PPP 420 | Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager, with FranklinCovey's Kory Kogon

Summary

In this episode, Andy interviews Kory Kogon, FranklinCovey’s Vice President of Content Development, about her updated book, Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager. They discuss the prevalence of unofficial project managers in various industries, especially post-pandemic, and the unique challenges they face. Kory shares insights on foundational behaviors, clarifying expectations, stakeholder management, and risk management.

The conversation also delves into the significance of accountability and performance discussions, particularly for those leading without formal authority.

If you lead projects, regardless of your title, this discussion is for you!

Sound Bites

• "We often find that at least 80% of the participants in our project management workshops don't have the word project in their title. Yet you could argue that, in many ways, we're all project managers."
• "The top reasons why projects fail are unclear scope, key stakeholders wanting different things, lack of communication, not knowing the roles, having the wrong people in roles, and scope creep."
• "Accountability takes on a different lens. It's not punitive. It's mutual accountability."
• "A cadence of accountability sets up a team that is inspired to want to do the work."

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 02:23 Start of Interview
• 02:41 In What Ways Are We All Project Managers?
• 05:09 The Top Reasons Why Projects Struggle
• 07:45 Clarifying Expectations in Projects
• 14:06 Identifying and Managing Stakeholders
• 18:40 Managing Risks in Projects
• 24:20 The Importance of Accountability
• 26:36 The Essence of Accountability in Leadership
• 28:03 Creating a Cadence of Accountability
• 31:54 Navigating Informal Authority and Performance Conversations
• 37:26 Clarifying Project Scope and Managing Change
• 43:36 Interview Wrap-Up
• 44:25 Andy's Comments After the Interview
• 47:44 Outtakes

Learn More

You can learn more about Kory and her book (and download a sample chapter) at FranklinCovey.com.

If you’d like more on this subject, check out:

• Episode 405, with Gil Broza about scaling good project practices across the organization
• Episode 376, with Nick Sonnenberg about his book Come Up for Air
• Episode 129, with Kory about her book The Five Choices

 

AI for Project Managers and Leaders

With the constant stream of AI news, it's sometimes hard to grasp how these advancements can benefit us as project managers and leaders in our day-to-day work. That's why I developed our e-learning course: AI Made Simple: A Practical Guide to Using AI in Your Everyday Work.

This self-guided course is designed for project managers and leaders aiming to harness AI's potential to enhance your work, streamline your workflow, and boost your productivity.

Go to ai.i-leadonline.com to learn more and join us. The feedback from the program has been fantastic. Take this opportunity to unlock the potential of AI for your team and projects.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

Talent Triangle: Ways of Working

 

The following music was used for this episode:

Music: Brooklyn Nights by Tim Kulig License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Music: Chillhouse by Frank Schroeter License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license