Last year I went along to see Headlong’s stage adaptation of George Orwell’s masterpiece ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (at the Melbourne Festival); which started me thinking………. The way words shape people’s thinking can be very powerful. This power can be used for both good and bad and is an important element in effective communication. Oratory and rhetoric […]
NEWSPEAK – is not all that new! Read More »
Project stakeholders can be helpful, obstructionist and almost anything in between – but for most stakeholders, how you deal with this is largely up to you! The only certainty is your stakeholders are not about to go away and ‘leave you in peace’…… There are three basic ways to deal with stakeholders: Crisis management: you
Stakeholders – from confrontation to engagement Read More »
Stakeholders are becoming increasingly vocal in their demands for ‘good governance’. The rise of stakeholder activism (remembering shareholders are stakeholders) is increasingly affecting the way organisations of all types are governed and managed, and this will in turn affect the way projects are initiated and managed, with consequences affecting your career. One of the major
Stakeholders expect good governance Read More »
Projects and programs are undertaken to enable an organisation to achieve part of its strategy, usually by creating new or better ways of working. The fundamental reason any organisation chooses to undergo this type of change in its operations is to realise or create ‘value’ for some or all of its stakeholders. Project managers are
In my post Creating Value from Change I looked at the difference between project change control and organisational change management: Project change control is described in the PMBOK® Guide and focused on managing changes to the projects deliverables to meet the requirements of stakeholders. The process is controlled by the project manager, although authority to
Everyone is talking about change Read More »
Just as each project is unique, so is each of its stakeholders! Whether as individuals, groups or organizations, every stakeholder, and every stakeholder community has a unique and evolving set of cultures, expectations and perceptions. To effectively engage with, and influence, this diverse community the traditional approach to project communications of regular reports and other
Targeted communication – the key to effective stakeholder engagement Read More »
The project management community and the wider business community are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of soft skills. However, being aware of their importance and investing in developing improved capabilities are different. Before most organisations (and individuals) will invest in developing improved soft-skill capabilities, their value needs to be demonstrated. A recent report prepared
Valuing Soft Skills Read More »
All businesses will go through some form of crisis at least once in their lifetime. How the business comes through this is very much to do with the management style of those in charge. A great manager will be able to inspire a team through any difficulties and enable them to come through the other
Leading your team through a period of crisis – the mark of a good manager? Read More »
A Level 5 Leader (L5L) is an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will. The characteristics and success of these leaders were first identified by Jim Collins in 2001 and formed a central plank in his best selling book, ‘From Good to Great’. The Level 5 discovery derived from a research project
Level 5 Leadership Read More »
Whilst frequently treated as separate topics, conflict management, problem solving and decision making are interrelated and all are focused on achieving the best possible outcome. In an ideal world there would always be sufficient information and rational maturity to treat everything as a problem and apply the following steps to reach the optimum solution: Investigate
Problems, conflicts and decisions Read More »
