Popular speaker and best-selling PM author Neal Whitten takes leadership and project management to a personal level by revealing leading-edge best practices that make all the difference between leading consistently successful projects and playing the victim with troubled projects. If you came to Neal and said, “I only have two days of my life for our paths to cross. What can you tell me in those two days from all you have learned from a 35+ year career that will make my projects and career more successful and rewarding?” This workshop is the two days that Neal would share with you. Successful projects—and careers—don’t just happen, they are made to happen. Focusing mostly on leadership and soft skills, this thought provoking seminar reveals choices to make and behaviors to adopt that are invaluable in helping attendees become successful project managers and leaders. Learn to think for yourself, re-energize your initiative and drive, and take control of your destiny.  

This workshop is based on Neal’s best-selling book: Neal Whitten’s No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects. Neal has collected practices from among his favorite and most effective—many learned too slowly and painfully. Adopting one can benefit your project; adopting many can benefit your career. It’s not about the ability of those around you to lead; it’s about your ability to lead, despite that which is happening around you. Come prepared to rethink what constitutes effective leadership and project management.

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

Who should attend?
This seminar is for project managers/leaders, program managers, project sponsors, resource managers, functional managers, senior managers and executives, and anyone and everyone who aspires to be a more effective leader.  Moreover, this seminar will benefit all members of a project or organization in helping them become more productive accountable and valuable contributors to their companies.

What will my seminar experience cover?

• Leadership styles
• Being too soft
• Managing priorities
• Fostering interpersonal communications
• Boldness
• Escalations
• Integrity
• Accountability
• Professional behavior and recognizing professional immaturity
• Dealing with criticism
• How to make long-term project commitments
• Running an effective meeting
• The need to fail
• Dealing with difficult people
• Duties of the effective project manager/resource manager/project sponsor
• How technical should a PM or resource manager be
• Giving customers what they need – not what they want
• Three critical actions that are overlooked on most projects
• And many more specific leadership tips for achieving exceptional personal performance and promoting project success.

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

• Identify best practices that will cause your behavior, decisions and actions to become more deliberate, effortless and natural as you lead
• Identify personal attributes—leadership and soft skills—that contribute to your success and the success of your project
• Boost your confidence and effectiveness in taking charge, improving decision making, thinking for yourself, demonstrating integrity, improving people communications, and being accountable and meeting commitments
• Identify the roles and responsibilities of project managers, sponsors, and resource managers
• Improve the effectiveness of project initiation, planning, execution and control, and closeout
• Create a productive, successful business culture for your project/organization
• Implement methods that promote the advancement of project management/organizational concepts
• Identify actions to perform to bring about positive change in your “domain of responsibility”
• Recognize how to make things happen—how to lead—despite that which is happening around you.

Reference Book: Seminar includes the books, Neal Whitten’s No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects and Neal Whitten's Let's Talk! More No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects-Over 700 Q&As, both by Neal Whitten, PMP.

What instructional materials will be used?
Lecture, discussion, industry examples, and interactive exercises.