Vijay Verma:: Project Management Professional - Seminars, Presentations, Workshops, Speaking Engagements, Books, Publications

Vijay K. Verma, PMP, MBA, P. Eng. is the author of a Three Volume Series on The Human Aspects of Project Management published by The Project Management Institute (PMI). Based on his vast knowledge and experiences, he offers a wide range of seminars and workshops to help build high performance teams within your organization. His workshops and seminars are offered in many corporate training programs, or through a dedicated session at your organization. Please enquire with Vijay Verma.

Below is a list of his current workshops and seminars. Click on any of the topics to find out more!

Leadership, Power, Influence, Politics and Negotiations in Project Management
Leadership, Power, Influence, and Politics in Project Management
Effective Communication Management in a Project Environment
Project Cost Management
Effective Human Resource Management in Project Environments
Influencing Without Authority
Managing Project Conflict through Effective Communication and Motivation
Project Planning and Scheduling
Create and Maintain Outstanding Project Team Performance

Vijay has presented several seminars on Project Management for various organizations. Based on over twenty years of project management experience, he feels that many projects fail due to human reasons rather than technical reasons. Consequently, he got very interested in the human aspects of project management and did extensive research and authored three books in this area that have been published by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Recently, he was awarded the 1999 PMI David I. Cleland Project Management Literature award (for my third book- "Managing the Project Team") and the 1999 PMI Distinguished Contribution award.

Leadership, Power, Influence, Politics and Negotiations in Project Management
Ignoring the external and internal politics surrounding your project can be hazardous. Successful project managers understand the importance of managing stakeholders through influence and negotiation. Uncover ways to manage politics at the project and upper management levels while learning practical guidelines for successful negotiations. You will improve and refine your leadership skills and discover techniques for increasing your overall power.

Who Should Attend
This workshop is appropriate for anyone - at all experience levels - who needs to lead projects, manage stakeholders, build relationships, negotiate successfully, and work with others to achieve results while minimizing unwanted surprises.

You Will Benefit
Develop and enhance the contributions you make to your organization by being able to:

Recognize the role of leader versus manager and how leadership is related to the project life cycle.

Learn practical techniques to enhance your leadership skills.

Identify eight forms of power and evaluate strategies to increase total power

Manage power and politics at the project level and at the upper management level

Analyze and manage project stakeholders by enhancing trust and agreement

Identify principles and common methods of negotiation

Analyze impact of culture on negotiating techniques

Develop negotiating strategies that focus on interests instead of positions

Your Seminar Experience Will Cover

Leadership - Traits and Principles; Team Leadership; Practical Strategies to Enhance your Leadership Skills.
Project Leadership - Leader vs Manager; Leadership and the Project Life Cycle.
Power and Influence - Sources of power; Project Manager and Power; Strategies to Increase your Total Power.
Politics in Project Management - Managing politics at the project level and at the upper management level; Analyzing your political landscape; Managing Project Stakeholders by Enhancing Trust and Agreement.
Negotiating - effective methods of negotiating; impact of culture on negotiation.
Practical Guidelines for Negotiating - communication skills to achieve win/win solutions; focusing on interests, not positions, and generating mutually beneficial options.

Instructional Methods include small-group activities, skills practices, case studies, lecture, role playing exercises, diagnostic questionnaires, and group discussion.

Leadership, Power, Influence, and Politics in Project Management
Ignoring the external and internal politics surrounding your project can be hazardous. The more power you have, the better you are able to get the job done. Most project managers have enormous responsibility but not enough formal authority. Successful project managers understand the need to evaluate power and political dynamics and the importance of managing stakeholders through leadership and influence. Analyze the political context in your organizations and learn how to convert your adversaries and opponents into your allies. Uncover ways to manage politics at the project and upper management levels. You'll evaluate, improve and refine your leadership skills and discover methods for increasing your total power.

Who Should Attend
This workshop is appropriate for anyone - at all experience levels - who needs to lead projects, manage stakeholders, build relationships, negotiate successfully and work with others to achieve results while minimizing unwanted surprises.

You Will Benefit
Develop and enhance the contributions you make to your organization by being able to:

Recognize the role of leader versus manager and how leadership is related to the project life cycle

Recognize important dimensions to improve team leadership

Evaluate leadership of your team members and strengthen your leadership skills

Identify and evaluate eight sources of power and develop strategies to increase total power

Identify political behaviors and analyze the political context in your organization

Develop strategies to convert your adversaries and opponents into your allies

Manage power and politics at the project level and at the upper management level

Analyze the impact of culture on leadership, communications and teamwork

Your Seminar Experience Will Cover

Power and Influence - Sources of power; project manager and power; evaluate your power level, and develop strategies to increase your total power
Politics in Project Management - Analysis of political behaviors of project stakeholders and political context in your organization; strategies to convert your adversaries and opponents into your allies; and managing politics at the project level and at the upper management level.
Project Leadership - Leader versus manager; leadership and the project life cycle.
Team Leadership - Traits and principles of team leadership; strategies to improve your leadership skills, impact of culture on leadership, communications and teamwork

Instructional Methods: Include small group activities, skill practices, case studies, lectures, diagnostic questionnaires and facilitated group discussions.

