成熟度评估、事前计划与内向型领导:一个问题&与安娜·詹姆斯一起开启项目管理的成功之路

Programs are increasing in complexity and scale, and it’s driving a construction boom. According to Oxford Economics, global construction output is expected to grow by 42% or USD $4.在2020年至2030年期间达到5万亿美元，最终达到15美元.2 trillion.

Within this growth potential, 关键的挑战是获得能够奖励三倍底线员工的结果, planet and profit. 我们的项目管理框架通过混合创新实现了这一点, 全球合作与战略, 市场领先的人才和技术组合.

Anna James’ career has included several pivotal North American programs, including 圣马特奥，加州清洁水项目 and San Francisco’s Waterfront Resilience Program, and her maturity assessments are helping to raise the standards and pioneer global best practices. 

In this article, 安娜描述了她的包容性领导风格如何赋予她的团队力量, 加强与客户的合作关系，利用最新的数据驱动趋势.

Hi, Anna. Tell us about your background.

I grew up in the Midwest U.S., where I attended the University of Michigan for civil and environmental engineering, and then moved to Chicago, Illinois, where I joined Jacobs. I’ve now been with Jacobs for almost 12 years.

Most of my work has been with large programs, the first a watermain replacement program in Chicago. Since then, I've been lucky to do a wide variety of work — including detailed design and planning — but for the last ten years, 我主要专注于项目管理和运营.

Internally, I manage a talented water and wastewater team in Jacobs’ San Francisco office; externally, 我在加州参与了几个大型项目.

我很感激能够领导我们在美洲的项目进行成熟度评估, 它们提供了一个框架来探索我们的项目是如何运作的, 调查功能区域的健壮性，并将其与基准进行比较. It goes far beyond performance; uncovering opportunities and allowing leaders to develop their teams. These assessments help instill continuous adaptation and growth — it’s a critical tool to keep teams performing at the highest levels and prevent programs from stagnating.

我更喜欢尽可能多地做这些评估, as the programs of this scale are everchanging and require agile project delivery teams and creative collaboration. 他们系统地解决任何问题，并预先发现任何差距或缺点.

I love our work — implementing these vast infrastructure projects that affect people daily (directly or indirectly) is invigorating.

你的团队是如何解决一些最大的客户挑战的?

对我来说，这一切都始于战略性的、包容性的合作. For example, our work on San Francisco's Waterfront Resilience Program deals with some of the greatest global challenges, including the effects of climate change, rising sea levels and seismic resilience at the waterfront in the Bay Area in Northern California. The solutions for programs like this aren’t one-size-fits-all; they demand much higher levels of tailored stakeholder engagement and creative problem-solving with clients involved at every step.

Besides customized planning and strategy, we provide access to the right technical experts and cutting-edge technologies at the right time. At Jacobs we combine this with proven decision-making frameworks and governance best practices so we can empower our clients to make the right decisions at the right time.

最后，我们依靠全球互联互通和团队的跨领域人才. We’re constantly sharing lessons and harnessing the best talent at a moment’s notice.

从你的专业项目经历中，你有什么重要的见解?

The plan before the plan always matters. As engineers, we often want to spend time doing, designing or implementing, but what I've learned is the more time you spend planning — whether it's implementation or program initiation— and bringing your client along, the better the execution will be. 关键是要尽早敲定这一切, including all the tiny, 与客户之间看似无关紧要的细节. 随着项目的进展，情况会发生变化, 但是计划越详细越周到, 基础和客户教育越强.

This planning produces a baseline scope that acts as an initial diagnostic right at the beginning. It’s integral to all decision-making and vital to mitigate impacts to your scope, schedule and budget.

该计划需要根据客户的需求和偏好进行调整. I’ve worked with clients who are receptive and open to planning and others on the opposing side of the spectrum who only want results. 解决办法是花时间去理解 who the programmatic stakeholders are, how 他们想要做出决定，并以最好的方式记录这些决定. It is time-consuming, but the rewards make it worthwhile, especially within programmatic governance and when you’ve done it early in the cycle. Understanding how organizations make decisions is critical to successfully delivering programs.

最后，测试应该深入到你的文化中. Maturity assessments are vital, but they are only one example; all teams must periodically assess what is working (or not working), 特别是在治理和决策方面, 这样项目才能在整个周期中不断发展和适应.
 

影响未来主要项目交付的主要趋势是什么?

