Author: Laura Ares

In the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI), two titans have emerged as formidable players in the world of text generation: ChatGPT and Bard. Recently, a workshop titled "AI in Project Management: Capabilities, Limitations, & the Power of Emotional Intelligence" brought these AI giants to the forefront, showcasing their unique capabilities and examining their limitations in the context of project management.

The Duel Begins: ChatGPT vs. Bard

The workshop kicked off with an exploration of the capabilities of ChatGPT and Bard in the realm of project management. Both AI models demonstrated their prowess in understanding and generating human-like text, offering insights into various aspects of project management.

• ChatGPT's adaptability and versatility were evident as it effortlessly tackled a range of project management scenarios.It showcased its ability to assist project managers in tasks such as generating project reports, drafting emails, and even providing advice on stakeholder communication. 
• Bard demonstrated its flair for storytelling, illustrating how it could craft engaging narratives to convey project progress and challenges effectively. Its creative approach to text generation was intriguing and brought a fresh perspective to project reporting.

Limitations: Where Do They Fall Short?

While both ChatGPT and Bard exhibited impressive capabilities, the workshop driven by Florian Ivan didn't shy away from exploring their limitations. Although it is very useful to avoid the blank page syndrome or even as a checklist, the content is quite generic and really depends on the art of each user to provide the necessary information to the AI model.

As he flagged, “technology is more advanced than we are”, but one element remains irreplaceable - human emotions, and according to the expert, it will be the main limitation for these tools, at least for the next months to come.

The Power of Emotional Intelligence: A Human Touch

One area where both ChatGPT and Bard fell short was in replicating Emotional Intelligence (EI), which is essential in project management. EI encompasses empathy, interpersonal skills, and an understanding of human emotions - qualities that are difficult to replicate in AI models. At the end, as Florian said “EI is understanding why SMART people do stupid things”.

The workshop underscored that AI, no matter how advanced, cannot replace the nuanced human touch required for effective communication, team collaboration, and stakeholder management.

Manage your emotions, not control them

This emotional intelligence journey emphasizes the importance of managing and identifying emotions without the relentless pursuit of control. How? With 3 simple steps:

1. Stop - Pause - Write your emotions: name your emotion and make it manageable. In other words, find a solution to a problem.
2. Know your trigger: adapt yourself to the context. For example, do not give bad news in the morning.
3. Express yourself: replace current expressions such as “Could I ask you a stupid question?” by sentences like “ I do not agree with you. Assert yourself.

Conclusion: A Convergence of AI and Human Expertise

In the end, the workshop left participants with a clear message: AI can augment project management, but the true power lies in the collaboration between these AI titans and human professionals. As project managers continue to leverage AI tools, they must also harness their emotional intelligence to ensure successful project outcomes. To quote our speaker: "it's just a tool. make your own judgments".

Laura Ares

Author: Joanna Lubowiecka

The Power Skill of the Future: Effective Communication in Project Management

Interview with Damien Gauthier, speaker of the 12th PMI Switzerland PM Conference

In today's rapidly evolving business environment, communication has emerged as a highly differentiating skill for project leaders.

Project Managers' roles transcend the technical aspects of project processes, pivoting towards soft skills that drive team engagement, client satisfaction, and project success. But achieving proficiency in communication, particularly public speaking, is not without challenges.

The Driving Force of AI

As we venture deeper into the age of Artificial Intelligence, we foresee that AI will shoulder most of the redundant manual tasks, freeing up Project Managers to focus on more strategic and people-oriented aspects of their roles. 

This prediction from Ricardo Vargas in his latest post (https://rvarg.as/1je/) is seconded by PMI's Pulse of the Profession 2023 report, where communication tops the Power Skills needed by project professionals.

In this not-so-distant future, PMs' capacity for conveying clear, persuasive messages will be the primary factor impacting their team's performance, the outcomes of their projects, and their professional career.

A Workshop to Harness the Future: Impactful Public Speaking for Project Managers

Enter Damien Gauthier's Impactful Public Speaking Workshop for Project Managers. As the founder of ImpactfulSpeaking, Damien has crafted a course tailored to prepare Project Managers for this imminent future. His workshop goes beyond superficial tips and tricks, empowering you with actionable frameworks and professional-level techniques to craft clear arguments and deliver them confidently.

The Man Behind: Meet Damien Gauthier

Damien's diverse background uniquely positions him to elevate your communication skills. As a mathematician, an actor, a director, a UX lead, and a team manager, Damien has accumulated a wealth of experiences that inform his holistic approach to speaking. With the precision of a mathematician, the flair of an actor, and the acumen of a team leader, he helps you master the fundamentals before guiding you toward developing advanced skills.

