Project Management Seminars and Programs

In the age of accelerating change, the only lasting competitive advantage (for individuals and organizations alike) is the ability to assemble talent, focus on objectives, and deliver timely results.

Energize your organization! ...after an average of 13 hours of PM training, 62-91% of organizations reported extreme improvements in on-the-job performance, schedule, requirements, quality, productivity, cycle time, employee and customer satisfaction --Center for Business Practices, 2003

No longer relegated to a few individuals or industries, project management skills are becoming essential to advancement in many organizations and career fields.

Ron Black consults and trains project management methodologies to scores of organizations throughout the US, Canada, and Australia. His clients know what you'll soon find out: the return on investment for project management skill development is nothing short of extreme.

Coursework is custom-tailored for your specific needs and objectives. While remaining compliant with PMBOK standards, it goes beyond the taxonomy of project management knowledge and delivers real-world project leadership skills.

Primary learning objectives include

• how to plan projects
• how to establish time lines and resources
• how to monitor and control progress
• how to solve problems and keep things moving
• how to maximize your resources even across several projects
• and all the planning, communication, control tools, checklists, and systems essential for success in demanding project environments.

Popular Seminars and Programs

Project Management Essentials  Mastering the Elements of Success

Our most popular offering, this comprehensive seminar provides the knowledge, insights, and techniques project teams need to accomplish even the most challenging project. From the seasoned veteran to the anxious rookie, the largest gains in project success come with a focus on the fundamentals—the process, the vocabulary, the tools and techniques of achievement.

Compliant with popular standards, tailored to your needs, and grounded in results-proven experience, this course delivers project skills that will drive your organization’s success into the future. Tailored to the organization’s project environment and provided in one- to three-day formats. Download course description.

See excerpts from an introduction to project management video.

Facilitation Essentials for Project Leaders Harvesting the Wisdom of Collaborative Meetings

Designed expressly for project managers, sponsors, and core team members, this program applies meeting facilitation best practices to the challenges of leading effective project teams. Learn how to boost your team's authentic participation, build a shared clarity of purpose, generate better ideas, integrate competing demands and viewpoints, weight and prioritize options, and make better project decisions. With this easy-to-use three-step facilitation framework and selected process tools, you'll lead even the most challenging meeting with complete confidence and professional composure - and harvest the wisdom of your team! 

One-hour to full-day seminar formats available. Applies to PMBOK section 10.2.2 Information Distribution Tools and Techniques and section 2.4.4 Problem Solving and Decision Making

Acrobatics for Overachievers Control-Point Time Management for Today's Ultra-Busy Project Manager

Designed for today’s fast-paced lifestyles and the ultra-busy project manager, this seminar provides the essential skills and knowledge needed to create balance, increase productivity, reduce stress, and improve your sense of well being at work. It applies project management scheduling concepts to resolve traditional time management conundrums, adds organization, productivity, with the latest research on multi-tasking, sleep, and other performance affecting choices, into an interactive and entertaining experience. Formats from one-hour to full-day sessions.

Applies to PMBOK section 2.4 Key General Management Skills, Managing oneself through time management, stress management, and other techniques.

Managing Projects the Easy Way with Microsoft Project

Manage the detail without losing sight of the big picture! This feature-rich software is tamed with a step-by-step approach, a comprehensive Action Guide, and hands-on exercises.

The course is tailored to your needs and existing process to help you get in control and stay in control of even the most demanding projects. You'll master scheduling, resource control, cost tracking, and the skills you need to manage multiple projects.

For geographically dispersed teams, you’ll learn how to use MS Project's powerful collaboration and communication features without resorting to the cost of time required to deploy Microsoft's full Enterprise Project Management platform. And if E.P.M. is in your organization's future, this course delivers what every core project team member needs to know about the desk-top versions of MS Project 2000 through 2010.

Learn directly from the author of the popular Complete Idiot’s Guide to Project Management with MS Project 2003 and it's predecessor, the best single selling technology book in the CIG series, the CIG to Project Management using Microsoft Project 2000.

