Project Management is often concerned with managing limited resources – there never seems to be enough time allocated to complete the project or to complete individual tasks within the project. Neither does there ever seem to be enough budget to cover everything that needs to be done to deliver the project successfully. Even those projects that start off on-track with time and costs very often veer off course when the inevitable change requests start to roll in.

In many parts of the world we have already become used to the idea of recycling our household waste and large organisations are taking the recycling of waste seriously too, particularly electronic waste, driven by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) in Europe and the UK. These WEEE regulations aim to cut the amount of e-waste going to landfill and reuse the valuable components of electronic gadgets in a more sustainable way to create a circular economy that supports green jobs, instead of the more typical linear economy we have been used to. So corporations are increasingly dealing with their waste in an ethical and sustainable manner.

And it’s not just corporations own waste they are concerned about. Increasingly big businesses want products and services that have eco-conscious credentials too.  Take, for instance, the traditionally un-sustainable hotel and business accommodation sector (yes many people do still need to make business trips). Major hotel chains such as Accor Hotels and Marriott have worked to eliminate single-use plastics and implement energy-saving initiatives by minimising laundry through a programme of raising customer awareness of it’s impact. Serviced accommodation specialists such as Situ will recommend business accommodation that uses eco-friendly cleaning products and biodegradable soap and shampoo.

Sustainable business services are clearly high on the agenda, but wouldn’t it be better if we restricted our use of precious resources in the first place so we had less to recycle or reuse? And wouldn’t it be better if businesses did that on home ground not just when employees have to travel?

Let’s use as an example how we can integrate an awareness of the environment into project management.

Integrating environmental awareness into project management

Perhaps the first step is to ensure that every decision made on a project is viewed from an environmental perspective. From the basic decisions on how to share and distribute project documentation, to the design methods and the end product itself.

A simple way to make a start is never to print documentation unless absolutely necessary. And what about travelling (particularly flying) to meetings when video-conferencing is so readily available and is much more an accepted way of doing business than pre-pandemic. We could all easily minimise our own personal carbon footprints.

But being an environmentally aware project manager is not simply about these basic and obvious steps. It is also about viewing the product to be delivered in an environmental light, particularly where production methods may not be energy-efficient or where the end-product itself may not be eco-friendly, for example, by constantly mining new metals when, in fact, it is more efficient to re-use certain metals from old, discarded equipment.

The benefits of eco-friendly products in the construction industry, such as eco-friendly paint, for example, are not purely environmental ones. There can be significant cost reductions to this approach and the bottom line is always easy to sell to stakeholders. Outdated production methods can often be upgraded to provide substantial savings over time.

Take as an example Apple which, as an organisation, is dedicated to the production of mobile devices and other products that are energy efficient. The energy that a device uses when plugged in adds to the environmental footprint of the firm that produced the device. That energy consumed also contributes to the environmental footprint of the owner of the device so by producing and using an energy efficient product the owner benefits by a reduction in their electricity bills and the business benefits from the lower costs of energy-efficient production. Both the producer and the user jointly contribute to a lowering of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and consequently to a lowering of the environmental impact.

So every project has the opportunity to improve its environmental credentials in both small and large ways and a professionally qualified project manager adept at making the most of limited resources is well-placed to have an influence over decisions, large and small, that might have an environmental impact on projects that they lead and direct.

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Some experts in techniques such as PRINCE2, PMI and APM project management believe that too much emphasis is put on the need for extroverts to be leaders, and this is a fact that is borne out by around 96% of business leaders falling into this category. Of course, extroverts are the group who are more likely to be noticed and with a good deal of charisma they are certainly likely to be listened to by their team. However, this does not mean that introverts can’t perform at least as well in roles like that of the project manager.

Introverts can in fact make great project managers, so read on as we take a brief look at just some of the benefits of hiring an introverted project manager.

