PMO Strategies

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my upcoming workshop: PMO Health Assessment and Plan Show Notes: Think outsourcing your PMO is the dream situation (or maybe your C-suite does)? Think again! In today's episode - I will tell you WHY I am against it. While there is certainly more revenue for a consulting firm in being able to hire all of the staff for the PMO and run the organization, there are far greater risks to the organization (and eventually the consultant), ultimately making it a lose-lose situation. We’ll cover: Things to consider before making the decision to outsource your PMO Outsourcing your PMO from the consultant's perspective What areas consultants are best for helping your PMO Read the TranscriptThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass: The Gamechanging PMO Strategy Show Notes: Today we are talking about a very important topic that applies to every single one of us at some point or another. We're talking about how to avoid burnout or recover from it if you're already experiencing burnout while achieving your goals, especially your big, scary audacious goals as we start getting closer to the end of the year. There is no one better to talk about this topic with us today, then my dear friend Beth Genly. Beth is a Yale-educated coach and speaker and the heart of her company Burnout Solutions. She's co-author of the groundbreaking book, Save Yourself from Burnout: A System to Get Your Life Back. Beth supports hardworking professionals who are really killing it and nearly killing themselves in the process to build a life that optimizes their careers and their wellbeing. Beth, thank you so much for being here. We’ll cover: How to recognize burnout Can you get good sleep and still be burned out? When are big hairy audacious goals the wrong move? 5 components to recognizing and recovering from burnout Links mentioned: Download Beth's Burnout Shield at https://burnout-solutions.com/stretchgoals/ Read the TranscriptThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass: The Gamechanging PMO Strategy Show Notes: This episode is jam packed with information for you to you continue to evolve and create a sustainable PMO. Tune in to find out: how to make sure your PMO is NOT a one-trick pony how to ensure sustainability and longevity of your PMO why monitoring IMPACT is critical to your success the 4 simple questions you should be asking your stakeholders how to become the strategy navigator for your organization Remember, you are starting evolution, not revolution. Read the TranscriptThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass: The Game Changing PMO Strategy Show Notes: Today we are going to talk about a really fun topic, getting it done. We're going to talk all about execution, delivering your services and capabilities to the organization. Many of us spend all of this time doing the work to define the right solutions for your organization. We spend months, maybe too many months planning and talking to people in the organization to figure out what we need to do to help the organization achieve its goals. Then we get to deliver, we get to execute, and sometimes this is where things start to fall apart. So today we're going to talk all about what happens during that delivery phase or what I like to call delivering continuously high impact and return on investment for the organization. And what sometimes can go wrong during that stage and what to do about it. Tune in to learn all about: Execution Delivering your services and capabilities to the organization How to keep delivering high-IMACT and ROI What can go wrong and what to do about it READ THE TRANSCRIPTThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working (Technical) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass: The Gamechanging PMO Strategy Show Notes: Today we talking about one of our favorite topics, building a plan, right? Many of us live and breathe this project management stuff and today we get to talk about building your PMO IMPACT delivery roadmap. So much fun. You ready to dive in with me? We’ll cover: PMO Charter (you know you don't need that right?!) Implementing the solutions, also known as creating our IMPACT delivery roadmap, and why you should K.I.S.S. How to avoid losing credibility and stakeholder support Don't boil the ocean or even sometimes if we really want to take on a big effort, we don't need to boil the ocean. Just put one pot on the stove at a time. Read the TranscriptThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working (Technical) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass: How to Setup a High-IMPACT PMO Show Notes: Today we are going to talk about why so many PMO leaders struggle to get engagement with their services and capabilities.  We are also talking about which services PMO leaders should be building first. Hint: It’s not what you think, and that's part of the reason so many PMO leaders struggle to get that engagement, support, and interest even when delivering services the stakeholders asked for.  Are you ready to learn the secrets to ensure that you build exactly the services your stakeholders need and in the right order?  