• A demand for global connectivity由于我们的跨部门合作，这对雅各布斯来说是一个竞争优势, 获得全球人才和快速组建团队的能力. 随着规模的扩大，这一点将变得更加关键, 我们将在未来面临更复杂的首页挑战.
• 快速提升关键技术驱动技能:使用最新的数字解决方案, artificial intelligence and automation is no longer a goal; it’s a necessity. However, 为了充分利用这项技术, you need empowered, 积极进取，软硬兼备的人才, 包括领导力和创造性地解决问题. 持续教育、灵活的职业生涯和师徒文化都是必不可少的.
• 吸引下一代领导者各行各业的工程师和项目经理都很短缺, 我们正在与银行和金融等利润丰厚的行业竞争. 我每天都能在旧金山看到这场人才争夺战. 对于工程公司来说，提供合适的职位是一个持续的挑战, challenges and mentors for their younger employees to grow and thrive — like those I’ve been privileged to have.

你们如何通过重大项目提供社会价值?

I’ve learned what a privilege it is to have this role, but comes with a profound responsibility. My experience in the San Francisco Bay Area has shown me how much the communities care about the implementation of these programs. It’s critical to engage communities through robust public outreach efforts; it’s a key factor in ensuring our work is unlocking the social value they deserve. As an engineering student, I never would have thought engagement would have such a massive impact on our work and success.

To do this, you must tailor your stakeholder engagement channels and methods to suit different communities. For example, in the Bay Area, a tactic that works in San Francisco wouldn't work for a community on the Peninsula. There’s even a difference between neighboring communities in the City of San Francisco that are separated only by a few blocks — engaging with each of these communities can require vastly different approaches. You must tailor your engagement strategies to accommodate and appreciate the diversity.

你职业生涯中最自豪的时刻是什么?

I have loved working on our transformative planning efforts on the San Francisco waterfront, as it’s helping to respond to critical issues like sea level rise and seismic risks.

The second project moment I’m most proud of is when we broke ground on the treatment plant in San Mateo, 哪一个是密集计划的高潮, 创造性协作和努力工作. It was a tribute to the incredible quality of the people involved and the pioneering best practices we created for our clients and the communities. Aligned with this work for San Mateo was our contribution to the Clean Water Program. 我领涨了三次巨额低息收盘, competitive loans which will help to save millions of dollars in financing costs in the long term.

你从你的项目经历中学到了什么领导力课程?

• 没有一种理想的领导类型——你需要融入你自己的风格. I’m an introverted leader, and initially, I found it to be a challenge, 但多亏了我的导师的建议和其他内向者的反馈, 我意识到我是一种不同类型的领导者，喜欢听而不是说. 外向的人有魅力、有活力、善于沟通、大胆. However, it’s also refreshing to have introverted leaders in the mix — they are typically thoughtful, eager to listen, conscientious and focused on creating a positive work environment for all team members. Representation like this in leadership matters, including having diverse styles and voices.
• 没有放之四海而皆准的管理方法. 我的第一个目标是倾听和学习, 因为它能帮我读懂别人，发现他们喜欢被管理的方式. I've learned the most from observing how people address things and understanding how they handle problems. 每个人都是不同的——这是一个显而易见的真理, but I constantly repeat it to myself as I see how different styles help bring the best out of people.
• 你不可能得到所有的答案——专注于你说过的事情. It’s vital to build trust with the teams you lead and to manage your relationships upward. 领导能力并不意味着你知道在每种情况下该怎么做, but it requires you to find the right answers together and stay true to your word.
• 不要事无巨细地管理——支持和授权你的团队. I’ve discovered the most value in working for leaders who empower their teams by challenging and supporting them in the right ratio. I’ve had anxious experiences where I have been given responsibility I felt I wasn't ready for, 但这些都是最大的成长机会，因为我得到了正确的支持. Being supportive and always available to listen when needed will empower your teams, 建立信任，创造正确的文化. The more leadership you take on, the more time and effort you need to invest — empowering your team directly affects your output.
• Mentoring is a two-way street. 我从我管理的人身上学到的和从我的导师身上学到的一样多. It helps me with my career, improves team collaboration and provides insight into how each team member is doing.  

关于你，人们最惊讶的发现是什么?

Every time I say this out loud, people don’t believe it, but I’m a deep introvert. I like people and being social, 但我最真实的自己是在家最快乐的, reading a book with my dog, Hugo, my gigantic, adopted mutt.

我不是有意要领养这么大的狗, 但他三个半月大的时候我就养了他, and he kept growing. 就像大红狗Clifford，他 still 在我旧金山的小公寓里生长. 但他很好，我那又大又软又邋遢的儿子.