Free Webinar: The Mental Game of Project Management

Join Lou Russell, CEO/Queen of  RMA, for an upcoming webinar, “The Mental Game of Project Management.”

Russell is a consultant, speaker and author who grows companies by growing their people. She is the author of 7 books including IT Leadership Alchemy, Leadership Training ,10 Steps to Successful Project Management and Managing Projects. Through speaking, training and writing, she inspires leadership, project management and team growth. Her upbeat style will give you the passion and tools to improve. Laughing, participating, and challenged, you will learn. 

Register for the webinar here: http://bit.ly/1TnwGx8

Webinar Summary:

Tiger Woods will be remembered as an exceptional golfer.  His legacy may also be that he made a big mistake and never returned back to his greatness – time will tell.  Why do you think he still remains so far from his earlier abilities?  His clubs?  His coach? His health issues? Everyone Russell asks says “it’s all in his head.”  As a very rookie golfer, Russell is fascinated and appalled by the way her mind gets in the way of my game.  She is aware that her mind also gets in the way of her success in life and business, including projects.  She actually speaks more negatively to herself through her self-talk than anyone else has ever spoken to her.  So do you.

In business and organizations all over the world, we jointly agree to certain truths (that are actually lies) including:

·         You must always be in control of a project to succeed

·         It is possible to predict the future accurately if you’re talented

·         Projects are impossible to do on time and on budget with appropriate quality because of all the jerks involved

·         The politics of the organization have no place in a project

·         People should do what they say they are going to do

·         She can personally torture people enough to get a project done

We bet you can pick a couple of these that you believe, in fact, that you make choices based on.  Now that you read them, you may be starting to notice that these ‘truths’ are preventing you from being agile, resilient and collaborative. These are the truths that we pretend to not see. To drive outcomes requires new truth.  In this Reflections with the Masters Series, Russell wants us to all have a conversation:

·         How are our current truths, self-talk and values moving us away from the outcomes we strive to achieve?

·         What are the strategies for noticing my own disconnects before they trigger fear and stress as auto responses?

·         What are the strategies for reframing and distracting our brain to drive success?

·         How does all of this change the way projects are done and increase their success?

Russell is excited about the opportunity to create community virtually to drive hope, energy and joy in all aspects of your life.  Together, we’ll create new truth.  She’s hoping Tiger will create new truth, too.

Save your seat for the webinar: http://bit.ly/1TnwGx8

10 Reasons Why You Can’t Miss PW&WCBA in Seattle

ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts is an event for all those needing to take charge, reduce risk and deliver results in a changing work environment. Learn how to elevate your skills, deploy technical innovation and collaborate across functions to become a more effective project manager or business analyst from industry leaders

Here are the top 10 reasons you can't miss PW&WCBA 2015:

1.       Project Portfolio Management - New Secrets Revealed
Barb Hurst, Manager, Project Portfolio, Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, will help you uncover secrets on how to plan, communicate and rollout portfolio management as a valuable service in the real world (including the best day/time to present a new idea and influencing the influencers.

2.       Build Your Brand as an Emerging Leader
Uncover the three essential elements of an effective leadership brand and how you can scale up  your brand and advance your career with best practices from Jo Miller, Founding Editor, BeLeaderly.com, CEO, Women's Leadership Coaching, Inc.

3.       Decrease Project Risk
Drive project success through active risk management and get a better understanding of the relationship between project risk management and project success. Plus, Scott Reynolds, VP Senior Technology Project Manager, Bank of America will also share how you can increase your projects probability of success.

4.       Become a Change Leader            
Project Managers will come together with Lou Russell, CEO & Learning Faciiliator, Russell Martin & Associates to experience project collaboration and competition in real time. You'll learn how to complete difficult projects with and in spite of other teams, just like in the real world.

5.       Navigate Your Own Career Journey
A career in project management can take on many paths and is dependent on an individual's goals, interests and limitations. Join Rick Radice, VP, Federal Regulatory Exam Liaison, Prudential Financial as he shares different PM career paths and how to select what's right for you.

6.       Build a Project Management Centre of Excellence
CIBC Bank's Lindsey-Ann DePeri leads you through the journey of creating a CoE for Project Management, including establishing a value proposition, aligning staff and projects into a shared services portfolio, application of best practices and more.

