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In this episode of The PM Podcast we bring you a brand new interview that I did with Kevin Reilly, PMP for our sister podcast The PM PrepCast. Kevin and I discuss how he prepared and studied for the PMP Exam. We learn about his experience of becoming a PMP as well as his study plan and approach. At the end Kevin also shares his inspiring closing remarks with us.

For more information, please visit https://www.project-management-prepcast.com

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This episode is sponsored by The PDU Podcast:

In last week’s interview with Susanne Madsen about her book The Project Management Coaching Workbook: Six Steps to Unleashing Your Potential we discussed very high level principles that you have to consider when setting out on an improvement journey. We didn’t really discuss anything that you could do or give you steps to follow to get you started.

Let’s change that and give you a few ideas on how to start on the journey to becoming even better project managers. So in this interview Susanne takes us through step 2 in the book, which is the self-assessment.

We begin with discussing the importance of knowing what your current capabilities are (strengths and weaknesses) and how the process assists you in assessing this through the extensive self assessments (10 categories - 80 dimensions). This helps the project manager pinpoint where they need to focus their attention in order to succeed. Then we review 3 of the 10 categories that need to be assessed and close with a discussion about the importance of feedback - both in the context of providing effective feedback to team members in order to grow others and create highly motivated team members and receiving feedback from peers and managers in order to progress your own capabilities and career.

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This episode is sponsored by The PMP Exam Simulator:

Would you like to become the best project manager possible? Yes? Did you know that it takes just six steps to reach your Project Management and leadership goals! All you need is to follow the advice that Susanne Madsen (http://www.susannemadsen.co.uk) outlines in her book The Project Management Coaching Workbook: Six Steps to Unleashing Your Potential.

The advice she gives is based on her experience as a coach and mentor. Susanne Madsen offers a method designed to help you understand and articulate what you want to achieve—and then assists you in achieving those goals, like:

• Effectively managing a demanding workload
• Leading and motivating a team
• Building effective relationships with senior stakeholders
• Managing risks, issues, and changes to scope
• Delegating effectively

And in our discussion today, we are going to start you off on this journey by looking at four areas to consider: We have to begin with the end in mind (both for your career as well as on any project you manage), we look at the difference between leadership and management (with a strong focus on people rather than tasks), the importance of effective time management and delegation, and how to stay motivated to progress personally and professionally on such a journey by taking action and not procrastinating.

This episode is reserved for subscribers of the Premium Podcast. Learn how to subscribe to the Premium Podcast to access this interview and transcript...

This episode is sponsored by The PDU Podcast:

I am once again joined by Jack Ferraro, author of the book “Project Management for Non-Project Managers”  - When I originally opened the book my attention was drawn to a section of the book called “Functional Managers’ Impact on Causes of Project Failure”. In this section Jack describes about 20 areas of functional management responsibility that - if addressed properly by the functional manager - will go a long way in avoiding that a project fails.

But as we have learned in the last interview, functional managers may not actually be aware of project management fundamentals, let alone that some of their areas of responsibility will in fact help us to deliver a successful project. So my primary thought was... how do I as a PM approach my functional manager and tell him or her that I need their assistance in areas such as business politics or lack of organizational support?