

Your trainer will complete a Role Play Observation Criteria as evidence of your participation in the role play (this will be completely electronically by your trainer who will upload it as part of your assessment record).

Uploading your video onto Learning Management System:

Please see additional instructions uploaded together with Assessment Task 2 on how to submit your recording onto the learning management system.

Engage with pertinent stakeholders and agree on communication approaches in accordance with organisational policies and procedures

Communicate information as planned and address identified variances

Participates in a range of verbal exchanges using language and features appropriate to audience

Uses active listening and questioning techniques to confirm understanding

Identifies the importance of taking audience, purpose and contextual factors into account when making decisions about what to communicate, with whom, why and how

Identifies, creates and utilises linkages to enhance knowledge sharing and commitment

Develops flexible plans for complex, high impact activities with strategic implications that involve a diverse range of stakeholders with potentially competing demands

Identifies issues and uses analytical techniques to generate and evaluate possible solutions and to make decisions

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Subject

Program Communication Plan

Introduction

Clearly state the reason and context for this program, including the desired outcomes.

Company documents relevant for the key program objectives

Describe the features of the following company documents that are relevant for the key program objectives:

Project Management Policy and Procedures

Strategic Plan detailing the program’s objectives which should comply with company objectives.

Stakeholder communication

Identify the program stakeholders and what their communication needs are in terms of meeting the program’s objectives.

New approaches

Describe at least three new approaches you could take to positively influence the Project Managers’ commitment to the program’s objectives.

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Scenario

Six months have passed since you started to implement your program communication plan.

You have asked the Project Managers for their feedback on the progress of each project, and you have received a document from each of them. To comply with the Program Communication Plan you are required to evaluate your approaches and recommend improvements for future reference.

Program feedback

As you are aware, this year’s conference was a great success, selling out of tickets despite having 50% more capacity than in previous years.

I am sure that your managing of the program as a whole helped with many aspects of the success. One example was the way Donna helped us out when one of the speakers was too ill to attend. She contacted one of our old co-workers who is now with PWC, and asked if they would fill the gap, and they did, with just two days’ notice. They turned out to be a great speaker and has inspired me to invite a Grow Management Consultants senior consultant to speak at the Conference each year.

Having a copy of our last-minute speaker’s book to give to each Conference attendee was just what the Conference bags needed. It seems that managers, while readily adopting digital technology, really appreciate a book that they can hold in their hand.

I must say that I was hesitant about joining the brainstorming session six months ago, as I thought that I had the conference planning down pat and didn’t want any interference. But it was great. I learned a lot about what the consultants are doing and what they are capable of. I now see the conference as an extension of their work rather than something that runs parallel to it.

The weekly group emails were good, even though they were mostly very short. That was great because it meant that no-one had any issues.

Dan Streep

Program feedback

Bookings for next year’s workshops is strong, and we have moved to larger rooms at most of the venues to cope with this. The team is still in discussion over the best way to handle this: should we have more workshops? Can we run any more with the team as it is, or do we need to bring more consultants into the team? We will be discussing these issues at the next management meeting, and I will bring some figures to help us make the decisions. The workshops and our consultancy services are going so well that I have had to hire an assistant.

The inter-project communication system has proven to be very useful. We had such a positive reception at the conference that I still have some referrals that I haven’t caught up on yet. It appears that many companies were not aware of the calibre of our consultants. To see one of our old colleagues speaking so well in front of a packed crowd has brought us more enquiries than we know what to do with it.

The weekly group emails were useful, but I must say that I was in daily email contact with Dan in the lead up to the conference, which you will be aware of, and you were CC’d on each one, as you requested in your initial briefing with the project managers.

Donna Chisholm

Program feedback

The e-books project has, as you are aware, taken off as I predicted it would. Currently, six of our senior consultants have started writing, and one of them has completed her first draft. I had long suspected that many of our more experienced staff wanted to get published, and now I have proof.

Of course, there was some luck involved with me having our original e-book available in printed form available at the conference. There was an unbelievably short 24-hour turn-around time from ordering to receiving the books. I know that the speaker was impressed, as were the attendees.