Credits Offered: CEU Credit (3 Days- 2.1 CEU's); PDU Credit (3 Days- 21 PDU's)

PMBOK GUIDE AREAS COVERED: Communications Management and Human Resources Management, Project Integration

Effective Communication Management in a Project Environment
Effective communication is the key to project success because project management involves verbal, nonverbal, written formal and informal communication at all different levels in the organization. This module will highlight key aspects of project communication management that involves communication planning, information distribution, performance reporting and administrative closure. Dynamics of inter personal communication and how it works, barriers to successful communication and remedial actions, and some practical suggestions to improve communications among project stakeholders will be discussed.

Who Should Attend
This seminar is appropriate for anyone - at all experience levels - who needs to communicate effectively, resolve project conflicts, build relationships, and work with others to achieve results.

Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

Recognize the importance of good communication and describe components of a communication management plan.

Understand the dynamics of interpersonal communication and how it works.

Summarize tools and techniques for information distribution, performance reporting, and administrative closure.

Describe various methods for distributing project information with their pros and cons.

Identify barriers to successful communications and remedial actions, especially the number of people versus the complexity of communication.

Understand important aspects of verbal, nonverbal, and written communication and tips to improve these skills to expedite project communications.

Discuss and analyze communication channels among project stakeholders and tips on how to develop appropriate skills in meeting challenges for effective communication.

Manage project meetings effectively.

You Will Benefit:
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to recognize the crucial role of communication in project management. You will be able to evaluate communication needs of project stakeholders and develop an effective communication plan to ensure timely distribution of relevant project information in appropriate formats among them.

Project Cost Management
Today cost overruns are becoming too common and too tough to swallow. Preparing realistic project budgets at the start and systematic cost management is vital to project success. It involves proper estimating, resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting, and cost control throughout the project life cycle. This module will deal with the fundamentals of cost estimating, management and control along with good tools and tips to ensure the project completion within budget.

Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

Recognize the importance of good cost management.

Understand basics cost management principles, concepts and terms.

Describe the process of resource planning, cost estimating, cost budgeting and cost control.

Explain various types of cost estimates and their limitations.

Apply the concepts of earned value analysis to monitor and control overall project cost.

Describe the role of software in project cost management and control.

You Will Benefit:
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to understand the fundamentals of cost management and learn practical tools and techniques to complete your projects within budget and other financial constraints.

Effective Human Resource Management in Project Environments
People are the backbone of projects and ultimately your most important resource. To survive in a project environment, project managers must learn and use appropriate human skills to organize, communicate, motivate, negotiate, manage conflicts, and lead effectively. How do you organize a project for success by making the matrix structures work? What turns people ON and OFF? How do you negotiate and resolve an interpersonal conflict that is threatening your entire project? How do you build high performance teams and manage cross-cultural issues? In This module, discover and practice the techniques to achieve the most from your human resources by building effective teams, creating a motivational environment, and resolving conflicts in a project environment.

Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

Recognize the importance of Human Resource Management (HRM) in managing projects.

Discuss the roles and responsibilities of project manager, owner, and project sponsor.

Describe various forms of organization structures with their advantages and disadvantages.

Discuss various forms of matrix structures and tips on how to make matrix system work.

Understand crucial issues in staff planning and acquisition and concepts of resource loading and resource leveling.

Summarize main theories of motivation and their limitations- Maslow�s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg�s theory of motivators and hygienes, Theory XYZ, and Expectancy theory.

Recognize importance of power, influence and politics in project management.

Discuss various forms of power and techniques to increase total power (formal plus informal) to increase influence and manage project politics effectively.

Describe stages of team development, responsibility matrix, team roles and practical tips to build and develop effective teams for high performance.

Discuss main sources of project conflicts and various conflict management strategies with pros and cons of each and how to select the best strategy to resolve project conflicts.

Identify common types and methods of negotiation and develop strategies to achieve win/win negotiation through better preparation and problem solving approach.

Recognize the role of leader vs. manager and how it is related to the project life cycle.

Describe various leadership styles and strategies to enhance leadership skills.

Appreciate cultural differences and capitalize on cultural diversity to manage cross cultural global teams and international projects effectively.

You Will Benefit:
Upon completion of this course, you will recognize that people make or break the projects. You will learn many concepts and practical tips for effective communication, negotiation and conflict management to motivate and lead your multi cultural and global project team members and optimize their overall performance.

Influencing Without Authority
The more power you have, the better you are able to get the job done. Ignoring the external and internal politics surrounding your project can be hazardous. Most project managers have enormous responsibility but not enough formal authority. They cannot succeed without the proper understanding of power and how to use it effectively. Successful project managers recognize the need to evaluate power and political dynamics and the importance of managing stakeholders through influence. Identify eight forms of power and evaluate your own power level. Improve and refine your skills and discover methods for increasing your total power. Analyze the political landscape in your organizations and learn how to convert your adversaries into your allies. Uncover ways to manage politics at the project and upper management levels while learning practical guidelines for successfully influencing without formal authority.

