A Fresh Look at Extraordinary Project Managers

Recently the CIO Journal of the Wall Street journal reported that CIO's are starting to worry about retention. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for "computer and mathematical occupations" dropped to an all- time low to 2.8 percent as of December 7, 2012. Couple this information with the fact that, according to the Boston Based IT research and consulting firm, less than 2% of the IT projects over $10 million are successful. They also report that 32% of projects costing $3 million to $6 million failed. Even the U.S. government is experiencing project failures. The Air Force recently cancelled their 4 year effort to improve the management of logistics using software from Oracle after investing $1 billion dollars. They realized it would require another $1 billion investment just to achieve one-quarter of the capabilities originally planned so the entire program was cancelled.

These project failures and the critical importance of retaining highly skilled and motivated employees point to the need for a fresh approach to managing people and projects. While competency models abound and there is certainly not a lack of training programs, what has been missing is an approach that impacts the “core” thoughts and behaviors of the leader. Frequently we hear that the “typical” project leader (meant to include project managers, project directors, project sponsor, PMO leaders, etc.) suffer from high stress, feelings of overwhelm, and demands from competing stakeholders that leave them exhausted and feeling disengaged. If they attend traditional training programs, they often leave the program with new skills. However, they frequently return to the job with the same high stress, feelings of overwhelm, frustration from competing stakeholder expectations and the same feelings of exhaustion disengagement. This program offers a fresh look at a proven “next practice” for developing extraordinary project managers.

HR professionals at all levels, project managers, project directors and program managers and other leaders who manage IT and organizational change initiatives.

"Energy Leadership: 7 Levels of Extraordinary Project Leaders" as well as techniques for removing obstacles to achieving breakthrough results. How to recognize "GAIL's" that keep us form being the best leaderpossible.

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		Victor Bullara, ACC, ELI-MP Executive Next Practices Institute View Profile

		Denice Hinden Managance Consulting & Coaching View Profile

		Tom Guzik IDEA eSolutions View Profile