Tune in to ensure you are not just successful in the short term but are on a path to a sustainable and high IMPACT and get the 4 step framework for building a case for a PMO. Read the TranscriptThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass: How to Setup a High-IMPACT PMO Show Notes: Today we are talking about what do you need to do to ensure the PMO that you are setting up or that you are running is really hitting the nail on the head? I want you to ensure you are doing what is most valued, what is most important in your organization so that you truly have a sustainable IMPACT Engine PMO. Tune in for applicable information whether you are just starting out or already have a PMO established to: learn how to deal with impatient stakeholders and sponsors when setting up a PMO the wrong reasons to start a PMO (yes there are some!) what are the typical stakeholder challenges to look for? the importance of quantifying pain points what to assess when assessing for conflict? team members? stakeholders? sponsors? and culture? why understanding relationships are critical to your success You have to slow down, to speed up. Read the TranscriptThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Business Acumen (Strategic and Business Management) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! This episode is sponsored by my free masterclass: How to Setup a High-IMPACT PMO Show Notes: Today we are going to talk about what you should do BEFORE you setup a PMO. Now, I know that many of you listening already have a PMO and I’m going to you to stick around and listen to this episode, too. Because, this is a good way to have a litmus test or just double check that you have all the right steps you need to ensure that you have the right stakeholder engagement, the right ongoing funding, and everything else you need to make sure your PMO is not just setup correctly, but sustainable for the long term, and really making that IMPACT you know your PMO can make. Stick around for this episode as we dive into the critical questions to ask and steps you need to take before you ever start building that PMO. I know that many of you are thinking, “But, I just really want to get started. I have to hurry up and show value. I have to make an impact quickly. I am not going to get a lot of time to get this right.” And I totally hear you. And you’re right. You DO need to get started quickly. You WON’T have a lot of time to get that credibility and sustainability and get that critical sponsor and stakeholder engagement you need. I’m going to ask you to slow down so you can speed up. Having answers to these fundamental questions will be a game changer for you, for your PMO, for your organization, and most of all, for your sanity! OK, let’s dive in with the first question you want to ask. What business problem are we trying to solve? Understanding your mission, your purpose, is critical to PMO success and sustainability and if you are defining this yourself, you’re probably wrong. How are we going to show value quickly? This is not about knocking things out to say you’ve accomplished something. You must use what you learned in answering question #1 to explore ways you can help someone in the organization accelerate their IMPACT so that you can build credibility and gain critical support for long-term PMO success. Who is my primary sponsor? You may have a different sponsor for building out eh PMO (a project) vs. running the operational activities of a PMO already in place. Make sure you know who is supporting you and helping you remove barriers to critical forward momentum. Then ENGAGE THEM! Who’s with me? It’s never too early to engage stakeholders and bring them with you through the change process. If you want to completely avoid change resistance, then you must build the PMO with them. If you build the PMO, they will not come. Read the TranscriptThis episode is sponsored by:Thanks for taking the time to check out the podcast! I welcome your feedback and insights!  I’d love to know what you think and if you love it, please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast player. Please leave a comment below to share your thoughts. See you online! Warmly, Laura Barnard     GET NOTIFIED ABOUT NEW EPISODES TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN PDU REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS

PMI Talent Triangle: Ways of Working (Technical) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today I am super excited to share an extremely important topic for all of us as PMO leaders and those leveraging the power of project management to make an IMPACT. We are going to be talking about the importance of mentoring, and both being a mentor and finding one. And how that can be transformational for your career, being on both sides of the fence as a mentor and a mentee. And the perfect person to talk to us about all of this is my friend, Elizabeth Harrin. Elizabeth is a healthcare project manager with over 15 years of experience in the field. She's the author of several books about project management and I highly recommend you check them out. So we'll make sure that we have them in the show notes for you. And she writes the award-winning blog, A Girl's Guide to Project Management. Welcome Elizabeth. Thank you for being here today. Learn the best-kept secrets to creating a PMO that drives IMPACT.  The LIVE dates are over, but you can still access this content with the Unlimited Access Pass!UNLIMITED ACCESSLaura:  Elizabeth, we have been chatting as a part of your role in providing a lot of value for the PMO IMPACT Summit. As we were talking a lot about the role of women in organizations, and finding confidence, and building confidence, one of the things that we talked about, one of the pieces of really important guidance that you shared was about mentorship, and both being a mentor and finding a mentor. I thought it'd be really important to share with everyone that listens to the PMO Strategies podcast about that role of mentorship. Because it's not just about women, it's not just about men, it's not just about certain environments. Everyone should have a mentor and find an opportunity to become a mentor. Can you talk to me about your experience with that and what guidance you have for people that are looking for mentorship? Elizabeth: For me, mentorship is the relationship where you have with someone where you can talk to and be confident in the advice