Leading Strategic Initiatives (Program Management)

PMI is pleased to offer this new, senior-level workshop. Strategic initiatives are those cross-functional, cross-organizational programs that are crucial to achieving an executive vision and delivering benefits to stakeholders. Participants should come prepared to dig into real-world cases and examples, and to share their own experiences. Your expert facilitator, Greg Githens, is a top-ranked, enthusiastic seminar leader who will share practices and insights that will make you more effective in achieving results.

Where appropriate, the class will include Program Management concepts from PMI’s Program Management Standard – Second Edition. However, the workshop’s primary objective is to provide proven practices, skills, and insights specific to leading strategic initiatives and programs. You will exit the seminar with tools, perspective, and confidence to instantly make positive contributions to your organization.

Who should attend?
This is an Advanced-Level program management course suitable for anyone who wants to pick up practical, but senior-level concepts for turning strategic intent into action. Attendees will include executives, PMO leaders, senior PMs, functional managers. This workshop has no absolute prerequisites in terms of specific-discipline knowledge. There will be ample time for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing; thus individuals who have business acumen - or want to develop that acumen – will find the course especially valuable.

How will I benefit?
Develop and enhance the contributions you make to your organization by being able to:

• Recognize and develop business acumen to work more effectively with top executives
• Identify and practice needed program management/leadership competencies
• Practice “positive politics” to develop internal and external collaboration, alignment, and buy in
• Translate executive vision into aligned action
• Capture and prioritize stakeholder expectations and turn them into a benefits realization plan
• Delineate, communicate, and advocate for benefits
• Recognize and avoid crucial mistakes typical of Strategic Initiatives
• Apply simple organizing frameworks for program management
• Formulate effective program metrics
• Create speed and agility
• Hold a difficult business conversation
• Learn from the successes and failures of other organizations

What will my seminar experience cover?

• The Landscape for Strategic Initiatives (Why We Need a Roadmap)
  • Effectively working strategy in complex environments
  • What are strategic initiatives?\
  • Components of strategy deployment: vision, core competencies, mission, metrics, balanced scorecard, stages & gates, innovation, projects/programs as investments
  • A framework for program success (the Githens Model)

• SI Program Management
  • Using the ladder of abstraction to define and communicate success metrics
  • Recognizing and managing tensions with Polarity Mapping
  • Fast to Learn is Fast to Deliver
  • Leadership competencies: from Chess Masters to Programs Leadership
  • Creating speed and agility
  • Lessons learned from other organizations

• Framing the Program for Stretch Goals
  • Separating problems from solutions
  • Defining Strategic Assumptions
  • How the “Four Lens” concept brings focus on critical success factors
  • High level requirements
  • The E.S.P Model
  • Characterizing uncertainty and ambiguity with Delphi Analysis and Scenario Planning
  • Setting Program Priorities
  • How metrics, benefits, and the elevator speech can help you tell the story
  • Benefits and their incremental delivery
  • Building team commitment

• Delivering a Rolling Wave of Benefits
  • How to identify stakeholder needs
  • Separating benefits from features
  • Telling a compelling story
  • Benefits Realization
  • Program Governance
  • The Rolling Wave Approach to improve speed and efficiency
  • Fast and Effective Decisions
  • A better way to hold status meetings
  • A better way to sell benefits

• Strategy as Conversation(s)
  • Talking about difficult topics
  • How to use inquiry and advocacy to create breakthroughs
  • Mindfulness: framing actions by “mistakes to avoid” and “resources to deal with the unexpected”
  • Maintaining perspective: What do I want to achieve, preserve, and avoid?
  • The Compact Approach to Understanding a Vague Directive from the Boss: three simple questions that will keep you sane

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide) areas covered: Project Integration Management.