What role for the Program Director at VISEO?

Julien Genton, VISEO Project Director, currently operational manager for a company specialized in payment solutions, talks to us about the position of Program Director: What exactly does it cover? What are the missions of the Programme Director? What qualities must he have? Our collaborator answers.

A multidimensional role

The job of programme director is the culmination of a career as a consultant. As a guarantor of the excellence of the service provided to his clients, this conductor must solve the following equation "Support his client in the construction of his IT and business master plans in a context of digital transformation"

• Be the metronome for launching new projects
• Anticipate needs and plan the allocation of resources to customer requests
• Report on VISEO's performance to its client (CIO) within the framework of steering and contract committees
• Ensure the sustainability of customer relations and be constantly on the lookout to identify new opportunities on which VISEO could position itself
• Participate in the tendering and contractualization phases
• Ensure budget monitoring (P&L, customer invoicing) in direct link with the VISEO ADV
• Define a framework that allows everyone to express themselves by giving them the means to achieve their objectives (coaching, methodological foundation, relay to expert networks, continuous improvement)
• Combine the talents of his team by offering mission perspectives that are most in line with their aspirations
• Maintain team spirit and friendliness among employees
• Report on the activity and account news to BU managers
• Contribute to the development of the VISEO brand image externally
• Cultivate relationships with solution vendors to keep abreast of the latest trends and developments
• Offer workshops and feedback to its customers.

Not just a leader

A program director must be proactive, responsive, curious, persevering and endowed with a spirit of conquest. However, this all-hazard orientation should not penalize its ability to organize, synthesize and prioritize its efforts.

Leadership is also a major skill that must be developed to be able to

• To argue and convince in the context of a commercial approach.
• To achieve the mission objectives set with the client
• To give a clear trajectory to its teams and act as a safety valve to protect them from additional customer pressure

Finally, from a relational point of view, the programme director must be attentive to his employees, give everyone the opportunity to contribute, take a step back and collectively build relevant responses and decisions.

Evolving towards this type of responsibility

In short, the job of program director consists of a combination of management skills, business or solution expertise, an appetite for human contact and a slight dose of commercial spirit. In this sense, I will give the following advice to any new aspirant:

• To develop in the supervision of employees and project management
• Develop at least two areas of expertise (business, methodological or solution) that will serve as a basis for the construction of points of view
• Multiply experiences (customers / solution / employees) and maintain a network of experts around you in order to be able to respond quickly and argumentatively to a customer problem
• Inform your hierarchy to evolve towards this role through a coherent career plan
• Participate in responses to calls for tenders and support to test its commercial fibre.