An Introduction to Managing People and Stakeholders in Projects

Course details

Project managers often overlook people management in favour of technical skills, so this practical two-day course ensures that you get results through your people by focusing on strengthening your interpersonal skill sets.

Creating an effective project organisation structure, team building, influencing and persuading key stakeholders, delivering difficult messages, minimising conflict and effective delegation of the project work are some of the key topics explored in this course.

The course will help you to develop your people management skills, both for people working full time on your projects and people who have other responsibilities and demands on their time. You will be able to gain a stronger commitment from the project team and achieve the performance needed to deliver projects successfully.

Is it right for me?

Suitable particularly to new project managers who need to use their people skills to establish a project team and manage a range of interpersonal challenges with stakeholders, within and external to the core project team. Those who are new to projects should consider "An Introduction to Effective Project Management" for an awareness of the underpinning project management methods.

What will I learn?

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Establish clear roles and responsibilities in a typical project team.
• Build and lead a skilled project team able to deliver against expectations in full.
• Maximise the contribution, commitment and motivation of each individual in the project.
• Improve your management of project team members, teams and stakeholders.
• Influence senior stakeholders more effectively.
• Get things achieved despite having little or no direct authority
• Provide constructive feedback even when the messages are difficult or sensitive.
• Minimise and manage conflict situations positively.
• Handle variable workloads by utilising your allocation, delegation and empowerment skills.

What will it cover?

Effective Project Governance

• The importance of a suitably structured project organisation
• Establishing clear roles and responsibilities across the project
• Quick decisionmaking using the correct levels of authority

Building the Project Team

• Recognising the role requirements
• The difference between a project team and a work team
• Stages of project team development
• Mirroring the characteristics of high performing project teams

Leading the Project Team

• What is project team leadership and why should anyone follow you?
• Using situational leadership styles to maximise output and personal development
• Focusing your project team and maintaining motivation when the going gets tough

Engaging and Influencing Stakeholders

• The differences between influence, persuasion and negotiation
• Power levers – how they can significantly strengthen your hand
• Other people’s behaviour – recognising it and adapting your style
• Stakeholder mapping and the essential role it plays in relationship building
• Managing unrealistic stakeholder expectations

Influencing your Senior Stakeholders when you have Limited Authority

• Gaining yourself credibility and power
• The two sides to being assertive with stakeholders
• Motivating senior people to your point of view
• Key tips for influencing and persuading your senior stakeholders

Deliver Difficult or Sensitive Messages Constructively

• The nature of effective project feedback
• How to handle emotion
• Keeping the language constructive
• How not to deliver sensitive messages

Minimise and Manage Conflict Situations

• The sources of common project conflicts
• How a conflict handling model can help resolve project conflicts
• Recognise your conflict handling style
• Select the most effective approach for each conflict situation

Work Distribution – Allocate, Delegate or Empower?

• Allocation, delegation and empowerment – the differences
• How to concentrate on managing your project and not doing the project work
• Are you delegating enough?
• An effective delegation process
• The key benefits of delegation and empowerment