PMI Global Insights

#PMIEMEA18 is coming up very soon and there are a lot of preparations going on in advance. As someone who will be speaking at the conference for the first time, I'm really excited to be able to present my topic to the audience but I'm also extremely excited to be presenting alongside some absolutely fantastic speakers and knowledgeable experts there!

I'll also be there as part of the Social Media crew helping to bring the conference to those who are unable to be there in person. I'll be sharing my personal experience and highlights from the sessions that I'll be attending and allowing you to follow the conference online.

Before you come to Berlin:

Make sure that you've read through the entire conference schedule so that you've got an idea of what you're looking to attend. I'd also recommend bringing enough Business cards to share out with people at the networking events. 

Monday:

• If you're a first-time attendee to PMI conferences then I can highly recommend that you attend the "The first time attendee orientation", It'll be a great help to understand how the conference works and how to make the most out of your conference.
• The Keynotes are always a great way to kick off the conference and this year looks no different! Rowan Gibson gives a great talk about: Winning the Innovation Economy and the mindset that we need to adopt for being innovative.
• I'll then head to: How emotions can impact your success as a PMP. This is a topic that I think that a lot of us can learn from and it'll be something that you'll be able to apply immediately after the conference.
• After lunch, I'm planning to go to: Augmented Project Management. Why Less is more when facing complexity in projects. I think that this topic will give some key takeaways for a wide variety of Project Managers.
• The next session I’ll be going to attend is a personal favourite topic of mine: Better your Project Management techniques via Lean Six Sigma. I really love learning about Six Sigma and how it can be applied to existing Project Management techniques.
• The last session of the day will definitely be one to keep you on your feet! Agile droplets in a waterfall world will aim to show you when and how agile practices could be applied to your projects /environment.

The conference doesn’t end there. Please don’t forget to check out the evening networking opportunities. The evening events are not only a great way for you to mingle with your other Project Management counterparts but they’ll also be a great way to learn more about Berlin’s fascinating history!

Tuesday:

Tuesday is going to be a packed day but it'll be a busy one for sure!

• I'm really excited about the Offsite learning experience at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport. I've been following this project for several years and it'll be a project where there is a lot to learn from.
• After lunch, I’ll be presenting a topic called: Dude, where’s my control? Transitioning from a Project Manager to a Scrum Master. This is a great session if you’re thinking of becoming a Scrum Master or alternatively if you’re going through a transition yourself.
• The next session for me will be: Tips and techniques for managing those difficult project stakeholders. Dana Brownlee is a really fantastic speaker and I can’t wait to hear her thoughts on this!
• Happy Hour is an hour that you should definitely NOT miss. This is a great opportunity to network with your colleagues and wind down from an intense day of presentations.

Wednesday:

Wednesday morning kicks off and it’ll be a packed final day of the main #PMIEMEA18 conference!

• The first session I’ll be looking to attend will be: Delivering real value in Business consulting projects – the agile way. I’m really interested in how Project Managers can deliver real value and seeing if they can do this in an agile way.
• Wednesday afternoon will continue with some more strong topics! Fabiola Maisonnier will be talking about: Signs of Leadership: are you change resilient and emotionally mature? I think these sorts of presentations that will help others to increase their leadership skills and social awareness are going to be some of the more valuable sessions for attendees to attend.
• The closing keynote will give you a lot to think about. Inma Martinez will be presenting a topic called: Developing creative approaches to Artificial Intelligence  in the workplace  in the times of accelerated digitalisation. One reason why I think that this is so critical is because it brings the importance of the future of our profession to the forefront of our minds and shows us that we cannot avoid thinking and planning for the future.

#PMIEMEA18 has a packed program that will definitely give you the advantage. It’ll give you the tools to develop your skills and broaden your mindset. Moreover, it’ll give you the opportunity to meet other Project Management colleagues and enable you to widen your network.

So, which sessions are you looking forward to?

It's been a week since #PMIcon17 started and it's been a time to reflect on a few things that were really visible to me during the conference that I think is valuable to share with the wider community.

1. Volunteering: A really valuable way to connect with others and give back to the community is through Volunteering. Either with your local chapter or with other professional organisations.
2. Talent Management: It's vitally important to understand your own worth in your organisation and also as a Project Manager. Make sure that you understand what you're worth and also where you can still develop as a Project Manager.
3. Innovation: Be innovative, be a 'bar raiser', 'thought provoker', 'change maker' and be this not just for one day, but constantly. Analyse what you're doing and what you can do better. What can your organisation do better? Are you thinking about how Project Management could be better?
4. Collaboration: As Project Managers we can be stronger within the community if we collaborate together to give more knowledge to each other. Are you collaborating enough?
5. Generational Project Management: Project Managers seem to have a longer more valuable shelf life than other industries and roles. During the conference, there was a great combination of younger Project Managers just starting their career with other more seasoned Project Managers who had so much knowledge and information to share. As an organisation and industry we need to be aware of this and work on sharing this knowledge together.

