International Project Governance: Methods and Human Factors

Webinar hosted by :

Erling JENSEN

Project Management & Business Transformation

Sophie WARANS

Project Management & Business Transformation

This article brings together the testimonials of two freelance consultants from the FocusTribes community, Sophie and Erling, who specialize in international project management and business transformation. Together, they worked on a head office relocation project involving several markets, commercial reorganization, ERP deployment, HR issues and cross-cultural communication over 9 months.

Erling and Sophie talk about the toolboxes they use, drawing on best practices and advice that enabled them to bring together different profiles on a common path of transformation.

I- Our FocusTribes experts

Erling Jensen - Project Management & Business transformation

After 16 years in consulting, Erling is now a freelance project manager specializing in business transformation projects in an international context: HR, supply chain and finance process optimization, global ERP or HRIS roll-outs, and mergers & acquisitions. In recent months, Erling has managed a global employee listening initiative for a major luxury goods group. Erling is particularly recognized for its ability to leverage the "human factor" as a motivational lever for project teams.

Sophie Warans - Project Management & Business transformation

Sophie has worked for international companies in the chemicals, consumer goods and beauty sectors, particularly in the supply chain. Specializing in project management and change management, she has piloted head office transfers, divestments and organizational transformations with outsourced service providers. She excels at communicating with cross-functional teams and managing stakeholders.

Are you managing an international transformation project ?

FocusTribes puts at your disposal a community of over 1,200 accredited SAP consultants

to support companies in their transformation projects.

II- How to structure an international project: plan, pilot and blueprint

The structure of an international project must reflect the organization of the company. If the latter is organized by country, product line or market, the governance of the project must reflect this logic, so as to remain legible and comprehensible to all stakeholders.

As Erling Jensen points out: “The project structure should be in line with where the business happens. People should understand how the project is organized. If you are organized by countries or by product lines or by markets, then you should probably find this structure in the project organization.”

The central role of the pilot

Before a large-scale roll-out, a pilot is essential. It enables us to prove the concept, identify pitfalls before they become major problems, and produce a deployment blueprint that is concrete enough for each local team to project itself into the project.

Erling adds: “I would encourage all of my clients to do a pilot, just because it proves the concept. You have good experience to share hopefully if the pilot goes well, but also bad experience or pitfalls — it's interesting to share those and to gather the learning, and to make the project plan more tangible and practical.”

Ambitious but realistic planning

Planning is the heart of an international project. It must be ambitious to maintain momentum, but realistic so as not to discourage the teams. A classic mistake in multicultural projects is to underestimate cultural differences in the perception of deadlines and milestones. Notions of deadline or milestone are not universal - they vary significantly from one culture to another.

III- The 3 levers of motivation on a transformation project

This is the heart of the webinar - what Erling Jensen and Sophie Warans call the mystery ingredient of success: the human dimension. How do you keep project team members motivated, committed and ready to go beyond their remit, over months or even years? Three levers have been identified.

Lever 1 - Autonomy: providing clear room for contribution

Autonomy is the first motivational lever. Project participants are more committed when they clearly understand how much they can contribute, which decisions are theirs to make, and how their work fits in with the project's overall objectives. In practical terms, this means that the blueprint should be a guideline - not a rigid constraint. If a local manager demonstrates that an adaptation makes sense for his or her market, we need to be able to accept this deviation.

“Autonomy is clearly a lever of motivation — which means our blueprint should be like a guidance, but we should accept to deviate from the blueprint if it makes sense and if a project actor convinces us that for his local market, a deviation makes sense.” - Erling Jensen

Lever 2 - Mastery: enhancing and connecting experts

The second lever is mastery - being recognized for your expertise in a project. International projects are a rare opportunity to connect experts who never meet in the usual organization: a supply chain expert in one country with his counterpart in another, a finance specialist with a logistics expert. Creating these moments of exchange between peers is a powerful motivating factor that sets us apart.

“It's extremely motivating to be recognized for my expertise. And it's even more motivating if I meet the other experts that I see as my peers — maybe from a different country, maybe from a different product line — and I start working with them. This is something I don't have often the occasion to do in the classic organization.” - Erling Jensen

Lever 3 - The objective: honestly communicating the why

The third - and most delicate - lever is theproject'sobjective . Even if the project involves cost reductions, reorganizations or job cuts, communication about the why must be honest and clear. Teams appreciate clarity, even when the message is difficult. Honesty about the meaning of the project is a motivator, not a risk.

“Even if your project is about downsizing or cost cutting, you should argue: 'we need to do this project because it allows us to invest or to be competitive.' But the baseline of the purpose should be understandable and honest. People appreciate the clarity with which the purpose is communicated.” - Erling Jensen

IV- Governance and stakeholder management

Identify and map stakeholders

A stakeholder is anyone likely to be affected by the project - be it a member of the technical team on a day-to-day basis, or an influential sponsor who rarely intervenes but can block the project if they are unhappy with progress.

Sophie Warans insists on the need to map the communication needs of each stakeholder individually: 

“You need to be frequently checking if there's support and enthusiasm for the current stage of the project — as well as the overall project — because if not, if you don't have the support, you're going to struggle even if it's just one person. A project is all about the people who are involved in it.”