Dan and I are planning to have one in each year’s conference bag from now on. It looks as though one of our senior consultants will be speaking each year, and their freshly printed book will be available to all attendees.

As far as communication between the projects is concerned, you will be aware of the volume of emails that the program has generated between the projects, and you receive a copy of each one. The brainstorming session was great. It was the first chance I had to really put my ideas to Donna, and she liked them. It seems as though she used to think of me as someone who wanted to take her golden goose away. Now she knows that I can help her make her goose even bigger if we work together.

Erin O’Donnell

Program Communication Review

Communication between projects

Give an evaluation of the communication between the projects and whether it contributed to achieving the program’s objectives and the company’s business objectives.

Project Manager interaction

Assess the effectiveness of the interaction between the Project Managers and whether it complies with the company’s Project Management Policy and Procedures.

Recommendations

Give at least two recommendations for future stakeholder engagement based on your findings.

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Grow Management Consultants

Project Management Policy and Procedures

1. Purpose

Grow Management Consultants adopts a standard approach to project management to ensure the consistent success of their projects.

This policy and procedures are designed to specify the requirements for managing projects to ensure that project scope is articulated, stakeholders are involved, risks are managed, and project benefits are maximized.

These policy and procedures apply to all projects.

2. Types of project

Generally, there are three types of project: small project, medium project and large project.

A small project is defined as a project that has a budget of less than $5,000 and expected duration of less than 4 weeks.

A medium project is defined as a project that has a budget of between $5,000 – $10,000 and expected duration of between 1 – 3 months.

A large project is defined as a project that has a budget of between $10,001 – $50,000 and expected duration of between 6 – 12 months.

In each of the above cases the following staff are to be involved.

Small Project:

Project Manager

Project team member (at least 1 selected from suitable staff)

Medium Project:

Project Manager

Project team member (at least 1 selected from suitable staff)

CEO or Operations Manager (as approver of all decisions)

Large Project:

Project Manager

Project team member (at least 2 selected from suitable staff)

Project Steering Group (Board)

Project staff will vary depending on the type of project.

3. Project Phases

All projects should progress through the following project phases.

Stage one

Stage one of the project management process is triggered when the organisation identifies the need to solve a problem, improve a process or implement a new service. It defines what the project will attempt to achieve based on appropriate business justification.

Key tasks involved in this phase will be the preparation of project initiation documentation being the project charter and that includes:

Overall outline of project

Relationship between project and organisational strategies/goals

Proposed project objectives, outcomes and benefits

Proposed project governance

Proposed size of the project including budget and staffing.

The project charter is to be developed using the Grow Management Consultants project charter template.

It must then be negotiated and approved through the relevant project governance structure.

Stage two

The purpose of this phase is to determine how the project will be executed. This means developing a project management plan based on the project charter. The Grow Management Consultants project management plan template should be used. Essentially the preparation of a detailed model of the work required to achieve the project objectives is required and confirmation of the budget and project arrangements suggested in the project charter. Risks are also defined and documented in a risk management plan A detailed schedule is also prepared.

Stage three

The purpose of this phase is to implement the project. Regular reports of the progress of the project should be provided to relevant staff, as well as regular meetings as outlined in the project management plan.

Stage four

This is the final phase of the project and is the formal closure of the delivery component of the project. It has two main outcomes:

The handover of project outputs to the operational areas responsible for ongoing support and maintenance (if applicable to the project); and

The evaluation of the success of the project

The evaluation of the success of the project is important part of the project. The actual project outcomes and cost must be compared with the planned outcomes and determine whether what was achieved by the project was worth the amount invested.

Project recommendations to be included in project evaluation report should include a recommendation to close project.

All project issues arising must be documented in the project issues register.

4. Project Communication

It is expected that the project team meet at least weekly depending on the size of the project.

Records of every meeting must be kept.

Regular reports must also be sent to senior management and/or the project steering committee regarding project progress.

A closure report must be written by the Project Manager within three months of the project’s completion. This report is to be sent to the CEO.

All project information must be checked by the Project Manager thoroughly to ensure the quality and accuracy of all project data.

Once the project is completed, all project information and communication must be stored in the folder Project Information and Communication for each project.

