Company won’t pay for project leadership skills development? Here are 5 ways you can do it yourself
Posted by lward on Jun 17, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers, Uncategorized | Comments Off
My post a few weeks ago, Investment in project leadership skills declines…from an already low point spoke about the declining investment organizations are making in leadership skills for their PMs. I’d like to follow this up with 5 ways that any project or program manager can successfully develop their own leadership skills. Sure, it’s a little more difficult than attending courses or having a formal development plan, but if no one else will help, you just have to do it yourself. After all, it’s your future. You need to think carefully about it. Here are the five approaches I offered in my presentation entitled “14 Leadership Skills to Boost Your Career” which I delivered in Istanbul, Turkey as part of the PMI EMEA 2013.
Read MoreDo you use communications blockers and don’t know it? Here are the 4 greatest in history
Posted by lward on Jun 10, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers, Uncategorized | Comments Off
We all do it; it’s part of life. We do it at home and we do it at work. We squelch good ideas, put the kaibosh on creativity, and stamp out innovation because of the stupid things we say. What am I talking about? Communications Blockers , of course. Here’s an example. A new member joins the project team
Read MoreHow to Become a Project Leader by Challenging the Status Quo
Posted by on Jun 3, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers, Uncategorized | Comments Off
One of the concepts which can help you excel as a project manager – and leader – more rapidly than anything else is the notion of consistently challenging the status quo of what you are delivering and how you are delivering it. Not only will it help you optimize the project you are currently running, it will also help you improve your client’s business processes as well as the organisation or department you work for. When you challenge the status quo, it means that you identify new and better ways of doing things on behalf of your project, your client and your organisation. It also means that you add value, and that’s the very basis for being successful. In order for you to step up and become a project management leader , you must add more value than anyone else. It is not enough to just turn up and do a good job. We have to stay competitive and consistently look for new and better ways of doing business, saving money and adding benefits to our customers. Challenging the status quo is a mindset shift which you can bring about by being conscious about how things operate today – and by proposing a new and better way of doing things. The steps involved are outlined below: 1
Read MoreGuest Blogger Joe Czarnecki writes: A Different View of Training for Project Managers
Posted by chohlbaum on May 27, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers, Uncategorized | Comments Off
For too long training for project managers has focused on managing the triple constraint of the project itself. That was fine when things were good. But the world has moved on and without anyone noticing, project managers have taken the lead in transforming our businesses, establishing global IT infrastructure, and driving the products and services that are sold. Just about everything we do today is a project and business is more dependent than it realizes on project managers. Just to survive in the new economic reality, project managers need essential business skills on top of their process or tools-focused project management training. Essential business skills have been ignored for too long because they are difficult to quantify, teach and master.
Read MoreInvestment in project leadership skills declines…from an already low point
Posted by lward on May 13, 2013 in PMChat Bloggers, Uncategorized | Comments Off
A couple of weeks ago I raised the following question: Is the lack of project leadership training the reason we are still struggling with projects? Many responded with some very interesting insights. In this post I present data clearly showing that, despite organizations’ complaining about the apparent lack of leadership skills, that investments in soft skills training, and training generally, is on a disturbing decline. First, a little background. For the past three years, ESI has conducted its annual Global State of the PMO Survey. In year two, we asked the respondents (> 3,000 responded) to tell us where their organization was investing in their development. We categorized respondents into two camps: those that work directly for the PMO, and those who are influenced by the PMO but do not report directly into it
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