ADVISORY ARTICLE
By Jeff Oltmann
Oregon, USA
As a senior leader, you hire smart people. You invest in their growth. You carefully cultivate results. But even high performers can struggle or burn out when the systems around them don’t work well.
My training as an engineer taught me to see systems everywhere – how work flows, where it bottlenecks, and how small changes ripple through the whole. Those same principles apply to organizations as much as they do to engineering.
So when leaders ask me, “We’ve got good people—why aren’t our projects delivering?” my answer is often: look at the systems as well as the people.
Designed or accidental, systems shape how your organization runs.
When you see your organization this way, you build create intentional systems instead of just accepting whatever happens.
Seeing your organization as a system doesn’t mean adding bureaucracy. It means recognizing that outcomes, good or bad, are driven by how work and communication flow. For example, if teams are unclear about priorities, stuck in decision gridlock, or reinventing the wheel, there is probably at least one system issue lurking under the surface.
Three systems to strengthen
Here are three practical systems leaders can tune, whether they’re building a PMO, managing a portfolio, or leading a project-driven enterprise.
- Alignment on priorities and objectives
Too many teams are busy, but not aligned. As Thoreau said (in a different context), “It’s not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” Ensure that people know:
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How to cite this article: Oltmann, J. (2025). Why Teams Need Systems to Thrive, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue XII, December. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pmwj159-Dec2025-Oltmann-Why-Teams-Need-Systems-to-Thrive.pdf
About the Author
Jeff Oltmann
Oregon, USA
Jeff Oltmann helps organizations accelerate results through strategy deployment and project portfolio management. He consults, teaches, and leads forums for senior PMO leaders. He is principal at Synergy Professional Services (spspro.com) in Portland, Oregon and is on the faculty of the Division of Management at Oregon Health and Science University. He was previously on executive staff at IBM and is the founder of the Portfolio and Project Leaders Forum, a gathering of senior managers who lead project-based organizations (pplforum.org).
Jeff welcomes your questions and ideas. You can contact him at jeff@spspro.com or read previous articles at www.spspro.com/article-library.
