Orchestrating success

The symphony orchetsra as a metaphor for a corporation / organisation is much written about and commented on. I came across an article written on how “orchestrating success” in an orchestra is a useful metaphor for orchestrating success in the project management world.

Written by “The Risk Doctor“, Dr David Hillson, who is a widely respected authority on project management, it discusses three elements of success for an orchestra:

1. Fulfilling the composer’s intentions;
2. Performing technically well collectively and individually;
3. Meeting and exceeding the expectations of the audience.

And the article parallels these with the successful outcome of a project, namely:

1. Understanding why the project is taking place in the first place and aligning it to the vision of the project sponsor;
2. Everyone in the project has the responsbility to be technically capable and ensure their skills are ever developing;
3. Delivering value and benefit to the project stakeholders.

The power of metaphor is it provides insight to one’s own role, organisation and environment, by observing something completely different, yet in parallel. At Moving Performance we are developing these “in practice” so the music metaphors are not just written about or references, rather they are experienced. And the experience anchors the learning and metaphor in what is quite probably a life changing experience.