How project management can play a strategic role in the creative sector

Robin Barton is Director of Strategic Initiatives at the University of the Arts London (UAL), whose prestigious colleges include Central Saint Martins, Camberwell College of Arts and London College of Fashion. Below, Barton gives his insider’s view on working in a sector not traditionally associated with the project profession – and his experience of being closely involved with the implementation of the university’s strategic priorities.

Q What does your role cover?

A. UAL has a federated structure, with several colleges that form the overall university. I sit as part of the executive team for three of UAL’s constituent colleges, helping to deliver our strategic priorities, which often sit across functional teams. A large part of my role is working closely with specialist teams that deliver services across the university, helping them to understand the priorities of our three colleges and the requirements of our students and staff.

Q How does project management fit into this?

A. Project management skills and behaviours are integral to my role. I need to be constantly thinking about how we will deliver our strategic priorities, what might get in our way and how we might mitigate those challenges. So, technical project management skills and behaviours frame how I approach my work. I need to be constantly thinking about how our delivery plans look, what resources we need and where our key risks are. As a large, complex institution, everything connects with each other – so being aware of how delivery issues fit together is critical.

Q Which projects or programmes are you currently overseeing?

A. We have a varied set of priorities – some of these are neatly defined as projects or programmes. Others are brilliant thoughts and ideas that need to be developed. One key project is bringing on stream a new campus facility at Camberwell ready for the new academic year. I am working with an amazing team of estates experts, so my role is making sure we are clear about what our students and academics need from this and acting as their advocate throughout the project. There is also a lot of work ongoing about the development of our courses. This is naturally being led by academic experts, so my role is about creating delivery structures and approaches.

As you would expect for an institution of our size, we also have lots of work developing our longer-term ambitions, so I bring a delivery perspective to these conversations. This involves thinking about how these ambitions might translate into discrete projects, what the balance of the overall portfolio might look like and how we might control that.

Q It is unusual for a project professional to be so closely involved in the strategy of an organisation?

A. The challenge in any strategy is bringing it to life. In large, historic institutions, that can be even more challenging – not because there is not ambition, but because there can be many more practical and cultural hurdles to overcome. That is where delivery thinking can play a strategic role. Sometimes, the missing piece is a perspective that can help navigate a path to bring that to life. That is how I have sought to develop my career – creating a focus on, and awareness of, how the strategy can be implemented. Sometimes, this has been through large, complicated projects or programmes. But, often, it has been through quieter background work to keep a collective focus on delivery.

Q Do you foresee an ever-greater role for project management in the higher echelons of organisations?

A. Absolutely. APM talks about the importance of project management in challenging the status quo and championing the new. The complexity and challenges that organisations face only continue to increase. This means that the skills needed to champion the new are now a strategic capability. Project managers have a real opportunity to operate at the most senior levels, helping to bridge the gap between visionary thinking and operational reality. Project managers have often worked in different functional areas or industries. That ability to apply different perspectives and systematic thinking can offer real value in senior management teams, especially where the rest of the C-suite have a more focused set of skills and experiences. The main challenge is to be purposeful in how you deploy these skills – using them to influence how the C-suite thinks and the conversations that happen.

Q What is it like working for arts organisation?

A. It is exciting and energetic. You are surrounded by creative colleagues who are passionate about their artistic specialism and the amazing work that goes on across the creative industries. There is never a shortage of ideas. Alongside this, as an institution with a global reputation, there is always an international perspective to our work. This adds real interest – and complexity – to the work. But most important is the satisfaction of knowing that the work I do is helping deliver a better experience and better opportunities for our students.

Q What challenges does it present when it comes to running projects and programmes?

A. I have worked in (and with) many values-led organisations. Common to all these experiences has been the energy and passion for the organisation’s purpose that runs throughout. This means you must bring delivery thinking and focus forward in a way that is relevant to the context and culture of the organisation. The value of good project management does not stem from the process itself, but from the value it provides. So, project management conversations need to be developed in a way that ties back to the purpose and values that the organisation cares about. The process, tools and behaviours are all the same, you just need to make them relevant to your stakeholders and their priorities.

Q What leadership lessons have you learnt along the way?

A. Do not shy away, as a leader with a project management background, from focusing on people and ideas. It is natural, instinctive, as a project professional to focus on efficient and effective delivery and the process that surrounds that. That will always be important. But it is not always enough on its own.