How do you foster collaboration and innovation across multiple projects and disciplines?

First things first. 1. Define every goal you need or required for the completion of a program. 2. segregate all goals in terms of independency, Dependency, Risks, Out of Reach subjects. This will help in prioritizing the work. 3. Document everything you come across during the execution. Be it maintaining the list of important stakeholders, their subordinates, and list of people to be involved incase of their absence.

-Break Down Silos -Embrace Diversity -Establish a Centralized Hub -Promote Open Communication -Celebrate Success Together -Establish Innovation Challenges -Invest in Professional Development -Leadership as Catalysts

In my startup journey, fostering collaboration and innovation across diverse projects was key. We found success by creating an open environment where team members from various disciplines freely shared ideas. Regular team meetings and brainstorming sessions helped merge perspectives, leading to innovative solutions. Encouraging a culture that values each team member's input and fostering open communication channels proved instrumental in achieving our goals.

Once the goals are defined and scope is fixed. One can prioritise tasks for the resources present currently. Program Manager or Project manager analyse the resources based on their skills, experience and availability. Divide the tasks further and allocate it to the resources. 1. Plan your tasks into sprints. 2. Keep some buffer days or time for every tasks to support in case of resource absent or leave. 3. Create a spreadsheet for leaves and more for resource allotment.

Innovative work is not easily measurable or predictable. Resources should be prioritized on delivery of proof of concepts (POCs) or research spikes that contribute to the overall project or program goal. Once these activities have been realized, more specific details can be added.

In my journey across diverse projects, I've found that effective collaboration hinges on strategic resource allocation. Prioritizing tasks and allocating resources wisely not only streamlines processes but also enhances innovation. Whether leading projects in my previous role or at my own startup, optimizing resource utilization has been key to achieving successful outcomes and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Regular meetings such as standups are a great opportunity to share what each person is working on and invite feedback. Oftentimes the sharing of innovative work with the team results in engagement and support from others to help develop the outcomes.

In my experience, there are several key factors that increase collaboration: 1. Regular Meetings - 15 minute to 30 minutes on ONLY 1-2 topics AND with only KEY people. It's important to keep the scope of meeting small and focused. 2. Project Management Tools & Dashboards. Keeping the information inside a SINGLE source of truth and being able to create dashboards for reporting is KEY 3. Documentation Matters - It's important to document issue/risk log, project charter / vision doc, etc

As these multiple projects contribute to some common strategic goal of a program, it's essential to educate projects teams about the big common goal. We should set some frequent meetings where teams can come together and discuss any dependencies and impediments. These meetings can also be a medium for showcases and knowledge sharing among teams.

Communication is very important when it comes to having a successful program. As a Program Manager, communication, giving out updates across is very important. 1. Keep a short meeting with important stakeholders to get and give updates about the projects. 2. Document or create a Minutes of Meeting for every call or meeting you attend. 3. Create a document to track the status of the project from program manager side. 4. Have a joint sessions between teams to learn and collaborate on different topics on the same project. This will later on help in innovation if possible

Drawing from my experience, transparent communication not only breaks down silos but also sparks collaborative innovation. Whether navigating diverse teams or steering projects at my startup, fostering an open dialogue has been instrumental in achieving collective goals. I collaborated with over 15 venue owners while curating multiple events for my startup. I attribute the success of these collaborations to clear communication and my realistic approach to the future of humor

Below are a few things that the program manager can do in order to foster collaboration and innovation. 1. Set some KPI for innovations per quarter. Encourage and reward team members for proposing and implementing innovations. 2. Reserve some time every quarter where project team can collaborate and work on innovation s else it will be routine work for all team members. 3. Showcase your innovations in program sync meeting to encourage others projects.

With respect to innovation, KPIs should focus on things like number of proof of concepts, research spikes, outcomes discovered, research published, or pilots implemented.

Vigilantly monitoring and evaluating progress is the compass that guides successful project management. Regular assessments ensure informed decisions and drive continuous improvement. Identification of strengths, weaknesses, challenges of each projects at regular intervals plays a very important role in this. Also the celebration for the achieved goals with team & colleagues is good and motivating factor.

When it comes to evaluating all your methods you used for your program management. I would suggest celebrating the smallest victory encourages your teammates a lot. 1. Check out for the difference in the output required and generated once the project is completed. This will help in understanding what are the limitation of the project. 2. Create a list of what you as program manager failed during the project lifecycle. 3. Identify the strengths, what went wrong, what went right and new possibilities that can be achieved in program. 4. Have a retrospective for everyone and take suggestions.