One- or two-day courses. May be added as follow-on days to the Project Management Fundamentals coursework. Download course description.

Project Management for the IT Professional

This course explores the different types of IT project lifecycles and presents all the tools, processes, and documents needed to initiate, plan, and control successful IT projects.

You'll learn how to avoid common errors, use project control documents, and choose the best planning model for your projects.

Includes a complete overview of scheduling tools and techniques — Gantt Charts, Network Diagrams, the Critical Path Method and more. Provides IT project managers with a strong platform of skills, tools and techniques for planning, scheduling, budgeting, organizing and controlling their projects. Delivered in one- or two-day courses.

Creating an Environment for Project Success Executive briefing

This course provides the essential information senior managers need to interact with, participate in, and create more effective project management environments. Emphasis is placed on the role of enterprise-wide project management doctrine. It addresses critical issues for the executive team responsible for managing the project portfolio.

Includes an overview of the project management process, how to prioritize projects based on organizational objectives, choose and implement an effective process model, establish project roles and responsibilities, apply stage-gate management techniques, select effective project teams, and understand what research and experience shows us about project success and failure factors. Formatted for one-hour briefings to full-day workshops. Download program description.

Project Team Leadership Building championship project teams

Leading successful, productive teams that champion the project’s success requires a special set of skills and a broad range of knowledge. With a focus on team achievement, and with performance as the catalyst for team development, participants learn to see everyone as a contributor, to champion individual success towards a common goal, and to clearly communicate roles, responsibilities, and rules of conduct throughout the team’s stages of development and the project’s lifecycle.  Learn how to build consensus, coach for performance, and apply situational leadership skills to gain commitment and foster authentic participation.

This course delivers the teamwork knowledge, competencies, and skills needed by all levels of the organization. These include the ability to: focus on true achievement with appropriate Goals and milestones; establish and communicate Roles and single-point Responsibilities; develop and manage team Rules and standards of performance; create and maintain an Environment of mutual trust, respect, and commitment to success; thoughtfully adopt the Attitude and professional bearing conducive to teamwork; and maintain high levels of Trust and respect that fosters positive interdependence and authentic project participation.

Delivered in a half- to full- day formats. Applies to PMBOK section 9.3 Team Development and 9.2 Staff Acquisition. Download course description. See Ron in action video.

Championship Teamwork Building a GREAT Project Team

A break-out session version of the team leadership seminar, this course delivers the essence of building effective project teams by focusing on team Goals, Roles, Responsibilities, Rules, Environment, Attitudes, and Trust.  Individual prerequisites to team success and staffing dynamics are introduced.

One-hour session. Applies to PMBOK section 9.3 Team Development and 9.2 Staff Acquisition

The Industrial Peg and Marble Company Project Teambuilding simulation

A high-energy, engaging project simulation providing experiential learning for the basics of teambuilding. Through successive rounds of play, essential project team development concepts are introduced, experienced, and internalized as participants team up to complete complex pegboard designs in record time and according to specification.  May be used alone or in conjunction with Team Leadership and Championship Teams seminars.

Requires 3 to 4 hours for optimal learning. One-hour introduction to team building is available. Applies to PMBOK section 9.3 Team Development

Managing Projects with Microsoft Project the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Don’t fall victim to MS Project’s flaws, feature fluff, and built-in assumptions. The author of two best-selling books on using MS Project reveals the quirky, the troublesome, the aggravating, and sometimes deadly flaws found in the world’s most popular desktop scheduling software. If you’re new to MS Project, these tips and tricks will keep you safe and productive, harnessing the product’s power and avoiding its many hidden pitfalls. What every user needs to know about designing dynamic schedules, cost tracking, and using PERT analysis—and what every new user needs to ignore—to get the most from the MS Project desktop versions. By the author of the popular Complete Idiot’s Guide to Project Management with MS Project 2003.

Delivered in 45- to 60-minute sessions. Applies to PMBOK section 10.2.2 Information Distribution Tools and Techniques

 

 

 

Copyright © 2011 Ron Black, The Mentor Group                              503-618-8703  •  USA: 800-381-8686