7.       Master Your Presentation Skills
One of last year's top rated speakers, William Greenwald, Founder & Chief Neuroleaderologist, Windsor Leadership Group, returns to the PW&WCBA with the goal of helping you construct a great story while holding mastery of the stage.

8.       Explore & Analyze Data in 3D
3D data exploration is a new and promising field. Igor Peev, Senior Program Manager, Power Map for Excel, Microsoft Corporation will talk about how interacting and animating the data gives the user additional insights which are not available in the traditional methods of exploration.

9.       Scale Agile to YOUR Organization
Forrester Research examines new roles required to make a transition to Agile, address limitations that require a hybrid approach and talk about shifts that need to be made in budgeting and planning.

10.   Manage the Rate of Change in a Digital Driven Economy
Fredrick Redd, CEO, ASSAI Management Consulting reveals leadership strategies to keep pace with the rate of change that is ideal for leading projects, programs and organizations.

Download the brochure for full session details and speaker line up: http://bit.ly/1G6UIFN

Join us next month to explore what the future of project management and business analysis will look like. As a valued reader of our blog, you get an exclusive $100 off the current rate with code PW15BL. Register today: http://bit.ly/1G6UIFN

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Practical Approaches to Change Management from Farm Credit Mid-America

Change is inevitable, that's a fact. And it's never easy. But if there's one thing we can learn in today's project landscape, it's that not adapting to change isn't even an option.

Project timelines are accelerating at an unprecedented pace and you're expected to work with brand new tools and solutions that weren't even available a few years ago - how are you and your teams coping?

 

PW&WCBA is Your Partner in Advancing Your Change Management Strategies:

Change is Tough: The Alternative is Tougher.  A Case Study on Organization-Wide Change Management Emphasizing Practical Approaches and Lessons Learned

Farm Credit Mid-America's Vice President of Process Improvement & Execution, Chuck Millhollan will lead you through a multi-faceted case study which incorporates strategic portfolio management, the practical application of Lean concepts in a service organization, a complex program impacting every employee in one of the largest associations in the Farm Credit System, and a multi-year change management initiative on the organization's Journey to 2020. Special attention is given to the practical tools and tactics the Farm Credit Mid-America teams have used to enhance delivery and change management.

In addition to Chuck, also hear from:

• Lou Russell, CEO, Learning Faciliator, Russell Martin & Associates on The IT PM as Change Leader

• Myles Miller, CEO & Founder, LeadUp discussing Change Agents - Are You Ready for Change?

• Brunella Lahey, Senior Business Systems Analyst sharing how to Implement Global Solutions at a Fortune 100 Company

• Wayne Kremling, PMP, Senior Project Manager, The Boeing Company revealing Managing Risks, Issues and Opportunities with a Mitigation Burndown

• And much more!

To view the full agenda download it here: http://bit.ly/1EDAgB8

Join us in October and walk away with an action plan to increase your ability to manage projects during times of change. Register today with code PW15BL and receive $100 off current rates! http://bit.ly/1EDAgB8

We hope to see you in Seattle!

Cheers!

The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PW15

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Advance Your Career & Increase Your Value at PW&WCBA

Become a more effective project manager or business analyst at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts this fall. Hear how to elevate your skillset, deploy technical innovation and collaborate across functions at PW&WCBA, designed to deliver the skills and knowledge you need to take charge, reduce risk and deliver results in a changing work environment.

PW&WCBA West 2015

October 21 - 23, 2015

Renaissance Seattle Hotel | Seattle, WA

Featuring:

·         5 Keynote Sessions dedicated to advancing your professional AND personal development (focusing on developing leadership strategies, managing change, building your brand and more)

·         27 hands-on learning sessions led by experts in the project trenches, including Microsoft, Prudential Financial, The Walt Disney Company, Forrester Research, Blue Cross Blue Shield & more)

·         8+ hours to network and learn with your PM & BA peers

·         Access to the PW&WCBA Webinar Series, continuing your education year-round

Download the brochure for the full program: http://bit.ly/1NEPAx0

Plus, Earn Up to 36 PDUs/CDUs in Just 3 Days!

