Manage This - The Project Management Podcast Velociteach

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Shaping the future of project management is PMI 2023 Future 50 honoree, and our second guest in our "Rising Talent" podcast series, Monique Sekhon. She is a trailblazer making waves both professionally and within her community. As the youngest chapter president in PMI global history, she embodies a passion for giving back to her community. Join us to gain fresh perspectives and valuable insights from one of the industry's brightest talents.



Table of Contents



01:56 … Meet Monique04:09 … Path to Public Health07:47 … Monique’s Current Position10:28 … Most Effective Project Management Practices14:36 … Collaboration with Stakeholders19:33 … Kevin and Kyle20:48 … Overcoming Attitudes and Challenges24:36 … PMI Chapter Leadership29:25 … Advice to Younger PMs30:28 … Monique’s Nonprofit Care-2-Share33:49 … Find Out More34:50 … Closing



MONIQUE SEKHON: …my job to work with people and talk to people and bring people together who are experts – because I’m definitely not the expert – bring those people together as a project manager into a room to say, okay, these are the priorities.  This is our common goal.….  And this is what we’re trying to achieve.  And then working with all of those people to determine, okay, how are we going to get there? 



WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m your host, Wendy Grounds.  And right here in the studio we’ve got the brains behind the show, Bill Yates. 



We take pride in showcasing the remarkable work of rising talent, adding a fresh perspective to the vibrant project management community.  This is the second and final in our current Rising Talent series.  We have an extraordinary guest.  This is a trailblazer making waves in both her professional and community spheres.  Do meet PMI 2023 Future 50 honoree Monique Sekhon.  She’s a dynamic professional with project management in her DNA, as she’s going to explain to us. 



She joined the British Columbia Ministry of Health starting as a junior business analyst.  And here she played a pivotal role in the Health Data Platform project, which was a large-scale initiative to enhance the efficiency of health data access for researchers and academics.  She was promoted to senior project management advisor at the age of 22, and today she manages over 45 concurrent complex data projects.  Her impact extends beyond her job.  She’s a volunteer with PMI Vancouver Island Chapter.  And she’s currently the chapter president for the 23-24 chapter year.  She’s also the youngest chapter president in PMI global history.



BILL YATES:  That’s impressive.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Very much so.  So we’re excited to talk to Monique today.  Hi, Monique.  Welcome to Manage This.  Thank you for joining us.



MONIQUE SEKHON:  Thank you for having me.  I’m so excited to be here.



Meet Monique



WENDY GROUNDS:  We are looking forward to digging into your story and just hearing a bit about your journey into project management.  So tell us a little bit about what influenced you early on in your career in project management.  How did it start for you?



MONIQUE SEKHON:  Yeah, so it’s kind of an interesting story, and it’s a bit of a legacy story.  So when I was in high school, my mom was studying for the PMP.  So at our house, all over all the floors, every possible surface, there was a PMBOK and tons of material and all that good stuff.  My dad would sit with her and quiz her and ask her questions.  And then she would be like, “Monique, come and quiz me.  I need to prepare for this exam.”  And I think she did write it twice.  So as a result, it was like quite a significant portion of my high school life helping her with this.



And I just remember as she was going through, you know, studying and learning and hearing those words, okay, initiation and w

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Following the 2020 devastating explosion in Beirut, project manager Kevin Gemayel's journey is nothing short of inspiring as he tackled challenges head-on. Hear firsthand accounts of his experiences during the blast, his strategies for managing tasks, stakeholders, budgets, and time, and the invaluable lessons learned. We discover Kevin's extraordinary project and the power of resilience in the face of adversity.



