Leadership Lessons from PMI-OC’s April Meeting

The Orange County Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI-OC) held its April dinner meeting on Tuesday, April 9th at the Irvine Hilton. The keynote speaker was Jonathan Seitz from Crestcom Southern California, who delivered an interactive presentation entitled “Manage Projects, but Lead People.”

Seitz began by exploring the difference between management and leadership. Audience members weighed in that management involves having granted authority and being task-oriented, while leadership means earning authority and focusing on people. As Seitz summarized, “Management is about driving compliance, but leadership develops commitment.”

He cited research from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the British Computer Society showing that common causes of project failures include unclear goals, poor communication, lack of accountability, and insufficient planning. To mitigate these risks, Seitz gave us an approach to consider.

Seitz wanted us to understand what our stakeholders truly wanted to gain from a project. These benefits are expected results sometimes known as “the afters.” To explain, he played a video from Andy Bounds about asking “future-based questions” to uncover the desired afters or effects stakeholders seek. The audience then practiced Crestcom’s 5-step process for clarifying results in role-playing activities.

Finally, Seitz outlined three pillars of effective leadership communication:

1) Opening with “What’s in it for me?” to engage others

2) Explaining the impact of what you propose  

3) Including the expected results or “afters”

By baking the expected results into project plans, Seitz noted, teams can elevate SMART goals to “SMARTeR” goals (SMART goals with “expected results”) tied to concrete outcomes. This stakeholder-centered mindset can proactively prevent the common causes of project failures from derailing your project.

The audience left with new insights into blending rigorous management with inspirational leadership. Seitz’s frameworks provided PMI-OC members with powerful tools to deliver outstanding results.