Use code PW15BL for $100 off the current rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/1NEPAx0

Hope to see you this fall!

Cheers,

The PW&WCBA 2015 Team

@Project_World

#PW15

http://pwwbcablog.iirusa.com/

Finding the Right Project Management Methodology for You

By: Kazon Robinson

Projects are formulated and produced by organizations to gain profit and expand the organization. Every project formulated, whether it is big or small, needs some form of planning because without planning, a project could result in failure.

Fortunately, there is a way to go about that business of creating an outline for a project - Project Management Methodology (PM).  Today, there are various PM methodologies and author Moira Alexander addresses a few very well in her recent article, “How to Pick a Project Management Methodology”. Specifically, three methodologies that stand out from the rest are Agile, Waterfall, and Scrum.

Agile: Alexander writes, “The Agile Methodology was developed for projects requiring significant flexibility and speed… Agile may be best-suited for projects requiring less control and real-time communication within self-motivated team settings.” So, a possible recommendation would be an open space office where communication is faster paced and thoughts are able to exchange faster.

Waterfall: “Used across many industries, most commonly in software development. Waterfall allows for increased control throughout each phase but can be highly inflexible if scope changes may be anticipated later,” according to Alexander. The Waterfall methodology is used for more complex projects being as there is a need for more control throughout to handle the complexity.

Scrum: Scrum is an agile development framework that is more so used for software development but is now generally used in complex projects.

In addition, there are many other PM Methodologies such as Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), Six Sigma, Crystal, or Feature Driven Development (FDD). This amount of various methodologies helps organizations settle on a certain way of performing a project whether it is complex or simple.

Every methodology works in a business, some work better than in others depending on the situation and if the situation does not always fit the project methodologies framework it can lead to undesirable results. Nevertheless, no project is the “best of the best” and Alexander explains what to look for in a methodology. “When evaluating methodologies, these are only a few of the many factors that should be carefully considered: risks, complexity, constraints, project size, and cost…” Those are some of the factors to consider when looking at different project management methodologies.

In the end, what needs to be focused on is how projects improve or better the whole organization’s objectives. Once you determine the success or failure of those goals, look for the best methodologies that suits your organization’s needs.

About the Author: Kazon Robinson is currently a Marketing Intern at IIR USA and a high school student at All Hallows. Kazon helps oversee and revise the data entry of spreadsheets with information relating to investors, twitter handles, and conferences. He also has experience interacting with other writers from participating in the AH Writers and Authors Club. He has previously worked at Bronxworks Betances Community Center as an Office Assistant where he provided professional service and directions for callers. He can be reached at krobinson@iirusa.com

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PW&WCBA 2015 Full Program Now Available

The Fusion of Technology & Innovation

We've got news. ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts is coming back to Seattle in 2015! Download the just released brochure here: http://bit.ly/1GySTAo

As always, PW&WCBA has been designed to deliver the skills and knowledge you need to take charge, reduce risk and deliver results in a changing work environment. Hear how to elevate your skills, deploy technical innovation and collaborate across functions to become a more effective project manager or business analyst from industry leaders including:

·         The Walt Disney Company

·         Clark County NV

·         The Boeing Company

·         Champs Oncology

·         SUNY ITEC

·         Windsor Leadership Group

·         Bank of America

·         Prudential Financial

·         Mutual of Omaha

·         Forrester Research

·         Blue Cross Blue Shield Texas

·         Russell Martin & Associates

·         Microsoft

·         Assai Mangement Consulting

·         Women's Leadership Coaching

·         Farm Credit Canada

·         Denab Quality Systems

·         Kathleen Hass & Associates

Download the full 2015 PW&WCBA West Program for the full agenda and speaker lineup: http://bit.ly/1GySTAo

Join us in October and you'll walk away with tangible lessons to implement immediately upon returning to the office, increasing your value to the organization.

Plus, register by Friday, July 10th and save $300: http://bit.ly/1GySTAo

Cheers,

The PW&WBCA 2015 Team

@ProjectWorld

#PW15

Pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

What Does the Digital Economy Mean for PMs & BAs?

