Best Practices from a Senior Mentor
My Job
Tony Ulwick, the inventor of Outcome-Driven Innovation, is the founder of the “Jobs-to-be-Done” theory. This theory says, “Customers don’t simply buy a product or service (think this class)—they “hire” it to do a “job”.
What is the job you are hiring me to do through this class?
You’re hiring me to guide a transformative experience—one that helps attendees:
- Reimagine what’s possible—to break through limiting beliefs and rediscover their spark
- Reconnect with their potential—to feel seen, valued, and capable of meaningful change
- Belong to a learning community—where friendship, trust, community, and mutual support fuel growth
- Step into action—to move from inspiration to implementation with confidence and clarity
- Exchange wisdom and lived experience—in a space that honors every voice and story
- Receive mentorship shaped by decades of insight—to accelerate learning and avoid common pitfalls
Class Overview
Successful projects don’t happen by chance—they’re the result of intentional leadership and proven practices. In this high-impact, no-nonsense course, project management expert and senior mentor, Neal Whitten PMP, shares his most effective, field-tested strategies for leading consistently successful projects that separate high-performing project leaders from the rest. These are not theories—these are proven, actionable behaviors that drive results.
Designed for professionals who want to elevate their leadership and execution skills, this course blends leadership strategies, power skills, and highly effective ways of working to help participants take ownership of outcomes, lead with confidence, and make things happen.
Whether you adopt one practice or many, you’ll walk away with tools that can elevate your leadership—and your career. Be ready to challenge assumptions, rethink your approach, and step into the kind of leadership that gets noticed.
This isn’t just a professional development and project management course; it’s a leadership accelerator. This 4-day course may be one of the most valuable training investments that you can bring to your organization.
What You’ll Gain:
- A toolkit of Neal’s most effective leadership and project management practices
- Insights even seasoned PMs wish they’d learned sooner
- Being coached by a business-centric, no-nonsense, senior practitioner/mentor, and 8-time book author
- Practical insights to help you lead with accountability, confidence and clarity
- A fresh perspective on what it takes to lead high-performing initiatives
Why It Matters
This course delivers actionable insights you can apply immediately—whether you are leading a small team or managing enterprise-wide initiatives. You’ll gain the skills to influence outcomes, foster collaboration, and deliver value.
Learning Objectives
- Provide best-practice advice from a senior mentor that spans the most important project management topics in play today
- Recognize how to make things happen—how to lead—despite what is happening around you
- Identify top reasons why projects fail and how you can avoid failure
- AI and your project: Identify opportunities and cautions
- Identify soft skills (power skills) that are essential for your success, including those soft skills required when working with team members and your leaders
- Provide insights into predictive, adaptive, and hybrid delivery models
- Improve the effectiveness of project initiation, planning, execution and control, and closeout
- Identify the roles and responsibilities of project managers, sponsors, and people managers
- Culture training for project teams
- Experience “What would you do?” individual and group exercises to enhance critical thinking
- And much more…
Topics Include
This course dives deep into the real-world challenges and skills that define successful project management and leadership. It covers a broad range of essential topics that include:
- Adopting effective leadership behaviors
- Learning how to manage priorities
- Identifying top reasons why projects fail and how you can avoid failure
- Discussing AI and your project: Opportunities and cautions
- Providing insights into predictive, adaptive, and hybrid delivery models
- Sharpening your critical thinking through participating in “what-would-you-do” exercises
- Leading without making it personal or taking it personally
- Identifying strategies for navigating complex team dynamics, including:
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- Working effectively with senior leaders
- Dealing with difficult personalities
- Aligning around shared values
- Leading culture-building efforts within project teams
- Recognizing too-soft behavior
- Revealing how to escalate issues effectively
- Leading with courage, clarity, and accountability
- Identifying impactful soft (power) skills
- Defining roles and responsibilities of project managers, project sponsors, and people managers; along with their symbiotic relationships
- Introducing creative governance structures like new-project review boards
- Learning how to manage senior-management-directed project end dates
- Understanding the impact of multitasking on project plans
- Clarifying the power of meets-minimum requirements (needs vs. wants)
- Adopting effective meeting strategies
- Valuing intermittent project reviews
- Making things happen
- Scoring your mastery of foundational soft skills (power skills)
- Creating a Personal Performance Improvement Plan to accelerate your growth
- And more…
Credentials
I am a certified Project Management Professional (PMP)® since 1992, specializing in Project Management, Power Skills, Project Troubleshooting, Team Building, and Professional Development. I have presented to/trained thousands of people from across hundreds of companies, institutions, and public organizations worldwide, many listed here. I have written 8 books, 150+ articles, and have many stories to share. This training has also benefited from my experience of mentoring hundreds of project managers, managers, and high-performance individuals, and working with thousands of professionals.
Testimonials
- Neal’s approach is no-nonsense and results driven. If you’re serious about leading successful projects, this course is a must. — Jordan M., Senior Project Manager
- One of the most valuable training experiences I’ve had in my career. The content was sharp, relevant, and delivered with real-world credibility. — Priya S., Program Manager
- This course challenged me to rethink my leadership style and gave me a fresh perspective on accountability and ownership. — Daniel K., PMO Lead
- Neal’s course was a game-changer. It helped me identify blind spots in my leadership style and gave me tools to address them head-on. — Nina W., Business Transformation Lead
- Neal’s real-world experience shines through in every lesson. He’s the guy I want alongside me in my project’s foxhole. — Alicia R., Program Director
Who Should Attend
This course is for project/program managers, team leaders, other project members with an interest in becoming more productive, accountable, and valuable contributors to their projects, and managers/senior managers with an interest in leadership and project management.
Course Length
The full course is 4 days; however, two- and three-day versions can be created by removing some content.
PMI Talent Triangle
Four days: 28 PDUs (Power Skills-14.0, Ways of Working-8.0, Business Acumen-6.0).
Three days: 21 PDUs (Power Skills-10.5, Ways of Working-6.0, Business Acumen-4.5).
Two days: 14 PDUs (Power Skills-7.0, Ways of Working-4.0, Business Acumen-3.0).
Contact Neal
Join me for a fun, informative, and beneficial investment in your job and career. If you would like more information or to schedule a class, contact me via my Contact page here. Or you can email me (neal@nealwhittengroup.com) or call me (770-378-2980).
I am dedicated to your business success and believe we can achieve great things together.
Sincerely,
Neal Whitten, PMP