Making the hard decisions webinar, 16 June 2020

Webinar
16th June 2020
‘Making the Hard Decisions’
Adam Skinner – APM PFM SIG - Co-Chair & P2 Consulting
Petula Allison – APM PFM SIG – Co-Chair & Yorkshire Building Society
1© 2020 APM Portfolio Management SIG portfolioSIG@apm.org.uk

Contents
2© 2019 APM Portfolio Management SIG
The Portfolio Director’s Dinner Series
1. How do you define a ‘good decision’
2. How do you help create a ‘good decision’

p2consulting.com
3
And where have I been?
⦿ P2 Consulting’s Director of Consulting
⦿ Co-chair of the APM’s Portfolio Management Committee
⦿ Co-author of the APM’s Guide to Portfolio Management
Who am I?

p2consulting.com
4
We formed P2 to offer businesses embarking on major
transformations a real alternative to the false ‘comfort’
of the big 4
Our vision
We value our people
We understand the importance of workplace
engagement and value all our people – that’s
why we continue to invest in their development.
We’re global We speak your language
Our delivery experts talk the same language and
use the same tools. They make decisions with
you and take all the responsibility to achieve.
“P2 Consulting have put in place a
highly effective programme
management environment which
means that the senior team always
have full visibility and control”
We deliver
We quickly land and fit into your surroundings
and methodologies to provide immediate
impact
We’re qualified We’re growing
We are the fastest
growing privately
owned consultancy in
the UK.
We’re here for our partners when...
They need a
world-class PMO
or Portfolio Office
They need a tried
and tested
Programme
Delivery team
They need cutting-
edge analytics and
insights
They need a testing
and
quality assurance
capability
They need a
transformation partner
We put your success first, and look to quickly
enhance your position
We manage your delivery on time, and to
budget
We coach, mentor and improve so that
change can be successfully delivered and
embraced
Head of Merchandising Strategy
John Lewis
Who we are

YBS – Our Background
• Currently 3rd in the Top 10 Building Societies
• Head Office locations in Bradford, Leeds, Peterborough and Cheltenham
• Product offerings include Mortgages, BTL, Savings, Shareplans and more recently YBS Commercial Mortgages
• Key Communication channels – Post, Phone and Digital with a big drive to move towards Digital in 2020 and
reduce paper
• 249 YBS outlets for face to face help across the UK
• Awards won in 2019 include the following:
Best Commercial Mortgage Provider
Accord Mortgages - Best Mortgage Lender
Most Efficient Complaint Handling - Gold Winner
Best Overall Mortgage Provider 2019 (moneynet)
Best Building Society Savings Provider 2019 (moneynet)
Best Offset Mortgage Provider – 5 years running (moneynet)

How do you define a good decision?

Making the Hard Decisions
‘One of the biggest challenges facing Portfolio Directors
and Managers is in getting the hard decisions made’
© 2019 APM Portfolio Management SIG 8

‘How do you define a good decision?’

How do you ‘define’ the good decisions?
✓ Timely
✓ Objective
✓ Impacts (understood and articulated)
✓ Made by accountable decision
makers
✓ Right level of challenge
✓ for the right reasons

‘……indecision can be as harmful
as no decision…..’

‘……if the decision does
not agree with the
Portfolio Directors,
does that make it a
wrong decision?.....’

The Rich Picture
‘A good decision is one taken in a timely and objective manner, using relevant impacted data, and made by appropriate and
accountable decision makers and following the right challenge from relevant stakeholder for the right reasons.’
And possibly… ‘underpinned’ by a strong recommendation from the Portfolio Director.

‘……may not be a right
decision but there's
definitely a wrong
decision…..’

What makes a good decision?

1. Governance
2. Information
3. Psychological

Governance: The make-up and ways of working of the decision-
making forum
▪ The effect of different levels of authority, or power, in the room
▪ The impact of the wider organisation’s culture on decision making
▪ Consider if regular or ad-hoc/exceptional meetings are better for
decision making?

Information: Information relates to the capture and presentation of
the information that supports strong decision making
▪ Clear visuals that tell a story
▪ Business impact information
▪ Options and recommendations. A strong, evidence based,
recommendation from the Portfolio

The psychological underpinnings of strong decision making was an
extremely broad topic – the discussion focused on 3 key points
▪ The importance of framing the decision correctly by carefully
phrasing the question. Decision making is a two stage process:
understanding the question and then identifying the answer
▪ Having an awareness of the psychological biases that drive poor
decision making. These can never be fully avoided but an
awareness of them can be helpful.
▪ The most critical factor in driving strong decision making is that the
members of the decision-making forum trust and respect each
others’ opinions

‘…..how do I create the conditions and environment for
good decision making?’

