When twenty-two employees of a major pharmaceutical & surgical company completed an excellent project management course, they were asked, “What else, if anything, do you need to be able to be effective as project managers?”

Their responses were interesting, but not surprising. Their list included:

• Improving their own conflict resolution skills
• Eliciting and maintaining commitments
• Managing stakeholders’ expectations
• Communicating activities and progress
• Building powerful teams
• Enhancing their negotiating skills
• Becoming better decision-makers
• Gaining new problem-solving skills
• Assistance with transitioning to leadership
• Effectively dealing with negative energy
• Expanding their repertoire of interpersonal skills
• Keeping staff members motivated

Notice how many of these represent leadership skills, or working with the “human dynamics,” or soft part of the project. In a sense, what they were saying is, “We have learned about project ‘management.’ Now teach us about project ‘leadership.’”

These needs and others represent the objectives of Enlightened Leadership’s two-day workshop called Project Leadership Made Simple.