Create team engagement with on-the-job training or project management

Imagine you start leading a new project. Or introduce a pioneering idea and new working methods. Chances are you will encounter quite a bit of resistance from within your team or organization. Wim Schouten, Senior Project Manager at Holland Innovative, has seen it all. “There are many different reasons for people to block a positive organizational change. A project manager or leadership and project management training by Holland Innovative can combat this negative trend.”

Leadership and project management

Great leadership in product and process development and project management enhances the implementation strength of a new idea in an organization. Wim: “Showing leadership and managing a project are seemingly two different things that become more and more interrelated. Both contribute greatly to the successful implementation of new projects. To show leadership is to provide employees with a sense of direction in which the organization is headed. It is a trait that is ideally enshrined in the entire team. Project management is more so about controlling a project with a strong focus on the present. The main incentive of project management is a successfully completed project. A project manager switches situationally between different departments to achieve this goal.”

Project and interim management by Holland Innovative

Holland Innovative’s trainers and project managers bring these disciplines together. Wim: “Being a project manager, I lead by coaching. In doing so I always consider the relations between team members. After all, resistance often comes from relational disputes. I benefit a lot from my external position as I offer a fresh perspective. In addition, as a project manager, I solely focus on the results. I am less concerned with hierarchical interests like an assessment.” Wim continues: “As a project manager I am temporarily at the helm of a project. This particular position helps me to keep a good overview during stressful periods in which the team encounters lots of time pressure. Maintaining control and keeping your cool is key to the successful completion of a project. In my role as project manager, I reflect on the different behavior and personalities within the team, and I adapt my management style to the team.”

Training in leadership and project management

The leadership, behavior and project management training sessions serve another relevant cause: to transform ineffective behavior into more sustainable behavior. The training sessions are always carefully tailored to client needs and a topical business case. Once participants have finished the training, they have everything they need to apply their newfound knowledge to their everyday work. Wim aspires to deliver specific and measurable results. He establishes learning objectives prior to a training session. “The participants and I make learning objectives very tangible. We evaluate and rate (team) behavior before the training starts. I coach participants by using a balanced mix of topical business cases and proven effective techniques. The emphasis that I put on certain elements differs per person. After all, coaching people is custom work and everyone is accorded a different role.”

Acting out of freedom or fear

There are many different reasons to hire a project or interim manager. Or to follow leadership, behavior and project management training sessions. Wim: “There’s always a certain motivation, or direct cause. Think of a project that does not work out as planned. There can be multiple reasons for projects to not go well. I encounter lots of embedded team structures. So whenever a new management is being installed, resistance to change rises. Large companies often deal with pigeonholing: a classification scheme primarily based on stereotypes with little room for innovative ways of thinking. As a result, projects that cross several departments immediately put everyone involved on edge. The hurdle that needs to be overcome is then how a project can be steered through different departments in such a way that no one ends up in an awkward position, e.g. because of lots of extra work. Fear-based workplaces also do not encourage innovation.”

For every organization

Every organization or company benefits from training, project managers, or a fresh perspective. Wim: “In large organizations, I often encounter old ways of thinking that block positive organizational changes. Small organizations have shorter lines of communication, causing team members who are in dispute with each other to make it personal. A start-up is often a blank page. Training sessions there strongly focus on functional job classifications, and questions such as ‘what does a project entail?’ and ‘how do I carry out a project?’.”

Everyone involved

Wim always makes sure the entire team is on board. “That’s how team members get to know more about the day-to-day operations and complementary responsibilities of their colleagues. It gives them a better understanding of the challenges their colleagues face daily. Combined with renewed agreements, the project can continue.” Gaining insight into the work activities of colleagues is very important. Wim: “Project management is a human effort. Working with people means chances are things can go southwards. That’s part of the deal. This often does not happen because of faulty planning, but because of human disputes. Think of end-users who have not been sufficiently involved with a project. Once these issues are out of the way, the road to a successful project is free.”

Get to know more

Are you interested in a project manager, coaching on-the-job or one of Holland Innovative’s leadership and project management training sessions?