that you're getting. I think you're right, people don't always understand what it is and how it differs from coaching. And for me, I understand it in a very simple way. Coaches will help you to uncover the solution yourself, by asking you very probing questions, or "How do you think you might be able to tackle that problem?" And things like that. Whereas a mentor would be someone you'd sit down with a cup of coffee with and say, "I've got this difficult challenge at work. Tell me how you'd do it." And they would share their stories. There is a part of mentoring where you're helping people develop their skills, and it's fine to ask them probing questions, but I think I feel better at mentoring and coaching because I am very opinionated. And I like to share my history and tell people how to do things. So I think for me it's a much more practical perhaps partnership than a coaching partnership, where you are building your skills through deeper analysis perhaps. Although both can be valuable. Mentoring is more common in a workplace setting, I think, because coaching seems to be something that the leaders get to do. Whereas everybody can have a mentor at any level in the organization. You can be a mentor and have a mentor at the same time, and both are fantastic opportunities for personal development. Laura: Yeah. You know, it's interesting that you're saying it that way because I think that's been my experience as well. I've had both mentors and coaches. And to me the coaches were always asking questions and probing, but never really shared their own experiences. And what I love about a mentoring relationship is that it's so much more about a conversation, and sharing stories and experiences, on both sides, so that there's a different way to learn. It's not just let's do some deep dive analysis on your strengths and weaknesses.

PMI Talent Triangle: Power Skills (Leadership) Welcome to the PMO Strategies Podcast + Blog, where PMO leaders become IMPACT Drivers! Today, we are talking with one of my dear friends and esteemed colleagues, Barbara Trautlein. We are going to talk about how to stop getting in the way and coach stakeholders to help, not hurt your projects. Before we dive in, let me tell you a little bit about Barbara. In addition to being my organizational change management superhero, she's also a PhD and author of the bestselling book Change Intelligence: Use the Power of CQ to Lead Change That Sticks. She's also the principal founder of Change Catalysts and originator of the CQ System for developing change intelligent leaders and organizations. For over 30 years, Barbara has coached executives, trained leaders at all levels, certified change agents, and facilitated mission-critical change management initiatives, achieving bottom line business and powerful leadership results for clients, and this is so super cool to me and not a surprise at all. In 2015, she had the honor of being awarded Change Management Consultant of the Year by the Association of Change Management Professionals Midwest Chapter. She is truly gifted at sharing strategies and tactics that are accessible, actionable, and immediately applicable, and that is why I had to share Barbara with you all here, all of my impact drivers, because I know like me, you want to have the practical takeaways and the list of things that we can go do right away to affect the changes that we're trying to create, and it's not just about the theory, and it's not just about the stories. Those certainly help give us the context of what we're trying to do, but we also just want to know how do I put this in practice right away. Barbara is the person to talk to when it comes to change intelligence and bringing people with you through the change process. Learn the best-kept secrets to creating a PMO that drives IMPACT.  The LIVE dates are over, but you can still access this content with the Unlimited Access Pass!UNLIMITED ACCESSLaura Barnard: Today, we are going to talk about an incredibly important topic to everyone listening today. Whether it's sponsors blessing and advocating, or end-users resisting, or project team members not following through with their accountabilities, that never happens, right?  As a PMO leader, you grapple with challenging stakeholder behaviors every single day, so in this session, we are going to talk about highly interactive learning experience and how you can learn about potential root causes of the seemingly difficult behaviors that we deal with sometimes in the workplace and what you as a PMO leader can do to coach others to become collaborative contributors, to have a positive impact, build relationships, and get results for your projects.  Barbara, you've created this really cool concept called Change Intelligence or CQ, which is your foundational approach. I've heard you describe it as vital competency for any PMO leader right up there with EQ or emotional intelligence. Can you talk about this CQ concept and what it means? Barbara Trautlein: Sure, absolutely. How I define CQ or change intelligence is that change intelligence is the awareness of our style of leading change, and every project is a change, so every PMO leader is a change leader. That's my terminology.  It's our awareness of our style of leading change and our ability to adapt our style to be optimally effective across people in situations. First of all, the awareness of our style, and then the ability to adapt our style. To get the most out of our brief podcast today, just let me explain what those styles of leading change are so the listeners can self-diagnose because it's a simple, but powerful model. What I say is that people lead change, lead projects, lead PMOs from one of three ways, that some people lead from the heart that's focusing on the people. They're very engaging, and collaborative,