News from Peak Performance

Darren Jaundrill from Network Rail, Dr Julie Mills, Principal of MK College, Dr Peter Parkes, MD of Peak Performance, and Nat Morosoli from APM

Launch of Higher Apprenticeships for Project Management

Peak Performance announced our tie-up with Milton Keynes College to deliver Higher Apprentices for Project Management at a launch event organised by the Institute of Directors – see write-up here. (Download a flier for the HA4PM course here).

Our latest newsletter on ‘Developing behavioural competences for PMs‘ is out now

We have a new webinar taking bookings in the USA 11th April 2013 – ‘NLP for Project Managers’ for ITMPI (book here)

Over 700 booked to hear us speak at APM’s first national webinar and the drop off rate was less than 2%! View the recording on the APM’s website here.

On the 25th April we will be delivering a public talk on ‘Building resilience and management stress’ at the Police firearms training centre in Stockton for the APM – book here.

Testimonials and Endorsements

The scope of the project management profession is very broad and often the softer skills are neglected, yet it is the people and teams that make the difference. We have heard the adage ‘What are the top three areas of project management?’ – 1 Communication, 2 Communication and 3 Communication! Whilst this is intended to be light hearted there is some logic here. Peter has linked NLP to project management which will certainly support the communication topic and Peter’s background, experience of a number of sectors, cultures and organisations provides the credibility to deliver.

Keith Rodgers

There is still lots of room for improvement in project delivery performance in all sectors. In most cases vast improvement can easily come from all project players really understanding each other better and having higher quality relationships and interactions. NLP is a perfect technique to help all project players to improve in this area – enabling misunderstandings to be avoided or spotted and difficult issues confronted which will lead to better project outcomes. I recommend that all project players spend time to learn from this topic and improve their own capability and performance.

Martin SamphireVice PresidentHitachi Consulting

I first spoke with Peter about three years ago about the need to develop self awareness and soft skills in project managers in order for them to become better leaders, and I was impressed with Peter’s application of NLP at the time. It appears that this conversation seeded a book, and an excellent one too. Well done!

Sean O’Neill

To be effective, project managers must learn the language of the boardroom. Peter and this book will help you to do that.

Neville BainChairman of the Institute of DirectorsAuthor of ‘The effective Board’, ‘The effective Director’, ‘The people advantage’, ‘Winning ways through corporate governance’, and ‘Successful Management’

International Project Management constitutes a complex world within which there are uncertainties and diverse stakeholder challenges. Peter’s book is not only informative but, through consideration of NLP tools and techniques, provides us with a deeper insight and much needed guidance in developing flexible solutions to complexities found in managing international projects effectively. I look forward to him talking to our students about it’

Amerjit Walia FAPM FCIPD

Projects are delivered by people, success is getting teams of people to work together for a common goal. Project processes, tools and techniques help in delivery, but they are used by people. There are many texts on the process used in project management and they are relatively straightforward to understand and learn, people are more complex. This book on the people side of project management provides structure to help you as a project manager, and the teams around you, deliver successful projects. Peter has made this subject an enjoyable read bought to life with practical illustrations from his own extensive project management career. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to project professionals whether starting out on their career, or those with more experience seeking to constantly improve their performance.

Alistair Godbold Deputy Chairman, APM

I found the book very well structured in the way it combined the theory of NLP (at not too intense a level) with practical exercises and examples, and very well written. I thought that a PM who took it seriously and followed the book right through would develop some very good people skills, whether or not they decided to take it any further. The book is about the ‘soft skills’ of Project Management, which are so often ignored; indeed I would strongly recommend it to any Manager who recognises the need to work with and through people.

Sally Smedley, HR Director and executive coach

Project failures, whether in terms of delivery or benefits realisation, continue to grab the headlines and there is a widely held perception that the project management profession does not learn from its mistakes. Methodologies and processes are clearly part of the answer, but we also need to address the people dimension of project and programme management, and this means looking beyond traditional approaches premised on the rational economic man paradigm of incentives and sanctions. Let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with such approaches, apart from the fact they don’t work! They may be necessary, but are rarely sufficient – the difference that makes the difference is to apply approaches that engage people in terms that tap into their creativity and desire to contribute to a worthwhile cause. This is where NLP, and this book in particular, is key. Read it, apply it and not only will it make you a more effective project manager, it will also ensure the projects you are engaged in are more successful.

Steve Jenner FAPM

Peter has done a great job outlining 1) Project Management, 2) NLP, and 3) How NLP can enable a step change improvement when managing projects. However I think the book deserves a wider readership. Much of business today is about managing projects, and with it change. I’d recommend the book to any manager or director involved in change. Which I suspect is most of us.

Michael Beale NLP trainer and Coach

Project failures, whether in terms of delivery or benefits realisation, continue to grab the headlines and there is a widely held perception that the project management profession does not learn from its mistakes. Methodologies and processes are clearly part of the answer, but we also need to address the people dimension of project and programme management, and this means looking beyond traditional approaches premised on the rational economic man paradigm of incentives and sanctions. Let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with such approaches, apart from the fact they don’t work! They may be necessary, but are rarely sufficient – the difference that makes the difference is to apply approaches that engage people in terms that tap into their creativity and desire to contribute to a worthwhile cause. This is where NLP, and this book in particular, is key. Read it, apply it and not only will it make you a more effective project manager, it will also ensure the projects you are engaged in are more successful.

Steve Jenner FAPMAuthor of 'Realising Benefits from Government ICT investment - a fool's errand' and co-author and chief examiner of the OGCs 'Management of Portfolios'. Chairman, Portfolio Management Specific Interest Group, APM (Formerly Director of IT for Criminal Justice)