But his journey didn't stop there. As a curator and coach for TEDx Lausanne since 2015, Damien has honed his expertise to deliver transformative communication training. 

His philosophy? 

To empower good ideas with good storytelling for the benefit of organizational success.

Damien's Journey With PMI

In his successful collaboration with PMI Switzerland, Damien has delivered Impactful Speaking workshops and a 2-day masterclass, leaving a lasting impact on participants. Feedback from these attendees testify to mastering the art of persuasive communication and conquering stage fright – skills valuable across any professional context.

The Future is Now: Join the Communication Revolution

Communication is the key to better results and a thriving work environment. As the leading force in advancing project management excellence, it's only natural for PMI and its members to prioritize this skill. To equip yourself with the tools for effective communication, join Damien's Impactful Public Speaking Workshop.

To know more about Damien and his approach to communication training, visit his knowledge base for free at https://impactfulspeaking.substack.com and explore his training and coaching philosophy at www.impactfulspeaking.com. 

Trust in him to transform your communication abilities and unlock your true potential.

Author: Joanna Lubowiecka

Interview with Ruth Christine Lechler, speaker of the 12th PMI Switzerland PM Conference

Prepare yourself to be inspired by Ruth Christine Lechler, one of the speakers at the 12th PMI Conference. She will lead us on a journey titled "Empowering Tomorrow's Project Leaders: Revealing the Motivation of Generation Y." Don't miss the enlightening pre-conference interview with her!

Could you kindly introduce yourself and share some highlights from your personal and professional journey?

I am Ruth Christine Lechler, currently serving as a Research Associate at Zurich University of Applied Sciences and pursuing my doctoral studies at WU Vienna as part of the Project Management Group. My primary research and teaching areas encompass project motivation, project management, and organizational design. I am a passionate advocate for Design Thinking and have completed a rigorous course on "Global Team-based Design Innovation with Corporate Partners" from Stanford University. I have also been privileged to earn my degree in Management, Organizational Studies, and Cultural Theory from the prestigious University of St. Gallen (HSG). My professional journey spans roles such as a project manager in strategy consulting, and a project lead in transformation and digitalization projects within the industrial sector

What inspired you to select "Empowering Tomorrow's Project Leaders: Unveiling Motivation of Gen Y" as the theme for your workshops?

The choice of this topic was strongly influenced by my academic research and doctoral dissertation at WU Vienna's Project Management Group. In collaboration with PMI, we've been engrossed in a PMI-funded research initiative titled “The Future of Project Work”. The focus on Generation Y and their motivation to work on projects emerged from this extensive research project.

What outcomes can the audience anticipate from these workshops?

From this enriching session, participants can expect to...

• Harness their passion and energy for successful project outcomes by delving deeper into their core motivations.
• Gain insights on mentoring young professionals effectively.
• Learn strategies to motivate and lead younger team members.
• Understand how to maintain a competitive edge by unlocking the potential of their young workforce.

After the conclusion of the workshops, attendees will have access to a PMI-issued whitepaper that encapsulates the key findings. Additionally, we are conducting workshops with various companies to aid them in understanding their motivational profiles, and subsequently developing strategic approaches for their project managers and their career progressions, attendees can contact me, if they are interested

How does your presentation align with the conference's theme: "Innovative project management: power skills for the future"?

My presentation, "Empowering Tomorrow's Project Leaders: Unveiling Motivation of Gen Y", aligns with the conference theme by shedding light on the driving forces behind young project professionals. This aligns with the future of project management, where young professionals are not just seeking, but expecting work environments that provide learning, purpose, and achievement - all of which are found abundantly in project-based settings. By unveiling our research findings on what motivates young professionals to engage in project work, the presentation provides vital insights into their power skills. This knowledge will help team leads and organizations to harness these skills effectively, fostering innovative project management practices, and preparing them for a future where such skills will be increasingly important.

What influenced your decision to present at the PMI conference?

I was extended an invitation by a PMI member who had previously witnessed a presentation of mine at another conference. They agreed on the relevance and adaptability of my work, and I am excited about the opportunity to share my insights with the PMI community.

Author: Joanna Lubowiecka

Interview with Matteo Salabrina, speaker of the 12th PMI Switzerland PM Conference

Get ready to be inspired by Matteo Scalabrino, a distinguished speaker at the 12th PMI Conference who will take us into the journey of “From engineering project management to environmental sustainability within manufacturing: description of a journey” and check out the insightful pre-conference interview with him.

1. How would you introduce yourself? How would you describe your personal and career achievements?

I am an industrial engineer, by training and by professional experience. I have oriented my career to the international level since the very beginning, in 1998, when I had the opportunity to complement my engineering degree from the Polytechnic School of Turin (Italy) with a master's degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Montpellier (France).

