The Project Change Mentors: Easy Change Management For Your Projects

My Book Writing Journey - Build, Excite, Equip

Join us today for this month’s Tales from the Trenches of Change Management podcast.
Today we delve into Nicola’s journey to becoming a published author. Using her many years of experience in Project and Business Change Management, Nicola was inspired to create a book that concentrated on a project team’s guide on how to apply adoption within projects and bring awareness of bridging the gap between project teams and the business.
We hear from Nicola her tales of self-doubt, confronting her fears of feedback from her peers, and growing not only as a person but ultimately realising her admiration for fellow authors. Over a two-year period, it has been a rollercoaster of emotion and self-critique. During this process, Nic has had to wear many hats to complete the final draft. In some way, she is her own worst critic, as many writers may experience when writing a book. Ultimately for Nic, this journey has been a rewarding experience.
Finally, Nicola offers listeners a wealth of practical tips and tricks for any budding authors out there, and words of encouragement for anyone who needs that final push to write their own book.
Please follow Nicola’s LinkedIn and Simplify Change’s website for more updates on the publishing date of the book, where to buy, and of course feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
Nicola Graham’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-graham-uk/ 
Website: https://www.simplifychange.co.uk/

Project Manager vs Project Leader ft.Susanne Madsen

Join us for our latest episode of Tales from the Trenches of Change Management, where we are joined today by Susanne Madsen.
Susanne is a globally recognised leadership coach and mentor for project and change managers. She has partnered and founded the Project Leadership Institute, which runs leadership programs to help project managers become better leaders in the workplace. She is also an award-winning author of The Power of Project Leadership, which is now in its second edition, and has been described as "a must-read for everyone in the project world".
Susanne is known for developing leadership development programs globally and has worked with many high-profile companies such as JP Morgan and Citigroup.
We will be delving into Susanne’s in-depth experiences and gaining her insight into topics such as the differences between a project manager vs a project leader, the challenges of the pandemic, and the changes it has presented to us. Susanne and Nicola discuss practical skills for dealing with burnout and stress management, and how to proactively plan and collaborate with teams. They also explore the notion that leaders need to empower their teams by listening and collaborating, rather than just instructing.
This podcast is a thoughtful one, which addresses emotional intelligence as being the cornerstone of project leaders, whilst interconnecting empathy and engagement towards others to get the very best from their teams.
If you would like to find out more about today’s guest, head over to these resources:
Susanne’s website: https://www.susannemadsen.co.uk/
The Power of Project Leadership: http://www.powerofprojectleadership.com/resources.html (where you will find a fantastic array of resources and be able to purchase The Power of Project Leadership book).
Susanne’s Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPfV1WRlHMLyCm2HJxuPGVw  (full of videos and webinars by Susanne for more in-depth discussions).
Susanne’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/susanne-madsen/2/431/113
The Project Leadership Institute: https://www.theprojectleadershipinstitute.com/
Other books available from Susanne Madsen:
The Project Management Coaching Workbook (available from Amazon, and other alternative book stockists).
 

Women and Diversity in Project Management ft. Elizabeth Harrin

In this episode of Tales from the Trenches of Change Management, we are joined by Elizabeth Harrin, who is often named as one of the most influential people in Project Management, and her award-winning website, ‘Rebels Guide to Project Management’ turned sixteen years old this year. We are thrilled to have Elizabeth on the show to share her experiences, expertise, and wisdom with us.
During this podcast, Nicola and Elizabeth discuss many topics and issues presenting themselves today, as well as words of encouragement, change, and insight, such as if the landscape for women within the Project Management industry has shifted, how we are more multi-diverse, more inclusive, and more aware of language, the changes that brings, and the space needed for those debates.
Elizabeth also gives us insights into how she converted her skills as a project manager into home-schooling her children during the pandemic and discusses her latest book ‘Managing Multiple Projects’, a straightforward and informative guide to managing multiple concurrent projects and programs. Elizabeth gives the reader insight into successful productivity tools, step-by-step approaches when juggling workloads and includes case studies from real project managers.
Read more about our prolific guest at https://elizabeth-harrin.com/
Here is Elizabeth’s hugely successful and informative website https://rebelsguidetopm.com/ - packed full of insightful articles, resources, and the Project Management Rebels community, for people who may want to improve their skills beyond.
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizabeth.harrin/
And check out Elizabeth’s latest book ‘Managing Multiple Projects’ will be available to purchase from the 3rd of May from: https://elizabeth-harrin.com/managing-multiple-projects-online-resources/

Metaverse, Let’s talk about it

Let's face it. The world is changing...
In this episode, Nicola is joined by Zayn Blore, the COO of Simplify Change, going into detail about Metaverse; what is it? The development of it in the real world and the business opportunities.
You can also watch the video and read the blog here: https://www.simplifychange.co.uk/our-blog/metaverse-the-future-of-the-digital-world .
The Metaverse will offer many benefits to industries and socialisation, aiding both the medical profession to parenting - however Nicola and Zayn both discuss the drawbacks, such as safeguarding and the detachment from real life and who governs this new virtual reality, in this insightful podcast into the Metaverse.

