Aidan Kelly wears a number of hats: chartered physicist, photographer, and PRINCE2 practitioner are the leaders. He is also a big proponent of innovative solutions in project management. After forging his way through a career that saw him working on projects in IT and mobile networks, the Coventry native has since moved on to focus on matters pertaining to the not-for-profit sector, mostly through community development and empowerment. A blogger at WordPress, Aidan seemed an obvious choice to answer some of the questions we had for the public and private sector PPM practitioners in regards to the strength, confidence and morale. Learn more about Aidan here and follow him on Twitter for a new, innovative perspective with innovative solutions…
HOW TO MANAGE A CAMEL: How confident are you about your job in your sector? What factor in particular is driving your confidence level?
AIDAN KELLY: Confidence levels in general across the charitable and civil society sectors are very low at present, funding is tight and traditional funding streams have either dried up or are increasingly oversubscribed. From a personal point of view I am relatively upbeat about employment prospects, but it remains a challenging time particularly for smaller organisations and inexperienced professionals. I have just completed working on a programme called Community Voices with the charity Media Trust. The programme supported 25 community projects across England with funding, training, digital mentors and resources to help them address their own isolation or disadvantage using digital media. It was a very exciting programme to be involved with and ahead of the curve, when it began in 2009, in that it was very much about community-led solutions – if you like it was the Big Society in action before David Cameron started talking about the Big Society.
Community Voices completed in April so I’m currently looking for a new project management opportunity. I’m not sure what the next 12 months will hold for me, but from my experience I would say that in the not-for-profit sector there is plenty of room for growth in terms of the number of project managers, and in understanding the value that project managers bring to organisations. The constant challenge to raise funds often means that contracts are limited to the length of the project (as was the case for me); unless new funding can be found the organisation often has to let the project team go. It’s a terrible waste of key skills that hits small organisations hardest because they are usually dependent on only one or two funding streams. Having said that one of the lessons we learnt through Community Voices was that communities needed the most support in developing their project management skills, more than digital media skills. This is why I feel upbeat about opportunities for project managers going forward in this sector.
HTMAC: What is team morale like, and how would you describe the conditions of your working environment as a factor in motivating the project team?
AK: Team morale throughout programme delivery was high, it was very much an emotional journey for the whole team working with some truly amazing communities. To give just two examples of the communities that we worked with, Vintage Radio is a community of over 50s in Liverpool who setup their own community radio station to help older people, especially those in care homes, feel less isolated. Hidden Homeless is a group of homeless people in Bradford who worked together to raise awareness of homelessness and challenge perceptions of who can become homeless and why.
As the programme developed I made the decision to move desks so that I could sit next to the team member that I needed to work with most – for example during the grants selection and allocation phase I sat next to Sam, the Grants Administrator. Once the communities had started their projects I moved to be next to Kim, the Community Outreach Manager. This was really helpful in building up relationships at key times and also the best way to monitor risks by being closer to the ground during key phases of development. Feedback from the team was very positive Sam and Kim both appreciated being able to just turn round and talk about situations as they arose rather than having to send an email, etc.
HTMAC: Would you classify your job as easier or harder than it was 12 months ago? Are you noticing any major alterations like working longer hours, contraction of available resources, or managing smaller project teams?
AK: From my experience of working in the charitable sector and in particular in project teams, people are very committed to their work which very often is about helping individuals and communities to change their lives or life outcomes; it’s very much an emotional commitment as well as a professional one. There were four people in the Community Voices team including myself, we worked with other teams in Media Trust, but it was a big commitment for such a small team delivering a nationwide programme. We were constantly challenged by resources and time. This isn’t unusual, charities have to be as lean as possible when it comes to biding for funding so teams are very light. It is always a challenge to be come together quickly as a newly formed project team whilst getting up to speed with programme initiation. With funding pots reduced I only see this trend of running projects with smaller teams continuing into the short to medium term.
HTMAC: How would you describe the wider landscape in your sector? What trends have emerged and where do you see your sector going?
AK: A complaint often made by many organisations in the charitable sector is that there only ever seems to be money available for pilot projects and start-up initiatives, almost no money is available to develop projects into longer term operational programmes which can sustain the changes they are trying to create. The growing trend towards localism and personalisation across the sector, as reflected by initiatives such as the Big Society, reflects the realisation that services, advice and support need to specific and tailored to individual needs. Businesses too are starting to talk much more about what difference they and their employees have made to the communities in which they operate. It’s no longer about a big cheque and nice photograph for the CSR brochure, but a strong recognition that if the communities where they are based are given support to be less deprived and less isolated it’s good for business. Employees are more satisfied and there’s greater customer loyalty to the company. Engaging with communities takes time, there are no quick solutions, it’s ultimately about people and building up trust and relationships. I feel that the opportunities and need for project managers are growing, the skills set of the project manager – planning, communication, risk management and people skills – are exactly what is required from both a charitable and business point of view. Long term business investment is a good solution to the problem of continuous short term funding for pilot projects, I see this trend growing with businesses and civil society organisations collaborating much more, therefore the project manager is well placed as the person who can help forge these aspirations into solutions.
Image courtesy Robert Higgins, re-used with permission.