The digital driven economy has not only altered the way we manage projects and programs, it has fundamentally changed the way we conduct business across all industries and sectors and the way we live. In today's economy, any project, program or organization whose internal rate of change is slower than the external rate of change will be headed for difficulty.

Project managers and business analysts are our leaders for tomorrow - do you have the skills necessary to Manage the Rate of Change in a Digital Driven Economy?

Fredrick Redd, former Director, Project Management Office, Port Authority & New Jersey will take the stage at PW&WCBA to share the principles and strategies you need to keep pace with the rate of change that is ideal for leading projects, programs and organizations.

PW&WCBA East

March 23-24, 2015

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Plus, check out new sessions from Verizon (Risk Management on the Edge: Tips, Tools & Techniques) and Vertex, Inc. (Process Improvement Insights Gained while Watching Reality Television).

Download the brochure for the updated agenda: http://bit.ly/17qgkla

We hope to see you in Orlando as we help you prepare for the digital driven economy.

Register by Friday, February 20th and save $200: http://bit.ly/17qgkla

All the best,
The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PWEAST

pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

P.S. - Are you a PMI or IIBA member? You can save an additional 20% off your conference registration. Contact Kacey Anderson at kanderson@iirusa.com for more information.

PW&WCBA East Agenda Just Released

Due to overwhelming demand, we're happy to announce ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts will return to the East Coast in March. Join us at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort in Orlando, March 23-24, 2015.

The 2015 program brings you some of the best presentations from the Seattle conference, plus new and exciting best practices and case studies from the project trenches. Designed for all training levels, PW&WCBA boasts a robust agenda and most importantly, delivers tangible lessons you can implement as soon as you return to the office. Plus, new this year, we're leaving sessions open to bring you the latest in project management and business analysis!

PW&WCBA East

March 23-24, 2015

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Download the 2015 agenda here: http://bit.ly/1wQdNFT

As always, PW&WCBA delivers the actionable insights you need:

• Simplifying Project Management
• Practical Tools & Tactics to Enhance Delivery & Change Management
• Strengthening Your Soft Skills & Strategic Leadership
• Leveraging Visual Thinking in Project Management
• How to Win at the Game of Office Politics
• Optimizing Presentation Impact & Stage Presence
• The True Value of an Agile Process for You & Your Organization
• Creative Problem Solving

And much more!

Download the agenda for full program details:  http://bit.ly/1wQdNFT

Mention code PWEASTLI & Save $100 off the standard rate. Register today: http://bit.ly/1wd1Ue4

We hope to see you in Orlando as we accelerate development at the rate of change.

All the best,

The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World

#PWEAST

pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

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Top PW&WCBA Blog Posts of 2014

We’ve published a lot of inspiring and thought-provoking posts this year about project management, business analysis, leadership and more, so we wanted to take a moment to look back on the most popular posts of 2014. Here are the topics our readers enjoyed the most this year:

Leadership Lessons: Paul R. Williams: Paul R. Williams, Leader of Project Management, PAi, talked to us about how PMOs add value to the organization. Today, PMOs are a strategic imperative for the C-Suite to deliver projects aligned with key strategic initiatives. Project Managers are in high demand today; Williams will give us keen insight into recruiting, training and retaining key program staff. To read the full post, click here.

Here Comes The Boom! An NFL Champion Illustrates Key Business Analysis Skills: As business analysis practitioners, we certainly appreciate the analytical style of Richard Sherman and his LOB brothers.   In addition to conducting a sort of pre-game analysis, we too must be able to conduct game-time analysis and make adjustments, where needed.  For example, it is important for practitioners to understand stakeholders early on. Whether by talking to the actual stakeholder, consulting with other practitioners who have worked with them, or some other method, we need to understand certain things about our stakeholders, including (but not limited to) the stakeholder's view of the problem or opportunity at hand, expectations of a solution, and anticipated level of involvement with the initiative. To read the full post, click here.

Leadership Lessons to Live By: In virtually every industry that exists today, leaders must set aside more time to reflect and assess their thinking, capabilities, and strategies. It is crucial that they evaluate how their leadership brand is being perceived by others and whether or not it requires a tune-up.  We highlighted some key leadership lessons that you should live by. To read the full post, click here.

