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Annual Conference - The Power of People - Perspectives of Crisis
On the 7th July 2009 the APM People SIG held their annual conference entitled The Power of People – Perspectives of Crisis at the Kings Fund in London.
The theme of the conference was that our profession is evolving understanding of the fact that successful projects are delivered through people. The leaders of these teams must engage stakeholders and draw inspiration from seasoned project professionals. We require excellent relationship skills which are often only brought out or tested during a crisis.
During the day the conference explored the different approaches to crisis and identified how the speakers develop and sustain relationships before, during and after a crisis.
The following speakers made presentations;
Donnie MacNicol – Chair of the Conference and People SIG
Donnie introduced the SIG and then the conference speakers and later in the day gave an overview of the work of the SIG including mentoring, lenses booklet and communication survey. The presentation is included after details of each of the speakers.
Andy Barr MBE - Network Co-ordination Manager from London Underground.
The human aspects of managing emergencies - Andy described how the people considerations are one of the most important facets of managing major emergencies including the experiences of the 7/7 bombings, and how these amplify the people needs.
Group Manager Dean Johns - Head of London Fire Brigade’s Incident Command Training Team and Matt Cocker - Director of Tiebel Consulting acting as Head of Programme Management for the London Fire Brigade
Crisis management - what can project managers learn from the London Fire Brigade? Even in the best managed projects we find ourselves ‘firefighting’ to cope with the unexpected. Dean and Matt gave an overview of the processes, training and support structures that professional firefighters use to deal effectively with any incident they face and explored how these are transferable to the world of projects.
Tony Moore – Associate Director, The Resilience Centre, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.
Why and how people behave differently in a crisis - Whilst some people may be perfectly good at managing organisations for 364 days of the year, when the wheel comes off on the 365th day and a crisis occurs, it needs someone with a different mentality to manage the situation.
Tony focused on why people either fail to make decisions or make ineffective decisions when faced with a crisis. Examples were given from the Emergency Services, the Health Service and the Credit Crisis.
Tony Vosper, Senior Manager, Change Management, RBC Dexia Investor Services (London).
Strategies for dealing with crises in projects - Tony provided insight into how he has implemented strategies to identify and deal with the crises in projects. Projects become a year late a day at a time. Is this a crisis or could we have seen it coming?
His project experience includes; Operations and IT integration for capital markets, Lean Six Sigma deployment into a global operational environment, global programme to improve client satisfaction, global roll out of an operational risk management process.
All the above presentations can be downloaded below
Conference and SIG overview - D MacNicol
Terrorist attacks on London Underground - A Barr
Lessons from London Fire Brigade - D Johns & M Cocker
Lessons in Crisis Management - T Vosper
Why People Behave Differently....(Part 1) - T Moore
Why People Behave Differently....(Part 2) - T Moore
Psychometrics and Project Management Workshop
On the 17th of June 2009 the APM People SIG held a workshop on Psychometrics and Project Management that was facilitated by
The workshop explored the use of Psychometrics and Diagnostic tools in Project Management. Attendees explored the importance of people and behaviour in project success, and gained an understanding of some of the different analytical tools available, how to differentiate between them, and how to use them most effectively.
The session started by asking:
· Why should we be interested in people and behaviour….? and What do we want to know….?
Below are some early insights into how the tools available can be used to have a positive impact on your projects.
Understanding Yourself
What makes us tick, what are our strengths and development areas, how do we interact, what impact do we have on others, how do we learn and deliver?
Understanding the Team
How it works together, strengths and weaknesses, how to motivate and develop, how it works best, how people can support each other?
Understanding the Client
What makes them tick, what do they want to see - hear - feel, how to negotiate and influence with different types of people.
Understanding the Organisation
The culture of the organisation you are delivering in, how best to communicate, how to embed the products, how the organisation may react to change, barriers and blocks.
The session further explored the ways of capturing and understanding people and behaviour by distinguishing between:
1. Diagnostic Tools
2. Inventories
3. Psychometrics
An example of each of these was provided, with additional information on how these can be used.
Other discussions included:
* As a PM, how and when might you use these?
* What are the Pros and Cons?
* Choosing when it is appropriate to use the different tools
The slides from the session can be downloaded below Psychometrics and Project Management
The outputs from the session can be downloaded below
The impact of WEB 2.0 on Project Managers On the 27th March 2009 at London Rail in London, the People SIG ran one of its ongoing workshops which are free to APM members. This workshop explored the impact Web 2.0 has had, and will have on the Project Manager – what they do, how they do it and what they are valued for. It was facilitated by Andrew Wilcox of Cabre, an expert in Web 2.0. The workshop ran from 9.30am to 12.30pm. The Web 2.0 workshop was seeded with a series of presentations showcasing the latest aspects of Web 2.0 which included: · Social networking · Blogging, Twitter and the like · Online collaboration: Google Docs, Windows Live, Wiki · Information capture and presentation · Pod and Videocasts et al · Voice and Video over IP · Mind Mapping and other Visualisation Software · Portable Devices: NetPCs, Blackberry, WiFi IP Video, Tablet PCs New Web 2.0 technologies are constantly appearing as the Internet continues to evolve. What distinguishes them from previous technologies is the high degree of participation they require to be effective. Since a Project Manager is primarily focused on creating participation in projects, it is important that they understand and know how to harness the power of these technologies. The session was both enlightening and challenging. There were then a series of interactive sessions to explore attendees views on the impact that these technologies will have on the Project Manager. The output was compiled on a website and can be viewed here. People SIG Assets Listed below are various People SIG guidelines.The purpose of these guidelines is to reinforce the ethics of the APM in providing enablers to the project management professionals affiliated. The documents will be updated on an infrequent basis. COPYRIGHT The branding of all the documentation is APM Proprietary All documentation remains APM property and may NOT be rebranded by any person or persons for alternative use. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS All the documentation provided by the People SIG remain the property of the APM. All individuals and organisations making use or publication of said material must do so with clear recognition to the APM. PDF files Can be copied etc. Branding remains APM Pages can be used individually or severally Where these are incorporated into other documents – the documents and APM IPR/Copyright must be clearly recognised in both the index and appendices, giving full reference to APM documentation and website. Powerpoint Documents Are provided for individual and corporate use and may be customised to specific events and context usage. The branding, as stated above, remains the property of APM and all APM logos and legal context must be clearly visible. All powerpoints must retain the size/colour and shape provided at all times. As with the pdf documents above, individual slides may be used providing the copyright, legal requirements are met. Project Management is Change Management?
explores the differences and overlaps between these two disciplines.
Project Management Stifles Creativity?
explores how to use and harness creativity in projects whist maintaining the key criteria of time, cost & quality
Delivering projects in an inappropriate culture?
explores how to manage projects in an organisational culture which is less than the ideal and isn’t inclined to change
What makes managing people on projects different?
explores the skills required to management people on projects which can be quite different to line management
Project Success is Subjective?
explores how the subjectivity of success differs by each individual stakeholder and also often changes over time.