How to integrate Project Managers within an organisation

Question

We do have around 50 PMs in the organisation and they all manage different projects; for different clients; different technologies, different teams. So they are a bit isolated from each other. The integration is quite good within a team, but not as good between PMs. I wonder how to integrate them. Not only to have a beer together, but also to encourage knowledge transfer between the projects. If one PM finds out a great solution to a problem, I would like other PMs to at least know about it... or maybe use the solution if they have a similar problem.

One thing I can think of now is kind of a "Project Open Day". So everyone is invited to come, have a beer and ask "how do you manage this?", "How do you manage that?".

So my intentions are:

• social aspects oriented
• knowledge transfer oriented

Do you have your favorites way to achieve this?

Answer 1

In addition to the above answers,

I would recommend a monthly bulletin/newspaper prepared and published inhouse which aims technical news propagation as well as covering social aspects of the organisation. Some parts of the bulletin/newspaper can be dedicated especially to innovations/new ideas/new solutions.

Moreover, periodically seminars/trainings/workshops would be arranged for inhouse information transfer in the manner of a social event.

Answer 2

Create a PM Center of Excellence, a volunteer organization within your company that enables development of intellectual capital, knowledge sharing, training, internal certification, and help.

Your company needs to incentivize its PMs to take advantage of something like this. I have seen these types of things flop if the incentive is not there or the PMCoE provides little value. So resources need to be dedicated for this for it to have any chance of taking off. But if/when it does, it can be quite beneficial.

Answer 3

Start a PMO whose focus is on culling and propagating best practices. It can start with a 1 or 2 day retreat to share knowledge and build a community of practice within the organization. Then continue through periodic events and communications.

Answer 4

I have an MBA in management from Laval University in Quebec City and I have integrated what I have learned in my own way of thinking; so sorry to be "my own inspiration". I am still reflecting on how to share information within managers or project managers within an organisation. In our current world, individualisme is the law. Some call it the "law of the jungle". To my own point of view, the main problem for information sharing within a compagny is the "promotion factor": if you share a very good idea to a collegue to help him or his team, will he use that idea to have a promotion to your own expense? So the "non written" law is: keep you own ideas. Everybody knows that. But, in fact, you ask how to increase the trust between your projet managers. The best answer I have found so far is to have a very objective promotion process based on objective criterions. Now a day, it is very rare. It is the "who knows who" process. Trust is difficult thing to earn, but it is very easyly lost. I think you should be an example on how to do it and inspire your project managers to do the same. If the promotion process you have or you will built is fair and everybody agree with it, you will witness a big change in your organisational culture. But the human nature will remain the human nature. Having said all that, I agree that it is much easyer to give advices than to do the job! But the most important think is not to quit if you believe in what you are doing.