Mentoring and Coaching and Negotiations for Project Success

People Want to Change Everything … And Want It All To Stay The Same – Paul Coelho

The journey continues for the first group of 21 leaders participating in the Transition Manager Academy, the first comprehensive project management course available in Poland that is based on The PMI Talent Triangle®. The programme has been designed by AgilePMO experts and organised by Kozminski University under patronage of the Pro Progressio Foundation, the Association of Business Service Leaders, and the Project Management Institute Poland Chapter.

One of the five main themes of the Academy content is Developing and Influencing consisting of two modules: Mentoring and Coaching and Negotiations for Project Success.

The module Mentoring and Coaching provided participants with an understanding of the theory and practice of people development through mentoring and coaching within project teams; the role of mentoring in supporting and guiding individuals to achieve outcomes and the benefits of creating a coaching culture within transition programmes. Participants explored the values, behaviours, skills and capabilities that will enable them to understand and develop themselves and others and to fulfil the role of Leader As Coach within Transition Programmes.

For Transition Programmes, where the nature of the change enabled by the projects can be complex and challenging, the breadth and diversity of those who are affected by the changes and who are, ultimately going to deliver success, creates a compelling need for effective working and a capability to flourish during change.

Doing things differently is not always easy – habits form over time and are not readily modified, no matter how strong our desire or how good our intent. And what is hard for the individual is multiplied many times over for the organisation – for what is an organisation but a collection of individuals working towards a common purpose?

Systematic approaches to change in organisations that provide the rationale, the motivation, the framework and the reward for change, are a necessary but not sufficient basis for delivering sustained improvement. For things to become different, people within organisations must behave differently – they must think, see, hear and feel in new ways and act accordingly.

We all have within us the capability to change and we do the best we can with the resources we have available to us. Coaching, applied within the context of well-formed organisational and individual goals, can help release that capability, can help to identify and access resources that may be initially out of reach, can help each individual to develop and make habitual the new ways of behaving and being that will deliver a sustained difference.

Coaching is both a skill and an approach to personal development. A person who is coached can develop not only new skills and behaviours but also a capability for self-coaching that will continue to create the opportunities for change and for the achievement of excellence.

Likewise, organisations that develop a coaching approach to personal development create a culture where the seeking and achievement of excellence becomes a habit and where support for self and others becomes just what we do around here. The module was delivered by experienced trainer, Mike Rawlins.

“This session was really amazing, in each aspect! Very insightful!”

Influencing comes in many different flavours. One of them was covered in another module – Negotiations in Projects, which provided participants with overview of best practices and techniques that could be used during negotiations. Students had chance to practice on real live examples, ensure they know how to prepare, what processes to follow, which negotiations styles works best in what situation and understand their batna (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). It all was concluded in group negotiations where the survival of the transportation company was at stake in the Watermelon case!

The module was co-delivered by Agnieszka Kaczmarek-Kacprzak and Przemyslaw Kotecki. Agnieszka is professional trainer (VP at Effective Consulting), coach and engineer. She combines the engineering knowledge with trainer’s experience in the human resources management, soft skills development, innovative methods of education and project management in engineering, NGOs and education institutions.

Mike Rawlins