Decision making

On those projects that are complex or particularly large, the project manager is always needing to make decisions – both large and small. Small decisions can be the difference between spending time on quality or speeding up the implementation of something within the project, and when it comes to a more complex situation, an introvert is more likely to be thoughtful and reflective. They will gather data, consider different opinions and weigh up a number of factors before arriving at a decision. The result can often be a decision that is more informed and will offer an outcome that is more favourable.

Active listening

Introverts are very good listeners and far more likely to listen to the project stakeholders in order to understand all their concerns and ideas. They are also more likely to be approachable, reliable and more cooperative. This can result in a more inclusive environment for the team.

Empowerment

An introvert will not actively seek attention, but they will not shy away from it when appropriate. This can be an important form of empowerment for those team members working with project managers who are introverts.  It offers them a chance to share their opinion and give their own expertise. When it comes to organising sessions to share the successes of the project a project manager who is an introvert is more likely to allow others to shine. The result is a team who are more dynamic, motivated and which is good for overall team morale.

Adaptability

Introverts are more adaptable to change in things like circumstances and technology; they are willing to explore new options and tools and check them out before committing to solutions they are not sure about. They are much better at adapting their approach to suit the needs of the project team and also tend to foster a better understanding of the needs of any unique circumstances surrounding the project.

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However, creating a cohesive team isn’t child’s play. It involves bringing together people with varied cultural backgrounds, different ambitions and career goals, sometimes contrasting personalities, competing skills and expertise, and varied productivity levels. If you have a multinational team, issues of religious differences, language barriers, and geopolitical tensions become prevalent.

With that in mind, how do you build a solid team? By understanding these common elements of successful teamwork:

Open communication

Colleagues at work communicate on multiple levels, both vertically and horizontally. But successful teamwork necessitates more than basic, regulated communication.

From a vertical perspective, i.e. when team members communicate with the leadership, they need to feel free, empowered, and appreciated enough to offer their views on different company strategies and goals. As a leader, you need to make the workplace a safe space for differing opinions, especially when some opinions contrast with your personal beliefs or your style of leadership.

For horizontal communication, i.e. when employees communicate amongst themselves, train your team members to offer constructive criticism when necessary and to refrain from shooting down other people’s ideas. Train them to listen and respect one another because listening is a critical part of any meaningful communication.

Besides internal communication, team members also communicate externally with clients, business partners, and other teams within the organization. Team leaders must ensure that all members are on the same page before making any external communication. Two contrasting messages from the same team show discord and divisions in the team, and competitors can easily capitalise on those cracks.

Open communication in the workplace allows team members to build respectful relationships with their managers and peers. They are, therefore, more committed to their work due to the better working relationships they experience with the persons they work and interact with at the workplace. They’ll have peace of mind at work from understanding that their colleagues and supervisors are trustworthy and reliable.

In short, open communication in a team can help nurture strong working relationships among teammates, which can fast-track the accomplishment of the company’s goals. It’s for these reasons, among others, that communication skills is a key area of study in formal project management certifications.

Pro tip: If team members need to share large files, synchronise documents across multiple tech devices, or store files in the cloud for easier team collaboration, it is advisable to first convert the documents into zip files. Compressed zip files can be shared with ease via email, plus they are safe from data spies.

Diversity as a competence

Diversity can make or break a team depending on what you make of it. Be keen on leveraging the diverse competencies in your team by using the strengths of one team member to cover for the weaknesses of another member. Avoid pitting members against each other and never allow the wide range of capabilities within your team to drive a wedge between team members. Successful teams also value and celebrate members’ sexual, political, religious, racial, and cultural diversities as opposed to looking down on the minority groups.

Team members from varied backgrounds can provide a wide collection of different abilities, skills, and experiences, which may not only benefit their work performance but also the company. A wide range of abilities and experiences within the team allows teammates to draw valuable lessons from each other. It also promotes the development and implementation of innovative ideas, especially when there is collaboration within the team. While one individual may be good at coming up with great ideas, another person may have the required skills to implement it.

