Leadership - PM4NGOs

Jan212020 by PM4NGOsNo Comments

The four biggest people management mistakes on transformation projects

This article has been originally published at APMG Alistair Sergeant, chief executive officer of Equantiis (formerly known as Purple Consultancy), is used to delivering transformation projects. One of their successes was a project with Manchester Metropolitan (Met) University, helping them to transform the student experience using the latest technologies. The Manchester Met project was a shining example of how to effectively manage a transformation project, says Sergeant. Many run into difficulties or fall flat on their faces at some stage during the process – almost all due to people and culture issues. “It's about aligning people up for a change within the organisation. There is a lot of fear that happens when you do a change project,” he says. “I'm a big believer that people don't hate change, it's just when…

Jan72020 by PM4NGOsNo Comments

The fastest learner wins. Every day.

.NewWebsite., Leadership, PM4NGOs

This article has been originally published at APMG Technology is moving rapidly – so how do we keep up? CEOs complain about the lack of employee’s essential skills According to PwC’s 22nd Annual Global CEO Survey, four out of five CEOs complain about their employees lack of essential skills and identified this factor as a threat to growth. The problem has escalated over the past five years and is raised consistently across all regions: CEOs in Japan and Central/Eastern Europe are most worried (95% and 89%, respectively), whereas those in Italy (55%) and Turkey (45%) are the least anxious about it. The skills shortage can restrict growth chiefly because it stifles innovation and raises workforce costs. It’s understandable that organizations are concentrating on reskilling. Given the right context, people can be highly adaptable,…

Oct272018 by PM4NGOsNo Comments

6 tips for keeping your team motivated

.NewWebsite., Development Sector, Leadership

This article was originally published on APM. The motivated team is the more productive team. That's a fairly well established fact. As the project manager or PMO director how do you get there? How do you make sure your project teams are as motivated and engaged as possible every time out on every project? As usual, I have some thoughts and opinions - coming from experience, logic and observation – that result in my personal list of six key tips to keep your project teams focused on the end goal... 1. Pay them well and timely This may apply more to consulting situations but consultants are people, too. Your project management staff and supporting team members – pay them well. Trust me, keeping the good ones around –…

Aug212018 by PM4NGOsNo Comments

What is leadership? The big debate…

.NewWebsite., Leadership

This article was originally published on APM. Leadership is such an interesting and evocative abstract noun. It conjures up a variety of different expectations, experiences and contexts. Despite the enormous amount of literature about leaders and leadership over the ages, there is still much debate over the essence of leadership. ‘What is leadership?’ is such a simple question, yet it continues to draw extensive debate. My favourite definition of leadership is: A set of skills enabling an individual to have followers. This individual may or may not have formal authority or a hierarchical position, but they are highly visible and set a positive example. Traditional views of leadership tend to focus on a formalised role, title or hierarchy – on centralised command and control. These views often emphasise the ‘lone’…

May172017 by PM4NGOsNo Comments

“Productivity” Isn’t the Goal

.NewWebsite., PM4NGOs

Bookstores today are awash with titles aimed at helping you to be more ‘productive’. The internet even more so. The idea of increasing productivity has created a cottage industry of people finding and developing ways (lifehacks) to be more ‘productive’, how to eliminate some time-consuming task so that we can get more real work done (i.e. be productive). There are two problems with this approach – 1. The thing that all of these books and sites, and those that frequent them, miss is that what we really want isn’t to be more productive. It’s to be more ‘effective’. One of the all-time best-selling books (at least as far as leadership & management is concerned) is Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. Notice the wording? Not 7 Habits…

Nov252016 by PM4NGOsNo Comments

PM4NGOs and APMG announce the recipient of the 2016 Alan Harpham Award

Alan Harpham Award, Development Sector, Leadership

The Alan Harpham Award honors and recognizes an individual with distinguished actions in promoting the professionalization of project management in the international development and humanitarian sectors. The selected winner demonstrates not only leadership in advocating for project management professionalization within the sector but also in making it available to those who are most in need and to a range of stakeholders in the sector such as community-based organizations or local NGOs. The award is named in honor of Alan Harpham, former Board Member of PM4NGOs and Chairman of APMG, and a global citizen dedicated to making this sector and community a better place. PM4NGOs and APMG are delighted to announce that the recipient of the Alan Harpham Award in 2016 is Mazen Housseiny, Head of Programs at Syria Relief. “Alan…

Oct172016 by PM4NGOsNo Comments

Join PM4NGOs Board of Directors

Board Members, Leadership

PM4NGOs seeks motivated candidates to join our Board of Directors. PM4NGOs promotes the professionalism of program and project management in the international development sector. We invite applications from individuals with a passion for NGO project management and a drive to influence, enable and empower development professionals around the globe. Holders of PMD Pro certification who have experienced the benefits of the standard first hand through work in the community / field projects or organizations are especially encouraged to apply. PM4NGOs’ directors empathize with the organization’s vision and mission, are unpaid and act as advisors to the organization’s Operations Manager in their specific areas of expertise. As the organization is small, they also use their professional expertise to support and contribute to the work of the organization. Our organization relies on…

Feb182016 by Edson MarinhoNo Comments

What did the Project Managers ever do for us?

.NewWebsite., Leadership, Program Management, Project Management

There is that famous scene in Monty Python and The Life of Brian where the rebels are demanding action against the oppressive Romans and ask the question ‘What did the Romans ever do for us?’- The answers came back over and over again as the rebels listed the many things that the Romans brought with them … medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health. So, quite a lot! I sometimes hear of project management and project managers being challenged in much the same way … ‘what has project management done for us (the organisation)?’ The thinking presumably goes that there are projects but if the business keeps doing projects then they become (presumably) less unusual and less risky and therefore they don’t need this…

May272015 by Trevor K. NelsonNo Comments

The High Cost of Losing Focus

.NewWebsite., Board Members, Leadership, Project Management

Leadership is all about being focused. That’s the leaders single biggest priority. To determine where to lead to, and then to focus on that and move forward. But what happens when the leader loses focus? Disaster. See, the leader’s job is to lead others, not just themselves. So when the leader loses focus, everyone he’s leading suffers, not just the leader. We see this in the news every day, and we see this in our own personal lives. (more…)