Professionalism demands that project delivery processes are comprehensive and robust.

That creates the right foundation for delivery jazz — situational agility and innovation.

The delivery principal must hold the tension in a fundamental balancing act between:

• systematic and thoroughgoing processes on the one hand, and
• situational agility with space for improvisation and innovation on the other

This gives us another C to add the three we've covered in part 1:

• Calmness
• Confidence
• Consistency, and
• Creativity

Over-boiling process that throttles creativity can be tragic for experts and specialists in delivery teams, creating a flight risk that puts projects and businesses in peril.

But beware of the trouble with delivery principals who see themselves as solo jazz artists or thunder gods — the tamers of chaos.

You know the type — those always adapting on the fly, whose processes and practices aren't well structured but flexed to suit business and client’s needs or expectations

They thrive in chaos, so they keep creating chaos in order to thrive. But that's problematic for growth — they will bristle, and may even choke off the growth business itself.

As the business matures, it stretches forward towards greater professionalism. We talk about the three Cs that are the aim of professionalism:

• Calmness
• Confidence
• Consistency

We talk about the essence of professionalism:

• Capturing 'our ways of working'
• Making sure there's always value delivered — for customers, and for the standing of the business
• Ensuring efficiency — removing unnecessary overheads
• Giving clarity
• And making the best client experience possible

And we talk about how hyper-growth can jeopardise a lot of that!

Professionalism demands that project delivery processes are comprehensive and robust. In the second half of the episode we talk about the 'why' of processes — why they're there:

• they're the way you do things, adding to the distinctive character of the business
• they're reliable, replicable practices — and that can lead to automations
• they're clear, and can be explained easily to customers

But processes should also be separate from the person themself, like a product for the business.

Lastly we talk about the hazard of processes that over-boil!

Communication is a key skill in all jobs, right?

Well, clear and coherent communication is of a different order for a Chief Delivery Officer — unusual excellence in communication is a fundamental requirement of the job and an essential skill that should be particularly well developed.

The CDO is responsible for effective communication between all parties on projects: clear communication is vital to achieve outcomes. The CDO determines what and how a business communicates with customers and stakeholders. And so the CDO should show distinctive leadership in this key area.

In this episode we discuss the astonishing breadth of modes and contexts for communication for a CDO, verbal and non-verbal, in meetings and events and ad hoc, in big groups and small groups as much as one-to-one, both in person and asynchronous, and all manner of other ways.

We talk also about how a deep and practical understanding of multiple intelligences and personality types can be a giant power-up for transformative and effective communication.

In the second half of the episode, we look more practically at communicating with customers and with colleagues, and how a CDO should be conscious of how the mode and manner of communication needs to adapt according to context and needs.

Find out more at deliverthatpodcast.com

We're picking up some threads from the first episode, looking in greater depth at the strangeness of a delivery leadership role.

In the first half we return to that uncomfortable location for the CDO — sitting between each customer's needs and the objectives of your own business — and we discuss how it's more complicated still, because you also need to serve the teams that actually deliver client outcomes. Experts need the right opportunity to exercise their expertise, and it's the CDO's duty to create that space and guard it. We've talk over an example or two for that.

Later on, we look specifically at the strange, sometimes contradictory combination of skills and capabilities that a high performing delivery director should have. We talk over some of the fundamentals at a high level, many of which we'll return to in future episodes:

• High EQ
• Strong communication skills
• Diplomacy
• Strong organisational skills
• Outcome oriented
• Process driven
• Forecasting and capacity management
• Knowledge and skills sharing
• Strong sense of team — we’re doing this together
• Set standards, and hold people accountable to them

The very first episode of the Deliver That! podcast — a show about delivery leadership for projects, teams, and programs — the big concepts, real-life stories from the front line, and everything involved in the role of a Chief Delivery Officer.

In episode 1 we introduce the podcast and ourselves:

• What’s the reason for the podcast and what are we aiming to do with it?
• Who are we, Steve Hunton and Joe Baker?
• And what's the plan?

We also give a thumbnail sketch of what a CDO does, the primary focus and orientation in the role. But it's only broad brushstrokes really, coz this is what the show is about.

Deliver That! is a new podcast about project delivery leadership.

The big concepts, real-life stories from the front line, and everything involved in the role of a Chief Delivery Officer.

No filters. No fluff.

Just honest conversations about what happens in project and delivery leadership, and how big things really get done.