A diverse team can help you navigate the cultural differences, religious differences, and language barriers associated with expanding your business abroad. Having team members who understand different cultures and speak different languages can help your business operate at a global level and manage a broader customer base. A team that consists of multiple nationalities also makes your company more relatable. What’s more, it enhances employee retention because professionals prefer to work and associate with a company that accommodates all backgrounds and encourages equality.

In a nutshell, diversity is a great strategy for anyone in any business. The best way to build a diverse team is to make inclusivity a fundamental part of your decision-making and actions. This involves planning inclusive events and creating welcoming environments. Prioritizing inclusivity allows businesses to leverage diverse talents and perspectives.

Clarity in role definition and allocation

Roles in successful teams are assigned as per the skill set, productivity, commitment, and thinking style of an individual employee. The roles are never rigid; they can shift as employees grow and skill sets evolve, but they are always clearly defined. If a role involves measurements and metrics, for example, it has to go to the team member with the best numbers game. If a role is methodical and detail-specific, then it has to go to the member with the best organizational skills. There are no favors in staffing. Everyone is stationed where they thrive best.

A 2000 study of 25,000 managers and supervisors by Ferdinand Fournies concluded that the main reason for team members not doing what’s expected of them is that they aren’t aware of what’s expected of them in the first place. This is definitely a sign of poorly defined roles and responsibilities.

…the main reason for team members not doing what’s expected of them is that they aren’t aware of what’s expected of them in the first place.

If clear goals are the cornerstone of all team activity, then clarity in role definition is what defines expectations, allows seamless performance management, and ensures accountability among team members. As a leader, role clarity enables you to map priorities and understand training needs. It enables everyone in the team to maximise their abilities. 

Trust

Trust breeds a unique inter-member reliance, transparency, honesty, and chemistry. Everyone knows that his/her colleagues have their back. Colleagues who trust one another do not second guess each other, but they are quick to point out, admit, and rectify errors when and as they happen. They always know that the decisions and actions taken by one team member are for the benefit of the whole team. Most importantly, trust makes it easy for members to share their joys, struggles, and insecurities with colleagues, and that makes them more of a family than just workmates.

But when there’s no trust in a team, the outcome will be suspicion of hidden motives, miscommunication, micro-management, and inability to meet the company’s overall goals. In fact, a 2016 meta-analysis study concluded that levels of trust in a team significantly impact its overall performance. The findings of the study revealed that people perform impressively in a high-trust working environment where they feel they are critical members of a tight-knit team. 

…people perform impressively in a high-trust working environment where they feel they are critical members of a tight-knit team.

When teammates know exactly what’s expected of them and are confident in not just their capabilities but also the capabilities of others, they are highly likely to be innovative by trying new things and bringing new ideas to life. Team members will be willing to take risks and make mistakes when they’re confident they’ve got the undivided support of their peers. This builds a culture of collaboration within the team and enables each member to share ideas as well as make the most out of each other’s capabilities.  

Mutually beneficial conflict resolution mechanisms

Successful teams are founded on the understanding that each person is accountable for the success or failure of the group. All team members see the broader picture and accept that the overall team goal is bigger than their ambitions. With that understanding, it becomes very easy for team members to remain calm and professional amid conflicts. They can follow the right mechanisms to manage and resolve conflicting ideas. This enables them to minimise friction that damages their working relationships.

By dealing with their conflicts professionally and respectfully, they can work better with their colleagues, nurturing strong work relationships. Having solid conflict resolution mechanisms in place also reduces disruptions, resulting in increased employee morale and a healthy working environment.

Great conflict resolution mechanisms are extremely crucial, as it’s always sensible to keep a disagreement from happening instead of dealing with its negative consequences. Due to excellent conflict management mechanisms, stress automatically goes away, team members feel motivated and cheerful, and the job becomes enjoyable and satisfying.

Conclusion

Teamwork is undeniably critical for any successful business. It won’t be easy, but it definitely will be worth every effort. If not for anything else, it will help you retain employees, build your employer brand, and grow your profits.