The 5 Best Free Project Management Tools: There are effective free project management tools out there - some are more robust than others, but all of them provide ways to collaborate and complete projects quicker. We found five of the best free project management tools that may make your job easier. To read the full post, click here.

Big Data and Project Management: Today, organizations are taking strategic risks to add business value through innovative big data initiatives. Big data is a blanket term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using available data management tools or conventional data processing applications. Tom Davenport, author of “Big Data at Work” has worked with many companies and he’s uncovered key principles around five key areas to be successful at big data projects. To read the full post, click here.

Agile State of Mind: Are you wondering how to choose which project management method to deliver a successful project? Organizations today have to be more competitive in the marketplace so choosing the best practices and methods for your organization and projects is important. Agile is a set of values and principles, not a pre-defined process with obvious areas of limitation. Waterfall is a model based on development method that is linear and sequential.  We put together the top four criteria to choose the best fit of methodologies at the right time for the right customer. To read the full post, click here.

Women in Leadership: Jo Miller: Jo Miller, CEO Women’s Leadership Coaching Inc. sat down with us to talk about women in leadership. Today, women make up over 50 percent of the workforce, are entrepreneurs, hold key leadership positions and serve on board of directors. Miller will give us her insight into the challenges women face in the workplace, how to overcome these obstacles and become a more empowered leader. To read the full post, click here.

Leadership Lessons: Dr. Alicia Aitken:  Dr. Alicia Aitken, managing director Asia Pacific, Human Systems International (HSI), sat with us to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape. According to Aitken, being authentic makes great leader stand out in a crows these days. Today’s world is full of leadership models, business school taught methods and processes. Leaders stand out by being authentic and true to who they are and who they are leading. To read the full post, click here.

About the Author: Amanda Ciccatelli, Social Media Strategist of the Marketing Division at IIR USA, has a background in digital and print journalism, covering a variety of topics in business strategy, marketing, and technology. Amanda is the Editor at Large for several of IIR’s blogs including Next Big Design, Customers 1st, Digital Impact, STEAM Accelerator and ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts, and a regular contributor to Front End of Innovation and The Market Research Event,. She previously worked at Technology Marketing Corporation as a Web Editor where she covered breaking news and feature stories in the technology industry. She can be reached at aciccatelli@iirusa.com. Follow her at @AmandaCicc.

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How to Avoid Project Management Failures

These days, project management can be a touchy subject, especially when it comes to project failures. But, knowledge, strategy and precautionary tactics can help project managers avoid serious project management pitfalls.

Here’s what leaders in the industry shared with Fierce CIO recently about tips for avoiding project management pitfalls.

Don't expect immediate results.

"If you're a tried and true waterfall type of project management shop and you go in and change to an agile shop, that's a big change… in principles and also asking a lot of people to partake in that change. Some folks are resistant to it, especially if there's not an immediate payoff. The immediate impact will actually be less effectiveness, maybe less efficiency, but you have to hold true to the fact that long term, it's going to pay off." - Randy McGraw, SVP of technology and operational services at service provider West IP Communications

Have a project leader to provide feedback.

"You may know the technology and service inside and out--but it is still important to have someone on your side who can actively participate and provide insight and things of nature change management." - McGraw

Don’t let deadlines run your project.

"Let's focus on the right solution [first] and then figure out how to get it done in the time frame we have to. Whether we have to [divide it], phase it, or defer some work. Taking that approach of what's the right end game and making sure you set your project and your approach up to get you there ultimately is most important…Help people from falling into those pitfalls of time-driven decision making." - Kevin Riley, CTO of Sonus Networks

Approach project management one step at a time.

"When you do these projects, they can be very complex [and] you can get caught up in looking at the full body of work and all the details, and it becomes hard to wrap your head around the plan.” - Riley

Stay detail-oriented and streamlined.

"Make sure you minimize details, but also make sure your plans around those [finite number of] details are perfect."  - Bill Scudder, CIO of Sonus Networks

Avoid bureaucracy. 

"I try not to have a lot of bureaucracy around project management because I think that can actually slow things down." - Scudder

Provide feedback throughout the process.