5. Program Communication

A program is a set of interrelated projects, each of which has a project manager. ‘Multiple projects’, or ‘a program of projects’, refers to a number of related projects managed by the same person as a program to achieve organisational objective/s.

Program Managers manage a suite of projects, which together constitute a program.

The purpose of establishing a program and appointing a Program Manager is to ensure that all projects are mutually beneficial for each other.

A Program Communication Plan should be developed to identify stakeholders, their differing interests and engagement methods depending on their communication needs.

6. Project record keeping

A project folder is to be established for each project. The overall folder should be the name of the project e.g. Human Resources Information System Project and sub-folders should be created including folders for the business case, project management plan, project reports, minutes and any other relevant folders e.g. briefs to contractors. All documents should include the title of document and the date when it was saved.

Grow Management Consultants

Strategic Plan

2019 – 2022

Table of Contents

Welcome

Welcome to the Strategic Plan for Grow Management Consultants.

This document sets out our vision for the next three years and how we hope to achieve it.

We hope you enjoy reading this document.

Paul Burns

CEO

Grow Management Consultants

Executive Summary

Established in 2010, Grow Management Consultants is a management consultancy company specialising in providing services to companies to assist them to improve the leadership performance of their staff. Grow Management Consultancy draws on its up-to-date knowledge and skills in best practice leadership concepts to assist clients with leadership performance.

Mission Statement

Grow Management Consultants are committed to promoting individual and organisational leadership excellence. We do this by providing mentoring training, coaching, consultation and program evaluation; offering cutting edge tools, resources and expert advice; sharing best and next practices; leading organizations through the process of creating a leadership culture; and, recognising and celebrating excellence in leadership.

Our values are:

Core values underpinning our activities are:

Quality

Innovation

Respect

Reliability

Strategic Objectives

To be well led, high performing, profitable and accountable

Ensure that all financial operations, performance indicators and results support the strategic policies

Identify new, and expand existing, sources of revenue

Achieve profits of at least 10% per annum.

To develop services to meet customer needs and aspirations

Increase range of consulting services offered

Increase range of e-books.

To continue building deeper customer relationships

Customer-centred practice, with a focus on meeting their total needs for high-quality management

Strengthen the skills of our people, to better support customers

Develop resources that fulfil specific customer needs

Drive innovation to better meet customer demands.

To attract, engage and develop the best staff

Continuing the drive to a customer centred, high performance workforce and culture

Strengthening the skills of our people, to better support customer needs

Empowering innovation and responsiveness to change

Continuing to enhance the diversity of our workforce.

Employing additional consultants

Developing our human resources by implementing a formal human resources framework

Exploring the use of technology in human resources.

The Market

The Management Consulting industry has grown weakly over the past five years. Poor demand from downstream markets constrained industry revenue growth, with financial services and resources firms cutting spending on management consultants due to economic uncertainty and falling commodity prices.

However, businesses using management consultants to introduce new business processes and enhance operating efficiencies have partly offset this trend. Industry operators have also increasingly incorporated analytics into their services, which offer clients greater understanding of their business and clients. Demand for services backed by analytics is expected to contribute to growth of 3.8% per annum until at least 2025.

Research also shows that there is a need for workers to have strong leadership and management skills to support collaborative management, managing teams for a distance, empowering others and business acumen. Thus, the demand for leadership consultancy services is still strong.

Situation Analysis

Marketing Strategies

Our marketing strategies aim to:

Build our brand

Generate leads now

Convert those leads quickly

Have every part of the business supporting each other

We plan to develop our market share by:

Improving our marketing and advertising

Continually improving the quality of service given to clients

Maintaining effective communication channels with all stakeholders to ascertain industry requirements and then develop products and manage services accordingly

Continually improving communication channels with all our stakeholders, ensuring a flow of timely and accurate information to facilitate effective planning and decision making

Targeting identified growth markets with planned, market appropriate campaigns employing a variety of promotional strategies and advertising mediums

Offering attractive fee structures to our clients

Continually improving the skills, knowledge and effectiveness of Grow Management Consultants through our commitment to training and development

Regularly reviewing the effectiveness of all our operations and making improvements when and where necessary