Champions and Influencers

What are Champions and Influencers in the business change context.
In this episode Nicola discusses this, going into detail about who they are, and how both are vital for the successful delivery of change projects.
You can also watch a video or read a blog about this here https://www.simplifychange.co.uk/our-blog/champions-what-are-they .
By understanding and identifying who your Champions and Influencers are, you add to your team significantly. Allowing you to expand and interact with many people without needing to spend more money or hire more people. Allowing people to contribute to projects in the way that suits them best to help you delivery projects.

Change Players – What are they?

We are all Change Players, but what type of Change Player are we?
In this episode Nicola discusses Change Players, going into detail about who they are, different types of change players, and how to adapt your delivery to move people into the positive camp.
You can also watch a video or read a blog about this here https://www.simplifychange.co.uk/our-blog/business-change-manager-video-series-change-players-what-are-they .
By leveraging knowledge of change players and exciting the right people in the right way you can focus your energies on key individuals and decrease resistance to a change, and so convince large groups of people to get behind a change, learn about it, and massively improve your chance of bringing your people along on the change journey.
 
 

The Fear Curve

Picture this scenario: You have invested vast amounts of time and money in the latest systems and processes; you have trained everyone and you have made their lives so much easier (or so you think). Yet months later, people still persist in their old ways. Where are the business improvements you expected? And when will the disruption you're experiencing subside?
When we speak of change taking place in an organization, we are likely to think about physical changes of an organizational structure, the changes to a system or process, as well as in the external forces that the company deals with on a regular basis.  What many tend to overlook, though, is how the people of an organisation deal with such changes. How do they go about the transition? Do they accept the changes willingly, or do they resist the change ?
From a people perspective, implementing change can be very challenging. Why? Because people are used to their routines. They may be proud of their expertise and fear that their previous work is being undermined or devalued, or worse, they may fear that they will lose their job.
As a change leader, how can you help your team members to accept more quickly, and even embrace, change?
People tend to go through series of reactions to change that is similar to the stages of dealing with grief.  You can’t stop them going through the stage entirely, but, you can always make their journey to stages feel easier and therefore establish change more quickly.
The Fear Curve model describes the four stages that most people go through as they adjust to change which is based on the work of psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in the 1960s.
At Stage 1 is when a change is first introduced, team members may feel shocked  and may think that there won’t really be any change, they may need your help to understand what is happening, so effective communication is this stage will be very important. Be clear on where people can go for information and help, answer their questions as they crop up so they would feel secure.
Once the reality of the change starts to hit, people tend to react negatively and move to stage 2 of the Fear Curve. Where they may fear the impact, feel angry and may lead some people to actively resist the change. Some will wrongly fear the negative consequences of change. Others will correctly identify real threats to their position. Make sure you are prepared for this stage so you can make it as painless and quick-lived as possible. But beware, you can’t anticipate how exactly each person will react, so watch, listen and support them as you can.
Stage 3 is the turning point for the individuals and the organization, this stage is where pessimism make way for some optimism. They start to let go, and accept the changes. They begin testing and exploring what the changes mean, They can do that more easily they are helped and supported to do so, even if this is a simple matter of allowing enough time to explore their options. Be aware that this stage is vital for learning and acceptance, and that it takes time. Do not expect them to be 100% productive during this time, and build in some contingency time for them so that they can learn and explore without too much pressure.
Stage 4 is when finally, team members makes a decision to fully embrace the change, reorganise their ways of working, and integrating with the new change. They can now see the benefits to the team and to the organization. Now is the time to celebrate with them. This is important. Your people will find it much easier to cope with change next time if they can remember the feeling of satisfaction and reward.
Knowledge of the fear curve can significantly boost the chances of successful change management process, because it addresses the key thing that makes change happen: people. It can help improve how managers interact with those undergoing change, ultimately making the change achieve success more quickly and decreasing the pressure on their team. If you can’t bring your people along with you, then your efforts for managing change will fail.

What is business change management?

Nicola Graham dives into the detail of what is change management, and what is business change management.
Giving examples of the two and going into detail on how business change management is instrumental in delivering a project's ROI.
Listen to this podcast to learn all about it, and how business change management can benefit your projects!