"We do start with a process where we have an exec review board for large project.  We call it the IPAC. IT project approval board.  They come and present the problems they're trying to solve, the resources they need, etc.  If they're stuck, we also do a traffic-light review… so we have a funnel of large projects that go through that.” - Scudder

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Leadership Lessons: The Biggest Challenges Facing Leaders Today

I recently interviewed Mary Ann Bender of Allstate and Betsy Ballentine – Project Manager at Russell Martin & Associates, to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape. Both women are speaking at next week’s ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts conference - the premiere conference brand that delivers executive level program quality with an enhanced focus on collaboration between project management and business analysis disciplines.

Here’s what Mary Ann and Betsy had to say:

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing project leaders today? How can they be overcome?

Bender: Budget continues to be a challenge in some cases; however, based on my experience the biggest challenge is the fear of availability issues or business impact due to the project or changes to the environment.

So, have a good change management process in place, clear and customized communication per business area, do a presentation of success measurements to officers and directors helping them understand how the project is helping the company and the businesses and if the project has cost savings, those must be presented too.  Divide the metrics and reports per business unit and make it as a healthy competition between them.

Ballentine: Multi-tasking is the biggest challenge. Constantly changing focus means that project managers are never getting any velocity on their projects. New highly-matrixed, job-sharing times demand leaner, more resilient tools. Get REAL!

Mary Ann and Betsy will be speaking at PW&WCBA in Seattle, WA taking place September 22-24th. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here:  http://bit.ly/1r4E6sC

Leadership Lessons: William Greenwald

In our next episode of the Leadership Lessons interview series brought to you by ProjectWorld &World Congress for Business Analysts, I sat down with William Greenwald of Windsor Leadership Group to discuss how to stand out in leadership,  what it takes to be a great leader, and the biggest challenges facing leaders today.

Today, ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts is the premier conference for advancing collaboration through practice. This year, PW&WCBA has not only changed locations but also drastically changed how the program is delivered- more than ever focused on practicality and tangibility, through visionary speakers, and focus areas that matter to you and your role and help accelerate future success.  At PW&WCBA, you will have the opportunity to join industry thought leaders as they re-examine how to identify opportunities and track their success, understanding what it means to be an effective leader in a virtual and multicultural world, and explore the future role of project managers and business analysts with the corporation.

Greenwald whole-heartedly believes in Gandhi's quote, "Be the Change that You Want to See.” According to him, too many leaders worry about uncontrollables or trying to change others such as peers, bosses, and spouses.

“Great leaders lead themselves before others...hence, by simply taking responsibility for your own behavior and being an exemplary role model in your corporation, community, and family, you will, by default, STAND OUT.”

Greenwald recommends that all new leaders start every conversation (at home and at work) with: "How can I serve you today?” This will begin to build a strong foundation of Servant Leadership that will ably guide decades of success as a great leader.  

Check out my full interview with William here: http://bit.ly/1rAY9MQ

If you’d like to hear more from William, don’t’ miss his sessions, “Creating Magic: Leadership and Service Excellence” on Monday, September 22nd at 10:45 am and “Story to Stage: The Art Behind the Science of Presentation Excellence” on Wednesday, September 24th at 2:00 pm. ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 is taking place this September 22-September 24, 2014 in Seattle, Washington. For more information and to register, click here: http://bit.ly/1wf3eOV

About the Author: Amanda Ciccatelli, Social Media Strategist of the Marketing Division at IIR USA, has a background in digital and print journalism, covering a variety of topics in business strategy, marketing, and technology. Amanda is the Editor at Large for several of IIR’s blogs including Next Big Design, Customers 1st, Digital Impact, STEAM Accelerator and ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts, and a regular contributor to Front End of Innovation and The Market Research Event,. She previously worked at Technology Marketing Corporation as a Web Editor where she covered breaking news and feature stories in the technology industry. She can be reached at aciccatelli@iirusa.com. Follow her at @AmandaCicc.  

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Will you be joining us at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts?

In less than one month, hundreds of project management and business analysis executives will gather in Seattle to tackle some of their most pressing challenges from the project trenches at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts. Will you be joining us?

