Project Management Extension Workshop – October 2008
Lea and John Clark from the Tasmanian Fire Service come to grips with characteristics of managers and leaders
After a successful pilot of the Project Management Extension workshop in August 2007, the workshop was facilitated again in October 2008. Based on feedback from the pilot, the workshop was extended from 1 ½ days to 2 full days in order to incorporate more of the “people stuff”.
15 experienced project management practitioners came together for the workshop, held at the Athletics Centre at the Hobart Domain. Not only were they able to add to their “project management toolbelts” by learning new tools and techniques, but they also shared their knowledge and experience with each other. There was considerable discussion, sometimes of very current affairs (refer to front page of the Mercury Newspaper 2nd October 2008) in an open and collegial atmosphere. As one participant commented, the workshop provided a “chance for high level discussions with people with similar challenges” in the field of project management. Another participant commented that the least useful aspect of the workshop was the “toilet breaks – as I learnt nothing new”. Which is quite a relief, really.
Lea and Sharyn, along with the workshop participants, were challenged by the noise from sports carnivals being held on the running track, directly outside the “relaxed learning environment”. Some of the key learnings from the first day of the workshop were the techniques for clarifying outcomes and “yellow won”, and we would like to thank the cheerleaders from Mount Carmel College for reinforcing that learning for us.