The RACI matrix: formalizing who decides what

The RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) is the central governance tool for clarifying who is in charge, who is responsible for the decision, who is accountable, who must be consulted and who must be informed. It applies to project activities, decisions and deliverables. It needs to be reviewed regularly: roles evolve over the course of a project - new stakeholders, reorganizations, changes in context.

Important: project governance is not just about committees. It focuses on people's roles and responsibilities - not on the multiplication of steering bodies.

Cultural diversity as an asset, not an obstacle

In an international project, cultural diversity is a strength - provided the project manager treats it as such. This implies a total absence of cultural arrogance, respect, curiosity and openness to different ways of doing things. Sophie Warans illustrates this point with the concrete example of an outsourcing project to an offshore shared services center:

“The project team organized cultural sensitivity training by the outsourcing partner to the local market teams — helping to build understanding, to help with acceptance of the change and improved communication flows between the different locations. Diversity brings ideas, different perspectives for problem solving and creative thinking that can be a huge benefit to the success of your project.”

V- Virtual team management and project closure

Maintaining the human link at a distance

Since Covid, project teams have become increasingly geographically dispersed. Sophie Warans is categorical: the human dimension is twice as important in 100% remote teams, precisely because informal exchanges no longer exist - no chats at the coffee machine, no corridors to bump into each other.

“It's twice as important and twice as much need for the human touch in projects where there are no coffee machine chats or 'hey, how was your weekend' when you come into the meeting room. If one of your subject experts is feeling uncertain about their role and can't attend meetings because of different time zones, they can't work to their best potential.” - Sophie Warans

Communication tools for remote teams

In terms of tools: use SharePoint or an equivalent cloud solution so that all project documents can be accessed at any time and from any time zone. Implement version control for key documents (project charter, approved change requests). Train all team members in the use of these tools - a handling error can cause a critical document to disappear just before a steering committee meeting.

Project closure: a stage too often neglected

Project closure is often rushed - you're relieved that the project is over, and quickly move on to something else. This is a mistake. Closing is crucial both for capitalizing on what has been learned, and for the teams who have sometimes devoted several years to a project.

“How you close out the project with them might also impact their wish or desire to work with you again as a project manager. Thanking and celebrating with the team is really a must — it's your opportunity to show appreciation for the commitment the team has shown.” - Sophie Warans

On one project, Sophie Warans organized a collective virtual toast with participants from all markets, functions and hierarchical levels - a simple but memorable celebration that left a lasting impression on the team. Closure should include: documented sponsor validation, archived lessons learned, stakeholder satisfaction survey and collective celebration.

VI- FAQ - International governance and intercultural management

What is international project governance?

International project governance refers to the framework of rules, processes and practices used to managea project involving several countries, cultures and organizations. It covers project structuring, stakeholder management ( RACI matrix), decision-making, intercultural communication and virtual team management. In complex transformation contexts such as a global ERP roll-out or head office relocation, project governance is the skeleton that keeps the program coherent.

What are the 3 levers of motivation on an international project?

The 3 motivational levers identified by FocusTribes experts are: (1)autonomy - giving each player a clear space to contribute, with decisions that belong to him or her; (2) mastery - valuing everyone's expertise and creating connections between peers with similar expertise from different countries or functions; (3) meaning - communicating honestly the why of the project, even when it involves difficult changes.

How do you manage conflict in a multicultural project?

To manage conflicts in a multicultural project: start by distinguishing project-related conflicts from pre-existing conflicts in the organization (teams that already had tensions before the project). For project-related conflicts: focus on the problem and not on the people, seek alternative solutions together rather than imposing a solution, and systematically return to the common objective shared by all stakeholders. Understanding the root cause of conflict is often half the solution.

How do you maintain the cohesion of a virtual project team?

To maintain the cohesion of a virtual project team: use shared collaboration tools accessible in any time zone, celebrate individual milestones and successes, organize personal sharing moments between team members (weekly personal presentation, anniversaries), encourage calls between thematic experts outside plenary meetings, and look after the project's closing with a memorable collective celebration.

When should I call on a freelance project manager for an international project?

A senior freelance project or program manager brings specific value to complex international projects: multi-company and multi-industry experience, an outside viewpoint with no hidden agenda, the ability to ramp up quickly and interact with senior internal and external contacts. It is particularly useful on projects such as headquarters relocation, global ERP roll-out, carve-in/carve-out or organizational transformation. FocusTribes has accredited international project managers available at short notice.

VII- FocusTribes - Your partner for international transformation projects

FocusTribes is a consulting firm specializing in connecting companies with freelance consultants who are experts in international project management, program governance and change management. Our consultants are selected by co-optation and accredited through a strict validation process - 1,200+ consultants in the community.

Our community covers the full range of skills required for an international transformation project:

• International project and program managers
• Project management and contracting experts
• Change management and intercultural communication specialists
• ERP deployment and digital transformation consultants
• International supply chain, finance and HR experts

Are you managing an international transformation project?

FocusTribes puts at your disposal a community of over 1,200 accredited SAP consultants

to support companies in their transformation projects.