Comment pouvez-vous éviter les risques liés à une vision et à des objectifs peu clairs du programme ?

Understanding the problem and opportunity is crucial in avoiding the risks of unclear program vision and objectives. Without a clear understanding of the problem, organizations end up in firefighting mode, looking for programs to put it out instead of a forward-looking vision mindset focused on the opportunities this problem presents. Understanding the opportunity allows you to leverage the existing strengths and resources to support the program's vision and objectives. It enables you to capitalize on favourable conditions and anticipate potential challenges, increasing the overall feasibility and sustainability of the program. It reduces the risks of ambiguity and misalignment to achieve successful outcomes for the program.

I coax clients into clarity by drilling down with questions to get to the core issue or goal. Sometimes, the best intentions lead to wide-sweeping ideas for a program when you need to start with a broad mission/vision, define goals, and then objectives to get to those goals. Being observant and actively listening for critical issues and then drilling down on those can reveal clarity, and then you can build from there to ensure you create objectives that meet goals and that those goals align with the mission.

In my opinion, before we think about the program and its objectives, we have to keep in mind and be very clear at all layers the strategic objective of the organization, this is fundamental, because executing something that is not aligned with the strategic objective is executing something that will not bring value to the organization.

Ensure that there is a clear Vision, a Clear Strategy and a Clear Direction at the start of the Program. The Leadership defines the Corporate Vision The Sponsor and the Stakeholders define the Programme Vision ensuring that it is aligned with the Corporate Vision

Understanding the problem and opportunity also called as program business needs, is fundamental in program management to establish a clear vision and objectives. For instance, in the telecom domain, a network expansion program's success hinges on recognizing the need to tap into new markets. This understanding ensures alignment with organizational objectives, effective stakeholder engagement, early risk identification for mitigation planning, optimal resource allocation, and the establishment of measurable objectives, all crucial elements for program success and business value delivery.

Once the strategic objective is defined and clear across all layers, it is essential to use OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) cascaded through these same layers. Only in this way can we accurately measure whether both the program and individuals are working in alignment with the organization's objectives and strategy.

Program Vision and objectives are aligned with portfolio objectives which in turn are part of organizational goals. Program managers should ensure that keep a check on the organizational vision/ mission and clarity on the objectives. E.g. Let say that one organization started a program to achieve the efficiency for their fossil fuel based cars but later organization changed its vision to become number one in Electrical Vehicle segment. As the program will not aling with the organizational goals, it might need to terminate.