➢ Clarity and appropriateness of the question
➢ Trustworthiness and relevance of the raw data
➢ Presentation and dissemination of the information relating to the question
➢ The decision makers: their roles, responsibility and relationship
➢ Appropriate challenge of engaged stakeholders
➢ The cultural underpinning of the organisation and its relationship to decision making
➢ The cadence and regularity of the decision making forum (and any supporting
engagements)
➢ Presentation of the options and recommendations and their supporting information
➢ The dissemination of the information relating to the decision
➢ Oversight of the implementation of the decision

What are the elements of good decision making?
“It is critical to take ownership of the process of decision making – whether that’s making
recommendations or ensuring you’re getting recommendations from the right people. Active
management of the process, the psychology of the decision makers and the choosing of the right
process are critical and should be a key area of focus for any Portfolio Director”

▪ Create the right environment to make the right decision
▪ Key is in the Portfolio Management Office
– Mandate from executives
– Governance in place and alignment to organisations decision
making and governance
– Stakeholder Management

With huge thanks to the Portfolio Directors
Individual Organisation
Joanna Rowland HM Revenue & Customs
Fiona Spencer Infrastructure & Project’s Authority
Karina Singh HM Land Registry
Jo Morganite University College London
Lance Runyard Seqirus
Simon Lansdowne National Air Traffic Services
Richard Moor National Grid
Petula Allison Yorkshire Building Society
Adam Skinner P2 Consulting
Steve Leary Tata Consulting Services
Andrew Goodman Metropolitan Police
Robert Nicholas Ministry of Justice

Portfolio Management
The APM Portfolio Management SIG

SIG activities
PMO Conference & Portfolio Director’s Dinners
Publications
Joint SIG workshops and support at SIG conferences:
• Joint Programme Management London event;
• Difference between Portfolio and Programme Management Offices - PMO conference;
• Governance SIG events;
• Benefits, PMO and Governance SIG workshops at our conference.
Presentations and discussions at various APM Branches:
• Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire;
• Thames Valley;
• Bristol (September 2019).
Quarterly newsletters
BLOGS & LinkedIn
• Career to becoming a portfolio manager;
• Aligning strategy with delivery;
• When Agile development meets strategy: a practical example.
• New SIG guide to portfolio management
Established an APM Portfolio Management LinkedIn group to encourage topical discussions etc.

SIG Publications – APM Guide to Portfolio Management
▪ Based on a wealth of practical experiences and includes real-life scenarios
▪ Designed for and relevant to:
− senior management and executives wanting a summary of portfolio management;
− experienced practitioners keen to understand good practice;
− people in their early stages of portfolio management or portfolio related roles;
− anyone wanting a non-technical overview of portfolio management.
▪ Developed by SIG members and the portfolio management community
▪ Capitalising on the SIG’s maturity over 7 years & 5 annual conferences
▪ Contributes to the knowledge and understanding of good practice in portfolio management
▪ Aligned with the APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition
▪ Increases the profile of the APM in this increasingly important area
▪ To access the book https://www.apm.org.uk/book-shop/portfolio-management-a-practical-guide/

Portfolio Management SIG – Committee 2019-20
29
Contact us via the APM website, portfolio mgt SIG, or:
portfolioSIG@apm.org.uk
© 2019 APM Portfolio Management SIG
Nancy Olson Stephen Parrett Lynne Ratcliffe
(Secretary)
Neil Pattinson Adam Skinner
(Co-chair)
Petula Allison
(Co-chair)
Gemma Parker Tony Whitmore
Steve LearyOsian Evans Judd Norton Dwain MorganRichard Moor Tanya DurlenMike Florence Peter Glynne

Finding the Thought-Leadership
Portfolio Director’s Dinners - https://www.apm.org.uk/community/portfolio-management-sig/
1. Agile Portfolio – Fact or Fiction?
2. Making the Hard Decisions
Managing the Portfolio Series – Peter Glynne

How to get involved
• Join the SIG on the APM website
• Join the SIG LinkedIn page
• Have a committee member come and present to your change
community?
• Join the committee?

Thank you
APM Portfolio Management Specific Interest Group
portfolioSIG@apm.org.uk

Making the hard decisions webinar, 16 June 2020

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