About the Author

Ruby Whites is a business analyst with 6 years of experience. She enjoys using what she has learned from 6 years of different challenges in her business to help different starters achieve business growth and also help them establish clear goals that take their business from where it is to where the business owner wants it to be.

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Any project manager will be more than happy to tell you that all too often, managing a project can be an incredibly challenging and frustrating experience. There are the unexpected setbacks that can occur and of course the team members who are less cooperative than they might be. Then there are just the annoying pet peeves that occur again and again. These are just some of the factors that can mean that even the most well planned project becomes a challenge.

Whilst you may not learn much about project managers pet peeves during an APM PPQ qualification – or indeed any other professional project management certification – it can be a good idea to know about them. Perhaps more importantly, you’ll want to know how to over come them and that is what this article is all about.

Lack of communication

Probably the biggest pet peeve amongst project managers is a lack of communication. This might be from members of their team failing to let them know about updates to the project or from stakeholders who are not offering feedback. Either way, a lack of effective communication can really derail a project and quickly.

In order to avoid this issue and overcome it you need to make sure you have clear communication lines from the beginning of the project. Set the expectations that you have and make sure everyone knows and understands them. Invest in good project management tools that will help you to do this.

Scope creep

Another huge pet peeve for any project manager is of course, scope creep, which is the scope of the project expanding beyond anything that was originally agreed to. It can cause delays in the timescale of the project, result in budget overruns and increase stress within the project team.

This can be avoided if you set clear boundaries for the project from the very beginning. Define the scope of the project and get stakeholder buy-in. Ensure the consequences of scope creep are understood by everyone.

Team members who are unresponsive

There is nothing quite as frustrating as members of the team who are slow or unresponsive when it comes to the completion of tasks. This can cause delays to your entire project.

Establish clear expectations from the outset and define all of your deadlines, and make sure that team members are held accountable for meeting these. Using good project management software will also help.

Micromanagement

Nothing is quite as likely to cause those involved in project management to issue a collective Arggh than the mention of micromanagement. There is a fine line between being a hands-on project manager and micromanaging your team. The latter can cause reduced morale and stress within the team.

To avoid micromanaging your team you need to establish trust, and allow your team to take ownership of their tasks by delegating. Give clear guidance, help them develop the right skills but allow for freedom as well that will let your team members find their own approaches and solutions.

Lack of recognition

And finally there is nothing worse than the lack of recognition that is given for a job well done. Being a project manager can be a somewhat thankless task, but you should still acknowledge the hard work of your team.

Make time to recognise the contributions others have made to the project, celebrate the successes and the milestones and ensure that hard work is appreciated.

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What is a project health check?

Let’s take a brief look at what a project health check actually is. A project health check is flexible and lightweight, unlike the more scheduled formality of milestone reviews, and it should be conducted during the life of the project at strategic points. A project health check assesses key areas which are important to the particular project. For instance, a digital marketing project may benefit from an SEO heath check to ensure key performance indicators are improving month-on-month. Or a construction project may benefit from a financial health check to ensure budget is still within constraints.. It can also offer important insights before some of the issues you might encounter can get out of hand.

Health checks can be a game-changer

There are a number of reasons why embracing health checks for your project can be so important:

Early detection means early correction

When you wait for milestones, this can mean leaving problems for longer. A health check should uncover any red flags earlier and allow you to address them promptly in a cost-effective manner.

Make adjustments that are targeted

Unlike formal reviews, a health check will focus on more specific areas of concern within the project as identified by your project team. This allows you to create focussed conversations and then work out more targeted solutions, whilst avoiding any tangents that are not productive.

Continuous improvement

Ensuring that you undertake regular health checks will help to create a more transparent culture where there is effective communication. This will also allow your team to become more accustomed to identifying and addressing challenges in a proactive manner. Furthermore, it will promote the idea of continuous improvements being made at every step of the project journey.

Increased adaptability

Agile loves adaptation, and health checks offer a framework that is more flexible regardless of whether you are adapting to market trends, stakeholder feedback or changing circumstances.