Personally, I felt that the Conference not only highlighted the opportunities that we have as Project Managers to learn and develop as stronger Project Managers but also showing the possibilities that are available in the PM world to contribute and grow.

What next?

Where will I be going from now? I'll be continuing to connect with everyone that I met to make sure that we can continue collaborating and sharing knowledge. I'll also be making sure that my 'contribution' to the Project Management industry remains involved, active and giving back just as much as I have been learning!

What will your contribution be? How can we collaborate together?

I've just finished my final slot on the "Ask the Expert" booth and it's been a jam packed morning! The overriding theme this morning has been coaching people to understand what their value is and what they really want from their careers and lives. It's been a really interesting journey to see how people want to develop and progress in their professional careers and how differently that this looks across the Project Management spectrum. Here's a quick summary of who I met with today*:

• Frank: Frank has been in the same job for over 27 years and been a Project Manager for the last 12 years. He's looking for a change and a different challenge and has been thinking about becoming a consultant and what this means in reality. We spoke about the reality of life as a consultant and the different mindset that is required from his current position. We also looked at understanding the different culture of consultancy and discussed the next steps for him. What was interesting for Frank was that this discussion was based around: "What does he want to do?" He has no monetary concerns and could happily have no job but he wants to work and he wants to. It's a great position to be in and one that I think a lot of more Senior Project Managers are going through at the moment.
• Mohammed: He's been working in his current organization and has worked his way up from a technical role to being a Project Manager. He's looking to keep moving forward with his career and wanted advice as his company was theoretically supportive of his growth plan and where he wanted to go but in practice, they were not and were trying to box him into a smaller position that wouldn't be fulfilling for him. Mohammed left with some ideas and plans for what he can do with his management moving forward to secure the growth that he wants in the organization and what he's able to do now to keep learning. We spoke about working with his local chapter on volunteering and improving his soft skills to move forward into a Management opportunity.
• Sharon: She's currently unfulfilled in her current job and looking at: what next? She's interested in perhaps going independent and we spoke about the initial steps that she needs to do and what to consider before she becomes freelance in: how to market yourself, what do you want to do and what is important to consider in being an entrepreneur in the US.
• John: John came to see me about the best way to empower his team through their agile transformation and how to get his team more empowered to own their change. We spoke about how the could get the team to own their change and their work across distributed locations.
• Olivier: My last talk of the day and Olivier is a brand new Project Manager and wanting to know how he can progress and develop as a Project Manager successfully. It was really interesting to help him with his initial career plan and where he'd like to see himself in 5 years.

Here's some pictures from today:

*Please note all names have been changed for privacy reasons.

The first success variable in The Digital Transformation Success Formula is individual transformation. Countless sources are predicting the disappearance and / or displacement of jobs. But for as long as we exist as humans, we will still need each other's. What if losing jobs was the way we could resolve disengagement and be transformed to a greater state of authenticity that leads to better innovations and happiness?

We have developed a professional mindset in conformance with a few stereotypes of the professional life. It is a mindset that often separates who we really are to show just a small part of us that the business world expects to see. We were programmed this way from our earliest upbringing and later through the corporate world-structure and mindset even more. However, the truth is that the motor that powers our professional life is our individuality, our authenticity.

While our individual programming allows us to reproduce the professional pattern without much effort, this restrained professional mindset limits our potential. For many of us, key personal values like aspiration and dreams are often well outside of this professional patterns, which is an identity that we spend most of our awake time at work.  Have you ever noticed how some boldly authentic posts may attract attention on LinkedIn while a few people suggest that Facebook should be used for such posts instead?

Our individual values, passions, interests, and aspirations are the regulators of our energy. When we stay close to or within their influence, we experience the greatest level of energy, positivity, and happiness. The more we move away from them, the less positive energy and consciousness we experience. As a result, the person lacks authenticity and is operating like a robot on autopilot and barely using his / her brain. This is the complete opposite of someone that is mindful and alert.

Our organizations are filled with these robot-like individuals, conditioned to repeat procedures mindlessly. When a change is announced, these are the individuals who resist the changes the most, all while being disengaged.  Double the issues!

Employee disengagement is the biggest challenge that organizations around the world face today. But, these organizations created or contributed to such situations as well. Starting at recruitment, many HR departments already have their restrained criteria established, like a box to fit employees, and then the employees do their best to fit in the box to get the job.  While this is a way to standardize an organization, it is an approach that restrains creativity and authenticity.