Who Should Attend
This presentation is appropriate for anyone - at all experience levels - who needs to lead projects, manage stakeholders, build relationships, negotiate successfully and work with others to achieve results while minimizing unwanted surprises.

You Will Benefit
Develop and enhance the contributions you make to your organization by being able to:

Identify eight sources of power and evaluate your own power level.

Understand the dynamics of power and politics to influence stakeholders

Develop strategies to increase your total power.

Analyze the political landscape in your organization.

Manage power and politics at the project level and at the upper management level.

Managing Project Conflict through Effective Communication and Motivation
People are the backbone of projects and ultimately your most important resource. To survive in a project environment, project managers must learn and use appropriate human relation skills to effectively communicate, motivate, and inspire as well as manage inevitable conflict. What turns people ON and OFF? How do you resolve an interpersonal conflict that is threatening your entire project? Discover and practice the techniques for creating a motivational environment and resolving conflict in a project environment.

You Will Benefit
Develop and enhance the contributions you make to your organization by being able to:

Design communication channels and manage project meetings effectively

Develop effective communication by facilitating task and relationship openness

Analyze four communication styles and their relationship to the project life cycle

Motivate project participants

Identify reasons of project conflicts and develop appropriate solutions

Analyze and evaluate various conflict management techniques

Develop effective conflict resolution strategies

Your Seminar Experience Will Cover

Communication - task and relationship openness for communication styles and their relationships to the project life cycle.
Effective Listening - verbal and non-verbal behaviors; role of perception in gaining understanding among project participants.
Motivation - theory and practice; motivation and project management; guidelines for motivating project participants.
Understanding Conflicts - three views of conflict; reasons for project conflicts; conflict versus performance.
Managing Conflict - pros and cons of various conflict management techniques; choosing the best conflict resolution approach.
Practical Guidelines for Managing Conflicts in a Project - preparing for, facing and resolving the conflict.

Instructional Methods include small-group activities, role playing exercises, practices, case studies, lecture, and group discussions.

Project Planning and Scheduling
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Delivering projects on schedule is one of the biggest challenges of most project managers because planning and scheduling issues lead to most conflicts throughout the project life cycle. Preparing a plan that is practical, feasible, and acceptable by all stakeholders is an art. Developing workable schedules to implement the plan and then keeping the project on track is a real challenge. Many organizations fail to plan properly they feel that planning wastes too much time. This module will deal with the fundamentals of project planning and scheduling along with good practices and tips.

Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

Recognize the importance of good project planning and scheduling in project management.

Explain the basic processes to develop and control project schedules.

Develop a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to prepare an overall project plan.

Construct a project network diagram and understand its importance and limitations in forecasting overall project completion dates.

Understand various techniques of estimating duration and resources for project activities.

Analyze network diagrams and understand concepts and applications of critical path analysis.

Prepare and use a Gantt chart for schedule planning and tracking project progress.

Explain several techniques and their implications for shortening overall project duration.

Discuss practical planning problems and people issues associated with management and control of project schedules.

Describe the role of software in facilitating the process of project planning and control.

You Will Benefit:
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to understand and apply various tools and techniques to develop, analyze, and monitor schedules to ensure timely completion of your projects.

Create and Maintain Outstanding Project Team Performance
Prepare to meet the challenges of the 21st century by creating quality driven teams. When high performance requires multiple skills and experiences, nothing is more vital than a project team empowered to succeed. Understanding the applying appropriate team dynamics will give you the flexibility and speed you need to withstand tough global competition. In this seminar, you'll participate in a team-building process and practice the art of organizing quality-driven project teams. You'll determine the potential effectiveness of empowerment and Self-Directed Teams relative to your unique project environment.

Who Should Attend
This seminar is for Project Managers, Managers of Project Managers, Project Team Members, and Technical Personnel - at all experience levels - who want to build effective project teams and achieve human synergies. It is especially recommended for Project Teams who attend as a group.

You Will Benefit
Development and enhance the contributions you make to your organization by being able to:

Recognize the stages of project team development and enhance the process of team building

Evaluate and influence team dynamics and team effectiveness

Organize project teams for success by developing effective team communications

Identify drivers and barriers to effective team building and develop appropriate solutions

Build cohesive and effective project teams

Develop appropriate team leadership styles and strategies to suit the project

Recognize and capitalize on cultural diversity

Manage project teams throughout the project's life cycle to optimize human synergies

Your Seminar Experience Will Cover

Stages of Team Development - forming, storming, norming, and performing.
Team Dynamics and Effectiveness - team context and goals; team composition and roles of team members; major team issues such as team norms, team cohesiveness, and team leadership.
Process of Team Building - eliminating barriers to high performance; gaining team commitment; drivers to effective team building; benefits and outcomes.
Organizing the Project Team - setting project goals; creating the team climate and assembling the project team; matching skill and responsibility.
Managing Project Teams - coordinating team efforts; developing an effective team communication plan; and developing trust and motivation within the project team.

Instructional Methods include small-group activities, skill practices, case studies, lectures, diagnostic questionnaires, and group discussion.