Enhance team morale

When you address concerns early on you can openly foster an environment that is proactive and supportive. This means that your team members will feel heard and thus empowered to tackle any challenges as a cohesive team, which will boost both overall morale and also engagement.

The project health check should not, however, be considered to be a replacement for formal review. It should instead be something to compliment it. Milestone reviews offer checkpoints that are more formal while a health check is adaptable and agile as a project management approach. A project that is thriving and evolving is almost always a healthy one.

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Organisational Roles in Project Management

Consider the roles and responsibilities of the following:

• Sponsor – The person with overall responsibility for the outcomes of the project

• Project manager – the lead when it comes to planning, executing, controlling, monitoring and closing out projects. Accountable for all project scope, the resources and team, the budget for the project and the success or failure of the project.

• Team members – contribute to the project objectives and collaborate with other members of the team

• Project supplier – supplying essential resources and supplies and providing expertise and correct information.

Remember to relate these to the responsibilities laid out in the APM body of knowledge.

The Different Parts of the Project Management Plan

The project management plan is made up of several parts, the main ones of which are:

Executive summary

• Purpose scope, main deliverables
• Strategy for procurement
• Criteria for success
• Project dependencies and constraints
• Organisation and roles in the project
• Assumptions

Policy and procedures

• Risk management for both plan and policies
• Quality plan
• Procedure for change control
• Information management plan
• Safety plan
• Configuration management plan

Project schedules and plans

• Change log
• Risk register
• Budgets and cost plan
• Communication plan and stakeholder analysis
• PBS/WSB
• Schedule – Gannt chart

Requirements Management

This is the module that covers all of the requirements from the management sections of the “APM Body of Knowledge”. It is important to look at the descriptions of the requirements management process, including:

• Capture – pulling together all relevant data and creating connections that are useful
• Analysis – the analysis of business operation processes in great detail
• Prioritisation – working out the priority of your projects so that you can allocate resources effectively for the best outcome
• Testing – planning and allocating resources effectively, including human resources and testing environments
• Factors used to structure requirements
• Importance of requirements management

Read up on all the parts of the process and ensure you understand each element’s individual requirements.

Project Success And Benefits Management

Remember to consider all the factors of project success and benefits management, including:

• Success criteria – timescales, budgets and successful outcomes according to project scope
• KPIs
• Critical success factors – those factors that are necessary in order to achieve the project goal
• Benefit management process – the aim is to ensure that desired benefits are measurable, specific, agreed upon, realistic and also time-bound.

Budgeting and cost management

In any successful project, the management of budgets is critical. The following should be considered:

• Accruals
• Commitments and accruals
• Planned and variance analysis
• Controlling actual expenditure
• Forecasting work
• Cost to come

Remember to consider those points that you know about that need to form part of your budget and also those that you do not yet know about, those costs that could arise from something unexpected occurring. You need to leave room in your budget for the latter, although there is a possibility that you will not need them.

Gantt Charts and Items not on the Critical Path

Drawing Gantt charts can be complex for those who have not had much experience, so it is well worth taking the time to read up on these. One question we have been asked on a fairly frequent basis is, “How do you show total float on a Gantt chart?”

Defined as the amount of time that an individual task or a project can afford to be delayed without any impact on the overall completion time for the project – total float is an important factor in any project.

Within any good project management software with the capability to produce Gantt charts, you will find appropriate menus to select total float, as well as other types of float. These will then appear in your chart in the order you have selected them. The order can be changed within the menu.

Project Quality Management

This part of the course covers a range of issues within the project environment. These are the aspects that you should consider reading up on as part of your self-study:

• Quality planning
• Quality assurance
• Quality control
• The benefits of quality management

Sample questions

A very important part of self-study is remembering that it is not enough to simply read through your notes and books. This will help you to remember some of the information, but it is also important to test this knowledge in a more complex manner. This can be best achieved through sample questions which cover some of the more  complex areas of the APM PMQ syllabus.

