Leading Strategic Projects Successfully

Organisations rely on their managers to lead and execute strategic projects in order to realise their broader objectives.

Initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions, product launches and strategic realignments all demand skills in navigating complexity, understanding risk and effective stakeholder management.

If their managers lack such capabilities, then organisations will struggle to take advantage of new opportunities, drive change or create value.

An effective project is about more than good planning and scheduling; they need to be managed efficiently too, avoiding pitfalls and delivering the right outcome.

In any project, you must anticipate:

• complex issues and diverse, conflicting requirements
• unforeseen developments and a high degree of uncertainty
• the importance of building relationships within teams and with stakeholders, where you provide leadership and facilitate knowledge transfer.
• the different management approaches required according to the nature of the project and its goals

Leading Strategic Projects Successfully is a three-day programme that provides project leaders with this holistic view.

We adopt a managerial – rather than technical - perspective, focusing on issues that concern those who lead projects. We also consider the impact on those who may have oversight and those who will be required to implement new initiatives.

Why Cambridge?

Cambridge Judge Business School offers a distinctive approach born out of the University of Cambridge way.

• Drawing on cutting-edge academic research, as you would expect from a business school with 16 research centres
• This programme in particular draws upon very senior members of Faculty, including the Director of the School, the Co-Director of our Enterprise Centre and a past Director of Executive Education. As a consequence they bring a huge breadth of experience with diverse organisations at moments of strategic change
• The University of Cambridge has always emphasised smaller class sizes for maximum interaction and focused effort between world-class faculty and top quality participants. Cambridge Judge is no exception. This makes your experience here one of unrivalled quality, relevance and impact.

Topics

This highly interactive programme comprises simulations, exercises, role-playing games, cases, discussions and lectures. With simulations, exercises, role-playing games, cases, discussions and lectures, all sessions are highly interactive. You will leave the programme with a clear understanding of the concepts and practical tools which you can directly apply to your own projects.

• Planning and control – project monitoring and complexity
• Managing uncertainty – project risk management and novel projects
• Relationship management – managing stakeholders and motivating project teams
• Aligning your project with strategy – strategy cascading.

Benefits

• Improve your project-based skills, to deliver your projects to objectives, on time and on budget
• Learn the fundamentals of better planning and control
• Learn to handle complexity and uncertainty effectively to cope with difficult external environments
• Understand and manage project teams and stakeholders' relationships
• Understand strategy cascading.