Table of Contents



04:27 … Meet Kevin05:30 … Kevin’s Story of the Tragedy07:25 … Gathering a Team08:18 … The Family Façade Business09:44 … Deciding How to Prioritize13:34 … An Emergency Response15:33 … Resources and Supplies16:47 … An Economic Crisis20:08 … Personal Impact21:36 … Keeping a Team Motivated22:38 … Ren Love’s Projects from the Past25:00 … Planning Time Management and Strategy28:21 … Creative Problem-Solving29:31 … Kevin’s Lessons Learned31:08 … Personal Growth Through Tragedy34:57 … Looking Back36:37 … Advice to Younger PMs38:46 … Contact Kevin39:59 … Closing



KEVIN GEMAYEL: … in leadership, they say you should become a leader and personally lead yourself before leading anyone else.  And I would advise every project manager to learn and to focus on how they should lead themselves before going out there and leading projects and people and teams because, when they do things right themselves, … they will be able to influence the people they are working with.  …  So don’t just focus on books and numbers and theoretical things.  Focus on yourself, as well.



WENDY GROUNDS:  You’re listening to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  My name is Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates. 



We want to feature some younger talent in the project management community.  We’re calling it our Rising Talent series.  So for the next two episodes we’re going to be sharing the stories of two young project managers who are not only inspirational, but they’re also making waves with their incredible contributions to the field.  Now, we have spoken to some young project managers in the past.



BILL YATES:  Yeah, Episode 165 we had a great conversation with Kat Shane.  You may recall she had a startup company that she began at the University of Georgia, and it was working on a solution to help people, governments, and businesses figure out what products or packaging are locally recyclable.  So, can I recycle this?  And how to get them where they needed to go.



WENDY GROUNDS:  We also spoke to Christelle Kwizera.  That was Episode 146.  At the age of 20, Christelle founded Water Access Rwanda, which was in response to the dangerous conditions Rwandans would face when collecting water from rivers and dams.  She was quite an incredible young lady.



BILL YATES:  What a story.  So inspirational and so young.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Yes, yes.  She was also a PMI Future 50 2021 honoree.  And the folk that we’re talking to in these two episodes are also Future 50 2023 honorees from PMI.  We are really enjoying featuring younger talent in the project management community.  The first one is our guest, Kevin.



BILL YATES:  Yeah, this is a heavy story, this conversation we’ll have with Kevin.  It’s heavy.  It’s about the blast in Beirut.  And many people lost their lives, and many people who survived it will be dealing with it for a lifetime.  So, we wanted to recognize that.  But there are so many powerful lessons for us to learn from that, and to hear from Kevin.



And we’ve tackled these kinds of topics before.  We spoke with Matthew Harper about the attack on the USS Cole and the lessons learned from that.  Peter Baines joined us from Australia.  He led international identification teams after tsunamis or terrorist attacks.  So, he’s talked with us about that.  And of course, Chuck Casto, that story was so engaging, lo

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Have you ever wondered why project team members decide to quit? Join us as we unravel the mysteries behind team turnover with HR expert Cindi Filer. Discover the pitfalls project managers should avoid to retain their team members, foster a thriving workplace environment, and optimize your most valuable resource: your people.



Table of Contents



03:22 … Why are People Quitting?05:13 … Survey: Three Reasons People Quit06:03 … Employee Engagement Categories08:14 … Loud Quitting10:31 … Importance of Leadership Training12:23 … What Impacts Employee Engagement?19:24 … Where to Start as a PM20:58 … Kevin and Kyle22:22 … Building Your Team Culture26:05 … Pitfalls to Avoid29:43 … Dealing with Pay Issues32:47 … Well-Being at Work35:15 … Contact Cindi36:18 … Closing



CINDI FILER: ...make sure you and your team is catching each other doing things that are positive, and then speaking those out to people.  Because I think encouragement is oxygen.  You’ve heard that.  And so it’s amazing when somebody’s leader calls them out for something that they’ve done well.  It’s amazing how much they feel grounded in that area.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m your host, Wendy Grounds, and with me is Bill Yates.  He is our seasoned project management expert.