I had the opportunity to pursue my career by taking R&D roles in the USA and in France, and I was able to move to process development and engineering project management in 2005, when I participated in the construction and commissioning of a new plant in Germany. From there, I moved on to similar projects in Italy, Romania and China until 2011.

During the first half of my career, I had the opportunity to cumulate a significant experience in engineering project management within the fast-paced environment of startup companies: we had to fail quickly and learn fast, and we lacked the structure of a formal engineering project management process.

This is exactly what I found when I moved to Syngenta Switzerland at the end of 2011. Syngenta is a company that collected and merged the legacy of two major European chemical conglomerates of the 20th century: the Swiss CIBA and the British ICI. Part of this legacy was a very robust governance of capital expenditure, backed up by an equally robust engineering project management process. The quality of these processes was confirmed back in 2017 by a benchmark performed by IPA, "a benchmarking, research, and consulting organization devoted to the empirical research of capital projects and project systems".

For 10 years (from end of 2011 until end of 2021), I occupied roles with an increasing level of responsibility within the Syngenta EAME Capital Project Group: project engineer, project manager and eventually engineering manager. I directly managed a project portfolio of more than 90mUSD, and I have been involved in a number of cross-functional initiatives, both at regional and global level. This 10 years long experience allowed me to consolidate my competencies in the area of engineering project management, competencies that became key for successfully delivering two strategic and complex projects in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. What motivated you to choose the "From engineering project management to environmental sustainability within manufacturing: description of a journey”  topic for your workshops?

Across my whole career, I have been directly involved in projects dedicated to the development of technologies for environmental protection, in the frame of an evolving, but still well-known and somehow predictable regulatory environment.

But the beginning of this decade has brought up a set of overwhelming, urgent subjects: once the pandemic behind us, challenges such as climate change, energy crisis, geopolitical conflicts and (eventually) protection of biodiversity have increasingly influenced the agenda of globalized companies like Syngenta.

So far, environmental sustainability has been a subject of Freedom to Operate: companies have been influenced by external stakeholders, and until 2020 it was sufficient to declare carbon emission reduction targets validated by the SBTi, and therefore in line with the objectives of the Paris agreement. In this context, the subject was owned mainly by functions such as Business Sustainability and External Communication. But the external pressure has rapidly increased, and companies now have to demonstrate that they are capable of reaching such targets. So, when in 2021 the company created the new role of global manufacturing sustainability lead, I had the opportunity to steer my career in this direction, since the subject of climate change, and in particular the challenge of decreasing the carbon emissions of our industrial operations, was the one that captured most of my attention.

Indeed, as an engineering project manager, I was increasingly worried by the gap existing between the urgency (for instance) of the energy transition, and the current (and sometimes obsolete) engineering standards applied to the design and construction of new industrial assets. But what I quickly learnt is the complexity of climate change mitigation, the need of climate change adaptation, and the sheer difficulty associated with the decarbonization of the chemical industry. All these are formidable intellectual challenges, and I firmly believe they offer great development opportunities to the community of engineers and project managers.

3. What can the audience expect after these workshops?

My intention is to offer the audience the opportunity to:

• Have a clear understanding of the concept of environmental sustainability, which "refers to the responsible use and management of natural resources in a way that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
• Have the largest understanding of the most urgent element of the environmental sustainability (a stable, predictable climate is considered a natural resource), of the challenges associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation for industrial operations, and in particular for the chemical industry
• Grasp the order of magnitude of the mutations and transformations required, and therefore of the need for the contribution of every actor within the industry
• Understand how the engineering and project management communities can bring a contribution
• Describe a process we have developed in Syngenta for introducing the variable of sustainability in the design of new industrial assets (the Project Sustainability Assessment)
• Spark a discussion allowing the exchange of experiences from different industries, some of which are certainly more advanced than the chemical sector

4. How does your presentation fit the title of the Conference: «Innovative project management: power skills for the future?"

Meeting the targets set for carbon emissions reduction will require a fundamental transformation of all industrial sectors: the community of engineers and project managers are and will be actors of this transformation. The tools, models, metrics and performance indicators that have been applied so far need to be adapted to these new challenges. The business cases need to factor in the risks associated with the sustainability of an investment. All the above requires the development of a new set of competencies and skills in the areas, for instance, of corporate, asset and product carbon footprint assessment, Life Cycle Impact Assessment, energy transition.

5. Why did you decide to speak at the PMI conference?

I have been informed by Ethel Sato of the organization of the Swiss PMI Annual Conference, and after having discussed with her, she invited me to apply. Given the complexity of the issues associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation, I see this as an opportunity not only for reaching out and influencing a community beyond the Syngenta boundaries, but also for eventually benefitting from the experience of colleagues that are facing similar challenges.