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Those project leaders who follow a more traditional response to change – for example expecting a new version of a product to help them regain their place in the market, or by waiting until the next cycle of planning to develop a new strategy, can find themselves far behind the competition with very little hope of being able to catch up.

Attempting to anticipate and then respond to any new change means that project leaders must be ready to move quickly. They must tread a new and at times difficult path when it comes to preparing and then inspiring their project team to move away from what they are used to. In the current workplace even motivating a team has become more difficult with the rise of hybrid working. It’s simply not always easy to get everyone together in the same place at the same time. One organisation in London thinks they have found a solution to boosting both motivation and productivity among hybrid teams. A business trip for the whole team! Putting the whole team up in smart serviced accommodation with meeting rooms and break-out spaces for a week or more in an interesting location (perhaps Edinburgh, Paris or Copenhagen) has worked to rebuild the team dynamic whilst also being a cost-effective was to improve productivity. An interesting development in the world of hybrid working for project teams.

For a traditional organisation, when it comes to those things they don’t do often, they can encounter issues handling this. They may have relatively few members of their more senior leadership team who have the experience that is necessary when it comes to knowing how to handle these types of changes. Many of the more traditional approaches to the development of risk management plans are creating techniques that are backward looking as you will discover on any training course for PM’s. However, it is essential to remember that the project will be taking place in the future and not in the past.

What constitutes huge change?

Huge change is any change which either as a result of its significance or scale, can result in all or virtually all of the goals of a project or its planning assumptions to become invalid.

The source of these types of huge change are limitless. They might result from external, random, events such as natural disasters, or they may come about because of actions that have been carefully planned by the leaders of an organisation. There are a number of difference huge changes that may affect projects:

• Force Majeure – a term used for those events that are uncontrollable or unexpected. These include natural disasters, changes in climate or weather and things like civil unrest or war.

• Reorganisation – this can occur within the project itself and result in sponsors being removed from a project, a change in the goals that make up the foundation of the project or even the sudden unavailability of promised resources.

• Merger and Acquisition – when 2 companies merge there can be huge changes that occur. This can cause concerns amongst those who work there as some assets may no longer be needed. This uncertainty can cause stress and lead to a drop in productivity. It can often take months for these changes to completely resolve themselves.

• Downsizing – Often used to manage short term financial issues, this might mean a reduction in the number of employees, smaller facilities or reduced product lines. This can lead to concerns amongst employees which may have an impact on their productivity levels.

Outsourcing – similar to downsizing, this huge change means that jobs are eliminated internally and given to an outside vendor who then completes them before ending their “contract” with the company. In this way they are not permanently on the payroll and can reduce employee costs. This can however be a nightmare for the project manager and may cause animosity.

Include huge changes in your risk management

In order to guide any project where there is huge change it is important to ensure that you include some provision for these types of changes in your risk management plan. You don’t need to plan for every type of huge change, but rather those that there is a greater likelihood. This is something that is covered in all risk management plans, and you would learn about during training for project managers.

The impact that these huge changes have on a project are more likely to be an issue during a longer, more complicated project than during a project of shorter duration. This means that you need to consider those things that touch the environment around your project and not just the project itself. Change is inevitable and there is a good chance that huge change will occur and this means that a risk management plan should include source probability and impact for change and that this should be regularly updated.

Things to consider in your risk response

There are a number of things that you will want to include in your plan that will help you guide your project through a huge change:

• Get a quick start – with significant time constraints involved, you will need to get started as soon as the change occurs.

• Look around – not all of your ideas for dealing with change need to come from the field of project management. You may find techniques from elsewhere that will work better for you.

• Be ready for what follows – the first wave of your huge change may not be the last. Ripple effects mean that there may be more to follow so be prepared for this as well

• Be optimistic but be realistic – Huge change presents both threats and opportunities. Plan for all eventualities because some types of huge change like mergers do not always go as planned.

Begin your planning by taking a look at the goals and risks of the project. Discuss everything with those who are involved in the project on a stakeholder basis. Do the changes mean that it is still worth the resources to gain the objectives of the project. In some cases, it may be that the project does not carry the same value as it did. When this occurs, you will need to consider the value of project shutdown.