Today we’re diving into a topic that’s at the forefront of every organization’s success.  We’re talking employee retention.  And together with our guest we’re going to unravel some of the complexities and insights into the importance of maintaining employee and team member retention.  Why do people quit their jobs?  Why do they quit project teams?  What are the top factors driving this trend?  We’re going to be exploring the nuances behind this phenomenon and hopefully answering some of those questions for you today.



BILL YATES:  Absolutely.  This is going to be a, we believe, a very helpful conversation.  We’ll be tackling the crucial question of how much of team engagement is attributable to the manager, and what advice do we have for the project manager who claims they don’t have time to focus on engagement, I’ve got a project to deliver.  Spoiler alert, there’s always time for strategies that boost team morale.



And of course we can’t ignore the pitfalls and mistakes that project managers should steer clear of to prevent turnover on their teams.  We’ll learn from the errors of others so we don’t have to repeat those mistakes ourselves.



WENDY GROUNDS:  We are honored today to have a distinguished guest with us in the studio.  We’re so excited.  We actually have a guest in the studio that we’re not sitting on Skype or Zoom.  We have Cindi Filer with us in the studio.



BILL YATES:  Yeah, Wendy, this is exciting to have Cindi in the studio with us.  By the way, we have been using a new studio.  It’s called Summer Street Productions.  It’s a local Kennesaw-based studio that has fantastic equipment and facilities.  We’re delighted to be in here, and super excited to be enjoying the quality and the production value they bring to us.  So thank you guys at Summer Street.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Cindi is a seasoned professional who has dedicated her career to help companies acquire and optimize their most valuable asset, their people.  She spent the early days of her career at Delta Airlines and Worldspan, a Delta company in the human resources space.  Twenty-nine years ago she founded Innovative Outsourcing, which is a staffing and recruiting firm dedicated to helping companies find and keep talented professionals, both part-time and full-time.  So stay tuned as we unravel the secrets to fostering a workplace where team members not only stay, but thrive.



Hi, Cindi.  Welcome to Manage This.  Thank you so much for joining us.



CINDI FILER:  Oh, I’m so

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Are your projects truly delivering the promised benefits? Rasmus Rytter explains the often overlooked realm of Benefits Realization. He explains why so many projects miss the mark on delivering measurable benefits and shares strategies to implement to maximize value. Hear about the significance of engaging with sponsors, tracking progress, and analyzing outcomes for future improvements.



Table of Contents



02:37 … Why Benefits Management?03:54 … What is Benefits Realization?04:34 … Why Projects Fail to Deliver?07:55 … Other Reasons for Failure09:41 … How to Create Value14:17 … Looking Beyond Deliverables17:19 … Reassessing Throughout the Life of the Project20:27 … How Benefits Change over Time22:18 … Kevin and Kyle23:35 … A Cause-and-Effect Relationship25:42 … Project Sponsor Relationship28:37 … Successful Project Closure32:12 … Challenges to Change Implementation35:19 … The Benefits Realization Book36:50 … Contact Rasmus37:36 … Closing



RASMUS RYTTER:  And you keep having those conversations up until a point where you say, okay, now we’ve done some analysis.  We have sort of a fair idea about, you know, what’s the IT part going to cost, and how expensive this change part is going to be, and then also what benefits can we realize?  And then the sponsor can say, yes, it’s still an excellent project.  Let’s go.  Or, no, it’s probably better that we spend some of our efforts on another project.  So we want to do some analysis to begin with, to have that conversation with the sponsors to make sure that we are not initiating projects that can’t really create the benefits that we dreamt of.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I’m Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates and Danny Brewer, our sound guy.



Our guest today is Rasmus Rytter.  He is a partner, a consultant, and advisor from Implement Consulting Group, and he is the author of the book “Benefits Realisation:  The Change-Driven Approach to Project Success.”  Rasmus is an author, a speaker, and a renowned expert within benefits realization and organizational change.  Before joining Implement, he worked for 10 years as a project manager, program manager, and people manager; and he is definitely well versed in benefits realization.  We’ve really enjoyed getting to meet Rasmus.