PW&WCBA

September 22-24, 2014

W Hotel

Seattle, Washington

• PW&WCBA provides a 3-day experience designed for all training levels,  with a robust agenda and tangible lessons that can be implemented when you return to the office.
• Full Agenda Addressing Project Pain Points : Designed to meet the needs of YOUR industry, including a new Project Scheduling Lab, a focus on Leading High Performance Teams and Becoming a Person of Influence.
• In-Depth Workshops: This year there's even more workshop sessions to get hands on with topics, including Agile PM Training, Requirements Management Best Practices, Cyber Security, Emotional Intelligence and more. 
• 40+ Speakers sharing best practices and lessons learned from deep in the project trenches. Find out what works (and what doesn't!) from the best in the industry. You'll hear from Allstate, Bank of Montreal, Erie Insurance, IIBA, Kindred Healthcare, Microsoft, Quest Diagnostics, Starbucks & more. 
• A Look into the Future of Project Management & Business Analysis: PW&WCBA will prepare your team not only for the changes taking place in project management and business analysis, but also what's coming. The IIBA's Kevin Brennan and Clark County NV's Ricki Henry will share What the Future of Business Analysis will look like, while Kathleen B. Hass explores what the New Project Leadership Model looks like.
• 36 PDUs/CDUs to maintain your certification: that's more than half of the credits needed in just THREE days!
• Unparalleled Networking: PW&WCBA Connect allows you to see who's attending the event and begin networking before you arrive in Seattle. Plus, we've added a networking reception and the opportunity to sign up for group dinners to continue the conversation after the conference day ends.

Download the brochure for full details: http://bit.ly/1CJdpQv

Attendees to date include:

Visa Disney PMI AIG New York Life Insurance Allstate Insurance Centene Corporation Russell Martin & Associates Banfield The Pet Hospital Citizens Bank Solea Software Solutions ALLData El Paso Water Utilities Hampton Affiliates University of North Texas Health Science Center Hilti Inc McKee Foods Corporation ARGO Data Goodyear University of Connecticut Lonza Biologics Women's Leadership Coaching Inc New Directions Behavioral Health Federal Depositors Insurance Corp Kathleen Hass & Associates Inc ECMC Watermark Learning NyeCo Inc State of Wisconsin Reliance Home Comfort Microsoft The Boeing Company Starbucks Coffee Company Bank of Montreal International Institute of Business Analysis Federal Reserve Bank WEA Insurance AT&T Neiman Marcus Honda R&D Robert Bosch EBG Consulting Kindred Healthcare Inc ESI Fujitsu America Callisto Integration Edwards Lifesciences LLC Quest Diagnostics WEA Trust University of Regina Tyco Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco NASA Mars Science Laboratory T. Garanti Bankasi A S Stage Stores Clark County SITA Windsor Leadership Group LLC Human Systems International Plan Administrators Inc Washington State Department of Retirement Systems Insperity Canadian Blood Services The Pasha Group Buffalo State College Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Travelers Companies T-Mobile Continental Mills

Have you been following our Leadership Lessons Blog series? Head over to our blog to read up on our recent interviews with industry leaders themselves: http://bit.ly/1tcIZTB

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Leadership Lessons: Benjamin Locwin

I recently interviewed Benjamin Locwin of lonza Biopharmaceuticals to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.  Locwin is speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle taking place next month. He will be presenting a session entitled, “Using Evidence-Based Practice for High-Impact Messaging.”

At PW&WCBA, you will have the opportunity to join industry thought leaders as they re-examine how to identify opportunities and track their success, understanding what it means to be an effective leader in a virtual and multicultural world, and explore the future role of project managers and business analysts with the corporation.

Check out what Locwin had to say:

IIR: How do you, as a leader, stand out in a crowd in this competitive business world?

Locwin: For this, leadership branding is critically important; I have my own leadership brand, and this constancy of message carries through all of the work I do with my teams.

IIR: What are characteristics of a GREAT leader?

Locwin: Listening, being empathic, and not being afraid to make the big decisions. To paraphrase Peter Drucker, an expert in a field has seen enough to be able to quickly appraise a situation and know what’s important to focus on.

