A reflection from 9th International PMI Poland Chapter Congress - part 2

As I have promised in one of the previous posts I’m going to share more on 9th International PMI Poland Chapter Congress held 24-25 November in Radisson Blue, Warsaw. This post will cover some highlights from Mike Griffiths, opening day 2 of the event, and Eduardo Braun, the conference closing speaker.

Mike Griffiths with his presentation titled: “Timing Today’s Complex Project with Agility” kicked off the second day of the Congress. Mike is an award winning project manager focussed on delivering exceptional results, a contributing reviewer to the PMBOK Guide v3-v5 and co-author of the “Software Extension to the PMBOK Guide”.  He has been involved in agile methods since 1994 when he helped create Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM ), co-founder the PMI Agile CoP and served on the steering committee developing the PMI-ACP Certification. Mike’s focus on agile is very practical, bringing real business benefits in incremental steps via lean and agile approaches. He is also a teacher (ex: Agile Project Management for the PMI SeminarsWorld program) and a writer - wrote the best selling RMC PMI-ACP Exam Prep book and maintains the blog www.LeadingAnswers.com.

I have a chance to speak to Mike a few times during the Congress and had a pleasure to attend his workshop on risk management. What I really like about him and his approach is the flexibility and adaptability – although he believes Agile brings benefits, he does not rule out the usefulness of traditional project management. We share the same pint of view – there’s no silver bullet, use what suits the best the situation.

According to Mike today’s wicked problems are difficult to plan and manage using traditional project management. These problems are:

• Knowledge Worker Project Management
• Evolving Business Problems
• Changing Requirements
• Emerging Technology
• Intangible: transform Ideas not Concrete or Steel
• Requiring Collaboration from Divergent SMEs

Some tips from Mike:

1. Create and communicate vision ( It’s  difficult to drive in fog!)
2. Build trust that fosters collaboration. Create a safe learning environment

• Environment of trust and safe contribution - no need for CYA (Cover Your Ass)
• Set an example: admit mistakes and share information
• Ask questions: Do you have what you need? Where do you think we are vulnerable? Where are we not meeting goals?

3. Share power/information

• Shift of focus from micro-management to navigation and communication
• Shift from control to share plans. I love the definition of Gantt Chart: “ a seduction of certainty”.

4.       Challenge the Status Quo

• Search for innovative ways to change, grow and improve
• Experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from mistakes

5.       Support staff through change – Virginia Satir Model – more on the model in one of my previous posts.

And the last but not least, Eduardo Brown, closed the conference with his inspiring speech: “From Project Manager to Program Leader” and left the audience thinking.

Eduardo Braun, as described by Rudy Giuliani,  “is a visionary. … an insightful and provocative interviewer who conducts both an enjoyable and highly-constructive conversation”. Director of the HSM Group -the first global multimedia management company- for over 12 years, Eduardo interviewed many history-making personalities like William Jefferson Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev, Felipe González, Ingrid Betancourt, Alvaro Uribe or the Nobel Prize winners Muhammad Yunus, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman. He received lessons on management from gurus such as Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, Philip Kotler, Ram Charan, and Tom Peters. Business leaders from the most successful companies like General Electric (Jack Welch), Disney (Michael Eisner), Southwest Airlines (Herb Kelleher), and Lucas Films (George Lucas) shared their experiences and their path to success with him.

Eduardo stressed the important of culture - not a part of strategy but a strategy.  What is a culture? “The definition of Sense of purpose, passion, hope, sense of community, self-confidence, trust, self esteem, pride, happiness, engagement and other positive states of mind”.

Ask yourself 5 questions:

1. What’s the dream? VISION has to be ambitious, simple to communicate, and inclusive. It is beyond ideas, it is about the emotions to achieve them. Being part of the vision fosters pride and sense of belonging.
2. Do you deeply care for PEOPLE?
3. Rather CONNECTION than COMMUNICATION. Are you connected with your people
4. LEADERSHIP. Are you empowering people?
5.  CULTURE. Are you proud, engaged and happy?

KEY CULTURE LEVERS

• Vision: The Dream
• People: Values
• Communication: Trust
• Decision Making: Strategic Behaviours

 Some more tips on culture:

1. “Be authentic! Be authentic! Authenticity is one of your greatest attributes. Jack Welch
2. The future of leadership is feminine.
3. Your culture is the heart of your brand.
4. Corporate culture is embedded in general culture.
5. Be the new CEO: Chef Emotions Officer!
6. Build your Culture Plan!

PMI Poland Chapter members can access the recording of Mike’s presentation here. 

Thank you very much all of You who contributed to this tremendous event and see you next year!

Photo by Grupa Obiektywni