Testimonials and Endorsements

We can now buy almost any car and expect it to work perfectly from the start – very different from a few decades ago. So why not aspire for a world in which every project succeeds? That involves organisational change and improved processes and systems, but primarily it is about people – their attitudes, behaviours and relationships. Project management professionals are already driving this cultural shift. This book, by an eminent practitioner of both Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Project Management, makes a valuable contribution by marrying the two fields to reinforce our understanding of how people can maximise their effectiveness in managing and responding to change. It provides interesting and useful insights for those at all stages in their career development. I am pleased to recommend it.

If all books placed as much importance on soft skills as this one then perhaps we might start to see a sea change in the way projects are managed. All too often the fact it’s people that deliver projects is forgotten, something not lost on this book which should be applauded.

Important contextualised contribution to the development of competence in the so-called soft skills, hard to master, but an indispensable component of effective practice in a profession whose time has come.

Goleman persuaded 5 million readers that EI was more important than IQ to success, but stopped short of telling us what to do about it. Peter shows us how. A must-read set of life and business skills for all professional interim executives

Project Managers need a range of hard and soft skills to drive project management processes to deliver successfully. I am clear that using associated PPM tools and applying learning is not enough on its own. Peter’s book brings analysis, insight and valuable pointers to improving those very important soft skills such as building rapport with stakeholders, handling difficult situations and being assertive. I recommend Peter’s book, read it and help improve both your personal performance and your team’s performance.

In this book Peter Parkes focuses on an increasingly valued aspect of project management. Soft skills have always underlain excellent project management performance, but the underlying concepts and techniques have not been clearly expressed. Peter has now demonstrated how NLP can help many of us, in a most helpful and engaging way. The benefits of applying, rather than just reading, his approach will become apparent to those concerned with supporting individual projects as to those governing major portfolios of programmes and projects. Knowing the depth of knowledge and experience on which this book is based I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Having spent the last 30 years in and around projects and programmes of all shapes and sizes, it is refreshing to read a book that provides insight into the critical aspects of project performance – the people. The effectiveness of project leaders is defined by their level of emotional intelligence in conjunction with real experience in end to end delivery. Peter demonstrates both and we are pleased to work with him. His new book gives away some of his trade secrets and all project professionals would benefit from buying a copy.

Efficient and effective transformation projects in the public sector will need to be delivered by astute, mature, experienced project managers with a real sense of self awareness, and awareness of what the customer wants and needs. Enable East has been inspired by Peter’s structured NLP framework to give project managers a practical, common sense, approach to develop their own self awareness and soft skills and tune into key project stakeholders in order to ensure project success.

One of the main reasons for projects of all sizes failing to deliver is the project manager’s lack of soft skills for managing people. In this book Peter helps you to develop the skills in dealing with team members and stakeholders that are essential to be a successful project manager.