Open Courses

Advanced Project Management and Decision Making

PL32

Introduction

The pressure on companies to deliver projects on time and to budget is growing. This means that project managers need to be using high-level project management skills and operating with the most up-to-date approaches.

Effective decision-making and problem solving are key to project management and all areas of leadership. Companies can sustain competitive advantage and improve overall business performance by making better and faster decisions and executing them more effectively.

This advanced project management and decision making course has been designed to provide delegates with an overview of modern best practice methodologies and techniques to meet the demands of managing multiple and complex projects.  It will also equip delegates with tools and techniques for decisive and skilled decision-making and problem solving. 

In an uncertain world, the only certainty is your individual skill set and approach. This advanced course will provide delegates with the tools to deliver effectively.

Who should attend

This practical and enlightening course is designed for Project Managers and Directors seeking to enhance their effectiveness and skills in Project Management and decision-making. It will also be of great benefit to those working in the procurement or contract function or for those working in technical areas who are regularly involved in projects.

10 days

London | £5750

COURSE PROFILE

Project management in a fast changing world     

  • Deliver real business benefits
  • The need for agile businesses and agile people
  • The value of highly trained project managers and project personnel
  • Organisational project management
  • Change management – its link to project management and project management delivery

Project Leadership 

  • Identifying and understanding your own leadership style
  • Types of leadership; choosing how to use leadership power
  • Leading upwards (and sideways and downwards)
  • Understanding and managing the behaviour of others
  • Giving feedback – the power of feedback 

Project control

  • Project governance and its importance to project control
  • Developing overall project governance approach
  • Stage gates – their value in the overall project control
  • Prioritisation – ensuring the project is a ‘must have’ project
  • Using earned value management to check on a projects progress

Project management finance

  • The pricing process and determining a budget
  • Understanding where costs may be hidden in contracts
  • Cost estimation and forecasting techniques – the importance of cash flow
  • Risk assessment to minimise project costs
  • Developing your project management budget profile

Traditional and modern approaches to delivering projects

  • Comparing the benefits of Waterfall v agile v Kanban v scrum
  • Critical chain method
  • Keeping on track - effectively delivering against the project benefits
  • Influencing others

Leadership style and approach to decision-making

  • Identify your decision-making style
  • The problem-solving/decision-making cycle
  • Consequences of different decision making styles
  • Strategic thinking and factors influencing decision politics

Defining the problem and overcoming complex situations

  • Defining the problem and identify options
  • Fact finding and data gathering for complex problem solving
  • Appropriate flow charts and diagrams
  • Ishikawa analysis
  • Design Thinking methodology

Risk managing and scenario planning

  • Identify potential risks
  • Scenario planning methodologies
  • Linking decisions to past experiences and situations
  • Evaluate alternatives and explore options

Creating a productive and a solution-oriented culture

  • Building a solution-oriented culture
  • Encouraging creativity and innovation
  • Making use of cognitive diversity
  • Using different styles of solution findings
SKILLS

At the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

  • Appreciate project benefits and how to develop them
  • Understand the project management maturity model and its implications
  • Understand how change management and project management are aligned
  • Lead your project team with clear authority and clear purpose
  • Ensure clear governance processes are in place to support project delivery
  • Understanding project finance and how earned value management supports project delivery
  • Apply different approaches to project management, including waterfall project management, agile project management, Kanban and Scrum
  • Employ decision making and problem solving Skills
  • Identify the root cause of the problem in a given situation
  • Map out the likely consequences of alternative decisions
  • Choose the best course of action
  • Follow decisions through to conclusion
  • Prepare for uncertain times
  • Analyse risk to make better decisions
  • Use financial information and business intelligence for decision making
  • Encourage collective solution finding