If you’re rethinking benefits in business projects, and you want to dive into why so many projects miss the mark on delivering expected benefits, we’re going to shift the focus from mere deliverables to real value creation in this podcast.  We want to explore the project manager’s perspective on benefits realization and discover strategies for maximizing project value. And Rasmus has excellent advice in all of that.



BILL YATES:  He does.  He’s so down to earth with this advice, too.  He started out as a project manager, and he has delivered, I’m using air quotes, “successful projects” where he looked back on it and went, “They never used the thing that we built.”  You know, I’ve experienced that, too; and that’s a very frustrating, it’s a deflating feeling.  And through that, I think it spurred his interest in looking at the long-term impact of a project, which is really what are the benefits after that project is done, the team has finished, the project manager has moved on to the next project.  What are they doing with the outcome?  So we’re going to focus on that.  He’s going to share great advice for us so that we can make sure that our projects have a lasting impact.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Rasmus, welcome to Manage This.  We’re so glad you’re with us today.



RASMUS RYTTER:  I’m so glad that you would have me.



Why Benefits Management?



WENDY GROUNDS:  The first thing is just tell us a bit about your passion for benefits management.  Tell us a

The podcast by project managers for project managers. We are taking a fresh look at project estimation. Topics include the estimation obstacles project managers commonly face, key factors essential for accurate projections, the impact of organizational culture, implementing cost management strategies, and navigating the risks of underestimating or overestimating project estimates.



Table of Contents



02:10 … Project Estimating Course03:56 … What do We Estimate?04:46 … Factors in a Project Estimate06:26 … Ensuring Accurate Estimates08:30 … Experience and Experiment10:26 … Choosing the Best Approach11:41 … Estimating Tools12:38 … The Problem with Culture14:27 … Who Participates in the Estimating Process?15:55 … The People Side17:31 … Significance of Historical Information20:16 … Managing Costs22:17 … Underestimating your Project Estimates23:44 … The Issue of Risk Management25:26 … Dangers of Overestimating27:56 … How to Combat Overestimating29:03 … Implementing an Estimating Process33:54 … Closing



BOB MAHLER:  ...every time you sign your name on the dotted line, your credibility as a project manager is going to be in question and scrutinized.  And the larger the project, the more visible, the more scrutiny you’re going to have.  You should welcome that, and you should rise to that challenge.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  I am Wendy Grounds, and with me in the studio is Bill Yates and our sound guy, Danny Brewer.  We’re so happy you’re joining us today because today we’re going to dive into the world of project estimation.  We’re going to discover the essential elements that demand estimation and the crucial factors driving accurate projections.  With our guests, we’re going to navigate the landscape of estimation tools and strategies as we discover a seamless approach for crafting dependable estimates.



Now, the experts we’re going to talk to on project estimating are Ren Love and Bob Mahler.  You all know Ren.  She is part of our Velociteach team.  She also does our Projects from the Past snippets that we sometimes include in our podcasts.  And she is the manager of curriculum development at Velociteach.  She’s also worked in zoos, science centers, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom before she joined one of the Big Four accounting firms; and she has 10 years of unique management experiences.  We’re so glad to have Ren on the team. 



BILL YATES:  Now let me tell you just a bit about Bob Mahler.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve talked to Bob.



BILL YATES:  Yeah, Bob started his career with Velociteach similar to what I did, as an instructor.  So he taught for a number of years.  And then he migrated into sales, a natural role for him.  He’s director of business development with Velociteach now.  His background, he started out with the military.  As a matter of fact, he served our country as a Green Beret through the U.S. Army; served in Egypt, Kenya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, many places.  After 12 years of service with the military, he moved back into the private sector and was a telecommunications specialist there. 