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A good project management process affects the overall productivity of the organization as well as helping in reaching an optimized balance in costs. The cost efficiency is a very important aspect of every organization so a good project manager has to wisely allocate resources.

For this purpose, an organization needs help from a good project manager; one who is willing to stand apart from the crowd and be the best in their field. It takes a combination of personal attributes, talent, practice and hard work to make a professional project manager.

Main features of a good project manager

A good project manager needs to have experience in areas such as identifying goals and analysing them, planning and estimating the budget, allocation of cost efficient resources, and coming together with the right team to achieve all the business goals. Yet, the foremost quality, even before the experience, is that a project manager should hold exceptional leadership qualities.

A good leader is often defined as someone who is optimistic, is inspired enough to make changes and empower his team. There are different kinds of leaders that are found in management, however, it really depends upon the kind of team a leader is leading. A team’s performance is often defined by the way the leader acts.

Therefore, the performance of a project team can depend entirely upon the leader’s management skills and style. Usually, an organization opts for transformational leaders. They are passionate and ambitious, while concerned about their team members to help them achieve their full potential.

How to improve as a leader

• Style of leadership

The first thing that is important for a leader is to analyse their style of leadership. What are the strengths that define his or her skills? What are the weaknesses that might hamper their style and prevent them from reaching the desired goals and objectives?

A very quick and simple way to assess it is to take different leadership style quizzes (often found online). Such quizzes reveal the most important characteristics. If there are some weaknesses in a character, the leader could look for ways to improve it. Once a project manager has assessed their leadership style, then they could look for ways to improve their style and abilities to become a better leader.

• Creativity

Another important aspect of good leadership is creativity. Many leaders ask their team members to complete a task by the book. They might not be innately creative individuals; however, encouraging creativity is a very important aspect of good leadership.

An effective leader should empower creative team members to bring new processes to the table. The purpose of encouraging creativity is that team members would be getting out of their comfort zone and so tend to work harder to achieve success.

• Listening skills

Another one of the most essential business tips is that a good leader needs good listening skills. A good project manager should be an effective communicator; be able to communicate the goals to be reached and how they would be achieved. However, a good leader has to believe in two way and open communication and listen to what the team members have to say. Motivate and encourage them to question the leader and speak up.

• On-going process

The last thing that a project manager can do to improve their leadership skills is to recognize that improving one’s capabilities is an on-going process. They should never stop learning and educating themselves, whether that’s through professional training, books or custom research papers.

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Let’s take a look at these factors:

Scientific unknown

Those risks which are unexpected can result from a lack of understanding or knowledge about how the human system or natural world work.

Reduced margins

More speed and increased efficiency are a huge “want” in project management, and this reduces the margins of error, leaving a project more vulnerable to mistakes.

Vicious cycles

When you reinforce any negative loops, this can reduce stability whilst increasing the effects of change or risk.

Varying vulnerability

Different organisations and people can see different effects from the same type of risks it depends on context. This can lead to results that are unpredictable.

Conflicting interests

Different views on the importance or nature of a risk as a result of individuals’ interests and values can result in risk emerging.

Social dynamics

Any societal change can produce new risks or have an effect on those that exist in ways that can be unpredictable.

Advances in technology

Emerging risks can be caused by changes in technology, particularly if supporting research is not sufficient or if there is an inappropriate regulatory framework.

Time-based issues

It is hard to predict a risk if there are longer delays between the cause and effects or if the duration of the risk is greater than the attention span of policy-makers or analysts.

Lack of communication

One thing you will learn during training for project managers is that late, incomplete or misleading communication can create or enhance the risks to a project.

Unbalanced information

When stakeholders have important information that they do not share, that can result in poor decision-making or inappropriate actions, and then new risks may arise.

Unhelpful motivators

Those incentives that can result in counterproductive behaviours can lead to people taking more risk in project management than normal, and this can have unanticipated consequences.