Can an individual be that great without authenticity? Brain science and neuroplasticity reveals otherwise. The statistics about global employee engagement, which is down to 13% according to Gallup, proves this. With digital transformation, we have the opportunity to empower our people to release their fears, find their inner values and passions so they can embrace them. As a result, they will become mission-driven and innovate in their professions. Creativity and authenticity are much needed today to increase innovation in our businesses and organizations. Losing jobs but gaining mission can be a great solution to disengagement.

I encourage every leader to embrace their authenticity by engaging in self-transformation so that they inspire their organizations to do so as well. This is the best way we can turn around disengagement and create organizations with individuals on missions, who are energized, happier and productive in the digital age. Many disengaged individuals will at this point release themselves from jobs that they are tied to but dislike, and are wasting both their resources and that of their organizations, to embrace their individual missions, which may be another position, another view of their contribution, or else, with great enthusiasm. As a result, the mission-driven workforce will transform our organizations to experience more business innovation and success. Everyone will experience greater individual happiness.

If you are a digital transformation leader, I invite you to join my mastermind coaching program, Leaders on a Digital Mission here.

Find out more about my book The Digital Transformation Success Formula here.

Your coach in transformation,

Nadia Vincent

We are facing exponential changes in our daily lives, not only personally but in our professional daily tasks. What is today there will be no more tomorrow. Changes are taking place at a different speed compared to society acceptance, so, Are organizations prepared to absorb these changes? Do we feel we need to change? Do we want to change? Do organisations really understand the concepts of innovation and disruption? Some they do not and they are experiencing now their own fate ... Are these words overused in our daily life? I think yes, too much ... 

Human behavior is unpredictable in some cases but in other cases it is very predictable. When we are in our area of confort, we feel save and we are not willing to change. Why to risk this confort and go to an unexplored area? Are we enough curious? When we were children, we were naturally curious—but when we grew up that sense of wonder began to flow down.

Regaining this sense of curiosity is key for the Project Manager, creativity then flows and take us to another level, where unexplored areas are not so dangerous as we thought at the very beginning. We begin traversing the bridge that seemed so dark, and oh surprise! we see us in an uncomfortable new area but we learn how to surf it.

Tuesday PMI Salon session presented some of the game changers for the PPPM Professional such artificial intelligence (AI), Big data and Predictive Analysis and last but not least important, the Human connection.

Will AI impact the job labour? How? In which percentage algorithms will take part of our tasks as Project Managers? What will be left? In any case this is already happening and the future seems complex ... so how to survive?

How big data and predictive analysis will link with AI? Forecasting concept acquires special relevance. .. Harvard Business Review (HBR) article published in May 2016 presents an excellent piece about that new concept. 

The Good Judgment Project (GJP) was launched in 2011 by Philip Tetlock and Barbara Mellers and was completed in 2015. The objective of that study was to determine whether some people are naturally better than others at prediction and how this performance predicting could be enhanced.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) organized a competition where participants were challenged to answer geopolitical and economic questions that U.S. intelligence agencies pose to their analysts normally. The GJP was the winner. 

[...] Most predictions made in companies, whether they concern project budgets, sales forecasts, or the performance of potential hires or acquisitions, are not the result of cold calculus. They are colored by the forecaster’s understanding of basic statistical arguments, susceptibility to cognitive biases, desire to influence others’ thinking, and concerns about reputation. Indeed, predictions are often intentionally vague to maximize wiggle room should they prove wrong. The good news is that training in reasoning and debiasing can reliably strengthen a firm’s forecasting competence. The Good Judgment Project demonstrated that as little as one hour of training improved forecasting accuracy by about 14% over the course of a year. [HBR]

Training linked to AI and big data results in a powerful combination, at the same time scaring at some point.

After so many changes will invade our lives/business, human connections will become more and more relevant. Compassion, humanity, understanding, communication ...  

The future is already here, like it or not, and it already began impacting our daily tasks and life. Connectivity is changing the game, how we work as Project Managers ... so we have two options, to play or not to play. Consequences of each action seem obvious ... 

Mark Stevenson, a visionary and author of the book "An Optimist's Tour of the Future", was the closing key note speaker of PMI EMEA Global Congress . He showed us how the new industrial revolution we are living is impacting us in different aspects such how we organised society, the way we educated ourselves, how we made business, technologically and our concept of work. I would resume the speech as inspiring, mind blowing, transhumanist, ... 

Be passionate for what you do, be a trailblazer, think big, make mistakes, adapt and overcome, learn, be ambitious in order to advance, connect the dots, don't be afraid of serendipity (General Leadership blog), be more human and never ever give up.

SO LET'S PLAY?

PMI Global Congress provides you an excellent forum to develop your professional and personal skills, apart from networking within an intercultural environment, learning and experiencing.