Author: Daria Frey, PMP

I won’t spend time telling you how AI is transforming project management, you already know that. But here’s something worth thinking about: the way you ask AI for help can completely change the results you get. Let’s look at an example.

Two project managers, Kai and Gerda, need a project risk analysis for an upcoming initiative. They both use ChatGPT, but their approaches differ.

Kai’s prompt:
"Provide a risk analysis for Phase 1 clinical trial supply project".

Gerda’s prompt:
"Act as a senior risk management consultant with 20 years of experience in clinical trial supply. Generate a structured risk analysis for a clinical trial supply process for a Phase 1 study conducted in the US, with supply manufacturing in Canada. Identify at least ten key risks across logistics, regulatory compliance, quality control, and operational efficiency. For each risk, classify its severity (low, medium, high), describe its potential impact, suggest specific mitigation strategies (e.g., contingency planning, supplier audits, cold-chain validation), and align recommendations with GMP, GDP, ICH Q9, and applicable FDA and Health Canada regulations. Format the analysis as a structured report suitable for clinical trial managers and regulatory compliance teams, using clear, professional language. Where applicable, reference dependencies on CDMOs, third-party logistics providers, and clinical trial sites. Provide the risk analysis in a table format with columns for “Risk Category”, “Severity Level”, “Potential Impact”, “Mitigation Strategy”, and “Industry Best Practices".

You can imagine how different the responses would be. Try it yourself and see.

This example highlights a simple but crucial takeaway: The quality of AI output is directly dependent on the quality of the input. This is the essence of prompt engineering – the ability to craft precise, strategic instructions that guide AI systems to deliver meaningful insights and actions.

I hope this demonstrates that to use AI at its full capacity, you need to master your prompts. Now, let’s break down the core principles.

Crafting Effective Prompts: Core Principles

1. Defined Role or Perspective – Assign a role to AI for more contextually accurate responses.
   Example: “Act as a project risk analyst and identify potential cost overruns”
2. Clarity & Specificity – Clearly articulate the task, avoiding vague or overly broad requests.
   Example: “Generate a project timeline for a new product launch, including key milestones and dependencies”
3. Contextual Relevance – Incorporate industry-specific guidelines, frameworks, or past project data.
   Example: “Analyze risks based on the PMI risk management framework”
4. Tone and Audience Consideration – Specify the expected tone, depth, and target audience.
   Example: “Summarize this project update for senior executives in a concise, data-driven format”
5. Use of Examples – Provide examples to clarify expectations and guide AI interpretation.
   Example: “Provide a Gantt chart template similar to [insert known example]”
6. Ethical Considerations & Compliance – Ensure compliance with company policies and ethical AI use.
   Example: “Generate a stakeholder communication plan while adhering to GDPR data privacy guidelines”

You can check Gerda’s prompt above as a good example that utilises these principes.

Furthermore, to master your prompt engineering skill, avoid these common mistakes:

• Information Overload – Keep prompts focused, avoid asking for too much at once;
• Vague Requests – Generic prompts lead to generic (and often unhelpful) responses;
• Skipping Validation – AI-generated outputs should always be reviewed against project goals and industry standards.

Remember, AI-generated responses improve with refinement. After receiving an initial output, refine your prompt using:

"Review your response considering: accuracy and alignment with project goals, risk assessment completeness, and resource optimization opportunities"

Additionally, to allow AI to probe for missing details, ensuring a more tailored and useful output, include this phrase:
"Ask me clarifying questions to provide the most effective response"

AI can make mistakes, therefore always follow the V3 Principle:

• Verify against current industry standards
• Validate with subject matter experts
• Version Control successful prompts for future use

The second most important rule? Data security is non-negotiable – never share sensitive or proprietary information with AI systems.

If you’re interested in diving deeper into prompt engineering, I highly recommend the PMI course “Talking to AI: Prompt Engineering for Project Managers”.

Ultimately, the level of detail in your prompt should match the complexity of the task. If you're simply looking for basic information, a short prompt may be enough. But when tackling high-impact tasks, it's worth leveraging AI’s full potential with a well-structured prompt.

