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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.

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.

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 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.

Method and process are important in project management, but knowing how to use them is even more so. Most project managers can increase their effectiveness most by developing their soft skills, recognising that finesse can be more effective than brute force. Once developed, they will find that their skills are much more transferable across not only project types, but whole industry sectors. This book showing the application of tools like NLP to develop competences will help you on that journey and will certainly whet your appetite for more. Peter’s lively style is compelling and benefits from his imaginative use of appropriate quotations and personal anecdotes. For me this book throws light on a major component of our journey towards greater professionalism in project management.

(Project) Management is a combination of toolset and mindset. Currently the PM toolset box is overflowing and cluttered. It needs a good cleanout. On the other hand the PM mindset box is alarmingly empty except for some snake oil. The way ahead is a combination of mindset and toolset and we’ve done toolset to death. The articulation of an idea which works elsewhere and needed explaining in our language is therefore to be welcomed with open arms (and minds).

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.

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.

Soft skills are the difference that makes the difference in leadership of change. Getting change to work well is really all about people. Peter tirelessly promotes this in project management, both through Alchemy, and more specifically in this book, which is a major contribution to the discipline.