14 Instructional Hours

Project Leadership

Managing projects to exceed objectives and minimize risk

About the program

This interactive program will enable you to create an adaptive project environment and to effectively lead a project organization.

Led by two pioneers in the field of project leadership, this program connects the organization’s strategy and direction to the projects that will bring that vision to life.

More than 2/3 of all projects 'fail' by the traditional definitions. Firms able to successfully launch new services and products gain a significant strategic advantage.

In this program you will learn to:

  • Effectively lead new initiatives from initiation to delivery
  • Discuss the benefits and pitfalls of modern project management approaches, including the agile methodology
  • Explore why, despite improvements in project management, projects continue to fail
  • Permeate awareness and visibility of projects throughout the organization
  • Recognize early signs of missed deliverables, and react to prevent a full blown crisis
  • Explore the art of project execution that keeps projects aligned with strategy
  • Establish accountability through effective project leadership
  • Generate "buy-in" and keep stakeholders involved and engaged
  • Understand the barriers related to project delivery and effectively prioritize organizational resources to overcome those barriers

Who should attend

This program is designed for executives and leaders charged with deploying change strategies and/or launching new products or services. The program is especially intended for:

  • Vice Presidents, Directors or Managers of Operations
  • Engineering, IT/MIS, Development, and R&D.

High potential managers and junior executives will also benefit from attending this program.

PMI logo

For participants who are already Project Management Professional (PMP) certified, 15 Category B Professional Development Units (15 PDUs) will be earned by completing this program.

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Queen’s Project Leadership is also designated as an approved HRPA continuing professional development activity.

You might also be interested in: Strategy, Execution, or Strategic Analytics

Personal benefits

  • Become a more effective project executive or sponsor
  • Manage project organizations to meet or exceed expectations
  • Implement best practices to overcome project obstacles and manage risk
  • Appreciate the uncertainty associated with strategic projects
  • Increase project visibility and priority across the organization to overcome that uncertainty

Organizational benefits

  • Increase the success rate of major projects
  • Create organizational synergies between project groups and other departments
  • Establish an execution culture that permeates the entire organization
  • Know when and how to kill projects
  • Getting value from the Project Management Office

This program will integrate dynamic case studies, business situations and facilitator-led discussions.

Core topics include:

  • Differentiating Project Leadership from Project Management
  • The Paradox of Project Control
  • Project metrics and ‘Celebrating the Reds’ on Status Reports
  • Getting Value from the Project Management Office (PMO)
  • Strategic Portfolio Management
  • Creating a Compelling Vision
  • Project Visibility and Motivating the Team – creating a project spirit to inspire energy, excitement and commitment to the project
  • Project Acceleration
  • Risk and Crisis Management
  • Leadership Style and Team Culture
  • Execution – applying project tools to managing the operating plan

Session Leaders

Program architects Kathryn Brohman and Barry Cross are co-authors of Project Leadership: Creating Value with an Adaptive Project Organization.

Kathryn Brohman

A world in which technology enables businesses to prosper, employees to thrive, and a culture for driving results to flourish is the vision behind Kathryn Brohman’s thought leadership in sustainable execution.

An Associate professor at Smith School of Business, Queen’s University, Kathryn has co-authored several books that focus on how today’s organizations can navigate business practices to drive short-term results without compromising long-term success. Her most recent book entitled SHIFT: A New Mindset for Sustainable Execution presents results from her work with over 750+ organizations that helped translate strategy into action. The book provides a pragmatic approach to identifying salient execution barriers, filling gaps to stabilize an execution backbone, and removing distractions to seamlessly adapt to change.

Since arriving at Queen’s University in 2003, Kathryn has pioneered programs in Strategy Execution and Digital Transformation across MBA and executive programs. She has worked with hundreds of organizations in North America to translate strategy into action. Kathryn has received multiple funding grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) as well as the Ontario Research Foundation and published her work in premier journals including MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, Harvard Business Review, MIS Quarterly Executive, and Communications of the ACM.



Barry Cross

Barry Cross is an expert and thought leader in innovation, execution and operations strategy. He joined Smith School of Business after nearly 20 years in the automotive and manufacturing sectors with Magna, Autosystems and DuPont, where he led many key strategic initiatives, including nearly 30 program launches in North America, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Barry speaks and consults widely in the areas of Lean, Innovation, Strategy, Projects and Execution, enabling organizations to create sustainable value for their customers.  He is the bestselling author of three books, including Simple: Killing Complexity for a Lean and Agile Organization, and several Most Read articles.

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Katie Parks

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Call 1.888.393.2338 or
Monday to Friday. 8:30 am - 4:00 pm EDT

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Upcoming Sessions

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Remote Learning

This program can be delivered via remote Learning
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Recommended Hotels

The Fairmont Royal York
The Intercontinental Toronto Centre

Located in Canada?

Offset part or all of program fees through the Canada Job Grant

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