Malicious behaviour

Finally, when actions are taken that can cause harm to others, this can have the result of producing a risk in project management that is unexpected, and that can have effects that are wide-reaching. It is really important to understand these more general causes in order to ensure that you can put preventative risk responses in place. These will help to provide your project with more protection against any emerging risks.

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Here, we plan to take a look at some of the questions that have come up from people preparing to sit their APM PMQ exam and the best way in which they can be tackled.

We will also provide some all-important tips that will hopefully help you when it comes to sitting your APM PMQ exams because no matter how long ago, or how recently, you sat your last set of exams in any subject, it never hurts to be as prepared as possible.

Examples of questions

Describe five of the key principles of project governance.

This question comes up a lot, so it can be a good idea to consider your answer structure. It is important to ensure that your answer includes five clear points. You should also describe what governance is, and also why it is important. Where possible, you should aim to give an example for each point that you make.

List and describe five steps in creating a robust schedule.

Ensure that you begin by listing all of the steps, as this will help with the structure of your answer. The five steps are:

1. Producing WBS
2. Estimating durations for executing work packages
3. Preparing precedence diagram, and also calculating floats
4. Determining any critical path
5. Determining all your Project Milestones

You should also ensure that you give each item in your list a good description before moving on to the next one. Add examples where appropriate.

Explain The Primary Use Of Earned Value.

This is another of those questions that might come up, so it can be a good idea to make sure that you understand exactly what the question is looking for.

Earned value allows the project manager to have an understanding of whether a project is making good progress or not. This is a term that is used for describing products that have already been delivered to a project and, therefore, cannot be removed. A calculation is used to multiply that which has been delivered to the project by the planned completion date and the time that has actually been spent.

Once you have a brief explanation that will answer the question, ensure that you also add an example to explain it fully, for example:

If the costs of a project are under what the planned costs were expected to be, then this is good news. However, you should conduct further analysis in order to ascertain if this is true. It may in fact be that whilst you haven’t spent as much as you expected to, you may also not have actually produced anything either and this isn’t good news.

Does spelling and grammar matter in the exam?

With such an everyday reliance on technology for those things that we write, it can be hard when we find ourselves needing to use pen and paper, and when you add in the stress of an exam situation, it can be even more challenging. Whilst spelling and grammar undoubtedly matter in the world of work, the good news is that in an exam situation, there is a lot more leeway.

What you should be concentrating on with the answers on your exam paper is ensuring that you should you have a good understanding of the course materials and how to apply project management scenarios in the real world. A few spelling and grammar mistakes shouldn’t make too much of a difference, but do try to ensure that you spell the names of terms correctly to avoid any possible misunderstandings.

Tips for exams

Exams can be stressful no matter what level of your career you are at. With this in mind, it is important to take on board a few general pieces of information that can really help no matter what exam you are taking.

Be prepared

Give yourself plenty of time to prepare for your exam. That means setting aside some time in the run-up to the actual exam to revise the course material. Read through your notes and the course materials that you have. Make more notes, and if you have any questions, contact your instructor. They will be happy to clarify things for you so that you understand them.

Make sure that you take breaks during your revision; research has shown that this is actually one of the best ways to retain information for exams. Last-minute revision sessions are not as helpful as a revision plan that is undertaken in this way.

Complete past papers

This is a great way of seeing what type of questions you might be up against in the exam. Consider the marks that each question is worth and work out how much time you should be giving to the question during the exam. Plan your answers out and ask for feedback where possible. This will allow you to see where you might be able to improve your answers.

Read questions thoroughly

There is nothing worse than answering the question you think you read only to lose marks because you later realise that you misread it. It may seem obvious, but read each question over very carefully to ensure that you are answering them correctly. The difference this could make to your marks could be the difference between a fail and a pass.

Look at the marks for each question

The marks indicated for each question will also help when it comes to formulating your answer. If the question is worth 50 marks and asks you to talk about 5 things, then you should assume the marks are equally spaced for each item you need to discuss. Try to give examples to ensure as many marks as possible.

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