IIR: How does a successful leader communicate?

Locwin: One word: Often. If a leader isn’t developing a strategy and communicating a vision, and then communicating frequent progress checks, no one knows what the status is of their achievement work.

IIR: What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your organization or team?

Locwin: As an organization gets larger there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening? By disentangling the chaos of the entire big picture and making the smaller teams still feel like critical cogs in the whole machine; It’s really a sense of scale in this case that demotivates. By making the goals and achievements real, tangibility can be felt.

IIR: How do you encourage creative thinking within your team or organization?

Locwin: Much of this is derived from Edward de Bono; Lateral thinking requires tools and techniques to encourage it often. I have developed these systems so that they frequently call upon the experts to continuously refine their work in new, bold, and creative ways.

IIR: How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?

Locwin: Culture can only be felt or measured on a very broad scale; it’s how the business functions as a whole and in the context of its own unique ‘corporate memory.’ You can’t ‘train’ a new employee on the culture of the organization, he or she learns by interacting within it.

IIR: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

Locwin: An understanding of behavioral psychology and fluency with statistical variation.

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

Locwin: Diversity in the workplace with respect to different fluencies with technology and media. Being part of the ‘next-five-minutes’ forecasting model (which is to say that long-term forecasting as had been done for many decades in business is no longer relevant with such short time horizons now).

IIR: What is the one behavior that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers?

Locwin: Believing that natural variation doesn’t occur.

IIR: What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

Locwin: Stop. Look. And listen. Don’t go out and make decisions until you’ve taken stock on how the status quo is running; You’d be more likely to make things worse than better.

IIR: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

Locwin: Continuous learning. It’s all about adaptability.

Locwin will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. To learn more or register for the event, click here:  http://bit.ly/1p8VOGT

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Leadership Lessons: Silvanus David

I recently interviewed Silvanus David, SITA SOUTH AFRICA, to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.  David is a keynote speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle taking place next month. He will be presenting a session entitled, “Cyber Security.”

Check out what David had to say:

IIR: How do you, as a leader, stand out in a crowd in this competitive business world?

David: I am a project management subject matter expert. I add value to the scientific knowledge base. I have something to offer that will make this world a better place than I have found it.

IIR: What are characteristics of a GREAT leader?

David: Humility is key. Focus as well – knowing how to keep the team focused and what is important.

IIR: How does a successful leader communicate?

David: Successful leaders communicate honestly. Good and bad news must be communicated.

IIR: Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

David: My CEO, Mr. Freeman Numvalo. He arrived at the organization when it was at its lowest from an employee satisfaction perspective. His engagement with staff and his ability for getting people to start believing in themselves was “messiah” like. His focus on the vision and objective of the organization was always core and he was “outcome” and “impact” driven.

Image via Plexxi.com

IIR: What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your organization or team?

David: Strategic direction of the team. Ensuring that the outcomes of Government are adhered to and supported.

IIR: As an organization gets larger there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening?

David: Whatever we do has an impact on the service delivery for the citizenry of the nation. My team is inspired by knowing that the value they add makes the nation a better place for all.

IIR: How do you encourage creative thinking within your team or organization?

David: All for people to make mistakes within a controlled environment. Reward employees whose ideas thru creative thinking has added value to the organization.

IIR: Which is most important to your organization or team? (mission, core values or vision?) How do you communicate the “core values” to your team? 

David: Vision, Mission and core values are all important. The best way to communicate “core values” is by visibly demonstrating it.

IIR: How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?

David: The best way to help a new employee is to have a comprehensive induction program for the new employee. Also, the new employees should be assigned to a mentor for a period of time.

IIR: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

David: Every leader must know the end-game. And he must be able to change direction mid-flight.

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

David: Staying relevant to customer needs.

IIR: What is the one behavior or trait that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers?

David: Arrogance and the false belief that it is all about themselves.

IIR: Can you explain the impact that social media has made on you as a leader?

David: It depends on what interests you and what you are exposed to. Social medial can be very beneficial.

IIR: What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

David: It’s not about you.

IIR: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

David: Think hard about business and people.

David will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here: http://bit.ly/VPs7Ua

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