Daniel SchoonmakerGRBJ REPORTER

GRAND RAPIDS — Profit-able Growth Partners LLCfounder Randy Bancino be-came painfully aware of theproject implementation prob-lems that plague corporatetechnology managers duringhis tenure as CIO of the multi-billion-dollar Alticor Inc.Despite having the best talentand latest technology, a lack ofsoft skills at the ground levelled projects to be over budget,late, ill equipped or to other-wise fail.

Statistically speaking, a suc-cessful software or informationtechnology project is about ascommon as a base hit in pro-fessional baseball. Dependingon the study, industry esti-mates of project failure rangefrom 55 percent to 80 percent.The larger the project, themore likely it will fail to meetbudget, deadline, user require-ments or even be completed —with supply chain manage-ment, enterprise resource plan-ning and customer relationshipmanagement programs failingmore than 70 percent of thetime.

“When we’d analyze whyprojects failed, it was almostnever because the technologydidn’t work or because peopledidn’t understand the technol-ogy or we didn’t hire the rightvendors,” said Bancino. “It was

almost always a lack of softskills in some of our people.”

For all technical people,whether it be in informationtechnology, biomedical, struc-tural engineering, legal or oneof dozens of other fields, softskills such as project manage-ment, time management, com-munication and conflict resolu-tion tend to be overlookedcompetencies. In some roles —software integration, forinstance — it can be a full-timejob just keeping up to datewith changing product specifi-cations.

“Their concern is that theyreally need to know the tech-nology, so it’s easy to put thesoft skills on the back burner,”said Bancino, who also servedas Quixtar’s vice president ofsales and marketing and as alongtime instructor in WesternMichigan University’s MBAprogram. “But if you back upand look more critically, it’sthose skills that will make youmore successful.”

Soft Core Skills for HardCore Technical People is oneof several customized trainingpackages available throughProfitable Growth Partners, thecompany Bancino launchedlast fall with fellow Alticoralum Claire Zevalkink. Many ofthe same concerns transfer tothe firm’s other offerings,including those aimed at newmanagers and leaders, womanmanagers, teambuilding, cus-

tomer service and high-per-formance strategies.

“When you’re working inteams, it’s the soft skills thatwill make you effective,” saidZevalkink, formerly Quixtarvice president of marketingand communications. Shenoted that the most commoncause of technology projectfailures — some studies sug-gest as high as 95 percent — isthe inability of a technical per-son to speak in terms that anon-technical person, such asa salesman or customer, canunderstand.

“That’s a skill not a lot oftechnical people recognize thatthey need,” she said, addingthat the problem is common inall areas of specialty, particu-larly for attorneys, accountantsand medical professionals.

This can be especially prob-lematic for technical people asthey move up the corporateladder, Zevalkink said. “Nowthey have a staff of people,they’re giving presentations tocustomers or upper manage-ment, and they just haven’tlearned a lot of the skills thatthey need.” BJ

– Reprinted by permission of the Grand Rapids Business Journal, copyright©2007 Gemini Publications –

Techies NeedSoft Core Skills

People, Management SkillsTrump Good Design

WWW.GRBJ.COM VOL. 25, NO. 6 THE BUSINESS NEWSPAPER OF METRO GRAND RAPIDS – HOLLAND – MUSKEGON & WEST MICHIGAN FEBRUARY 5, 2007 $1.50 a copy; $52 a year

Claire Zevalkink and Randy Bancino show companies how to traintheir people to better use technology.

BUSINESS JOURNAL PHOTO/JOHNNY QUIRIN