Project Estimating Course



WENDY GROUNDS:  Bob and Ren have developed a project estimating course which you can find on our website. This is an instructor-led course for group or corporate training. This course will teach students the most common and effective practices, tools and techniques for project estimating. You can email manage_this@velociteach.com if you would like more information or you can find a link to this course on our transcript.



WENDY GROUNDS:  Ren and Bob, it’s so good to have you both back on the podcast.  I wanted to ask you a little bit about the course.  You developed a course for Velociteach on project estimating.  Can you give us some background to that?



BOB MAHLER:  Well, of course.  First an

The podcast by project managers for project managers. Burnout and resilience. How can we move beyond viewing resilience as a buzzword and dispel the notion that it involves only toughing it out or maintaining a positive attitude? Balancing project success with avoiding burnout is a real challenge in high-stress environments Dr. Marie-Helene (MH) Pelletier discusses the necessity of adopting a strategic approach to resilience by integrating psychology and strategy.



Table of Contents



02:39 … Why Resilience Is Important03:45 … Do We “Tough it Out”?04:57 … If the Context is Changing, Change Your Approach08:23 … What “The Resilience Plan” Offers11:56 … Helix Shape Resilience Plan Model13:28 … Being Strategic about Resilience15:11 … Creating a Resilience Plan19:04 … Kevin and Kyle20:10 … Burnout24:10 … Can Resilience Cause Burnout?28:20 … Striking a Balance31:20 … Taking Care of Yourself34:15 … Team Resilience37:30 … Contact MH38:07 … Closing



MH PELLETIER:  ...most project managers, would not be in a situation where on the daily basis have to explore how everyone’s feeling about everything, obviously.  But they’re also managing a project, managing people who are within this project, and managing themselves supporting this project.  So the more we can incorporate in our observations, the very normal expected demands and expected impacts that these may have on all of us as we navigate this timeline, the more we can, again, proactively manage and be prepared to reactively manage when any one of us, to your point, feels like we need to hit the pause button. 



WENDY GROUNDS:  Welcome, resilient leaders, to a special edition of Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Stay tuned with us today for a conversation that will reshape the way you approach challenges in project management.



I’m Wendy Grounds.  My co-host, who is the expert in the arena of project management, is Bill Yates; and joining us is our unflappable sound guy, Danny Brewer.  Today we’re delving into a topic that’s the bedrock of success in the face of adversity:  resilience.  In the high stakes arena of project management, where challenges loom around every corner, resilience isn’t just a buzzword, it’s actually the secret sauce that turns your setbacks into stepping stones.  If you are navigating a stormy project or just seeking to fortify your professional resilience, this episode is your compass to success because in project management, the resilient not only survive, but thrive.



We’re excited to introduce our guest, who is a true champion in the realm of resilient project leadership, Marie-Hélène Pelletier.



BILL YATES:  Yes, we are so fortunate to have her joining us as our guest.  And she goes by MH, which is appropriate.  It’s a handy reference to mental health.  The short form really is a great fit there.  We love that.  So you’ll hear us refer to our guest as MH.  She’s a psychologist with a systems mind.  She has both a PhD and an MBA.  She has over 20 years of experience as a practicing psychologist and as a senior leader in the corporate insurance, governance, and healthcare sectors.  MH’s unique talent is bringing together workplace and psychology, translating concepts into key takeaways that listeners can put into action the minute they finish the episode. 



WENDY GROUNDS:  Yes, definitely.  There are many takeaways from this conversation, so let’s get talking.



Hi, MH.  Welcome to Manage This.



MH PELLETIER:  I’m thrilled to be here.



Why Resilience Is Important



WENDY GROUNDS:  We really appreciate you being with us.  You released “The Resilience Plan.”  It’s a strategic approach to optimizing your work performance and mental health.  Why is resilience so important?  Why does it matter to you?



MH PELLETIER:  Great question, and let me provide a definition because we hear the word, we use the