As AI’s role in project management continues to expand, we, as committed project management professionals, must stay ahead of the curve by using AI to:

• Faster, smarter decision-making
• Greater efficiency in daily tasks
• More strategic and impactful leadership

Author: Elissa Farrow

The future of leadership is where change is seen not as a challenge, but as an opportunity.
I am seeing a new generation of leaders emerging and am getting excited by the possibilities. These leaders recognise that their words wield the power to shape narratives, and they actively seek out dynamic, empowering approaches that transcend traditional transactional models. The journey they embark upon goes beyond managing change; it’s about co-creating, empowering, and fostering continuous improvement. As we open our organisations to leadership’s next generation, it’s clear that the future belongs to those who champion collaboration, innovation, inclusion, and adaptability.

March for me has been three weeks of travelling up and back from Sydney, Australia working with a diverse range of leaders, change makers and strategists.
One significant shift I’ve been contemplating is the transformation of leadership models and approaches – moving away from transactional models to embrace a more dynamic and empowering style. This shift is not merely about semantics; it’s a fundamental reorientation of leadership philosophy in response to the changing landscape of legislation, community sentiment, culture, and the expectations of current working generations.

Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to personally coach leaders and executives across a range of industries. I’ve witnessed in these relationships the subtle, yet profound impact language and process has on our understanding of ‘evolving’ an organisation from one form to another. Some leaders no longer refer to the process of management of the ‘evolution’ as change management, others still use the process and principles of change as their underpinning management philosophy. To some, the formal term, ‘change management’, often carries a weight that suggests a more top-down and directive process. This perception can inadvertently communicate that change is something ‘done to’ employees, implying inadequacy or a lack of agency, rather than what others promote as the change process as an opportunity to co-design, collaborate, empower, and adapt. It is all in the framing, tone, and demonstration.

The roots of Change Management as a discipline trace back to the mid-1900s, formalising in the 1990s with models like Kotter’s 8 steps and PROSCI, presenting a more structured ‘management’ approach. Many early management theorists, psychologists, and academics and leaders were men. Family, societal, global, and organisational dynamics were different in the last millennia. Distinct roles and relationships between people in the workplace existed, with specialists being honoured, and generalists not. Hierarchy and traditional leadership stereotypes often from more military inspired, command and control structures, were strictly adhered to. Issues like discrimination were prevalent and the knowledge or desire for inclusive strategies was absent or ignored.

Fast forward to today, where many organisations are immersed in processes of ‘continuous improvement’ or ‘incremental change’. Society is different, we are in a connected and more educated world, we have global conflicts and unrest, we have cloud-based technologies and interactions at the centre of many corporate transaction and operating models. The executives and leaders I collaborate with acknowledge that, in their contexts, large-scale transformation events are becoming less common. Instead, there’s an expectation for staff to embody agility and an adaptive way of working, embracing a regular cadence of incremental improvement and actively working towards enhancing processes, strategies, and skills over time. That is why agile change and project management approaches are so popular.

As a firm believer in an adaptable mindset (explored in my doctoral research), I advocate to my clients to make a conscious shift from transactional to transformational leadership. Given Artificial Intelligence over time will replace or enhance some of the more transactional dimensions of many workplaces (and indeed some dimensions of the leadership decision making process), I believe that future focussed leaders must focus on actively communicating a compelling vision, adapt to change with resilience, and invest in the growth and well-being of their teams to navigate the complexities of today’s business environment.

The future of leadership to me lies in unlearning some of the former ways of working and lifting to a more collaborative, empowering, and adaptive approach. Our next-generation leaders will be expecting and, in some cases, actively removing traditional frameworks. Those next-gen leaders I work with have a lot of ideas on how things can be different and the energy and drive to experiment and see what is possible. They are currently getting stifled by the bias of ‘we tried that, or we can’t do that’. When I coach younger/next generation leaders or those aspiring to leadership they have great ideas of how to grow and transform a sustainable business, but also know there are other ways to achieve better outcomes for our people and the planet. They just want to have the ‘ladder held for them’, while they try.

I believe some of these ideas from the next generation of leaders need to be reflective in University MBA programs of today. I asked my recent cohort of next-gen coaching clients what they felt were the top five priorities for inclusion in MBA or Leadership development programs. This is what Mitch, Lisa and Nic told me:

1. Collaborative Leadership: Shift from rigid hierarchies, urging existing leaders to embrace collaborative and cooperative styles. Inspire joint decision-making and shared responsibilities, tapping into diverse team strengths for collective success.
2. Diverse Change Approaches: Broaden the focus beyond formal change models. Empower leaders to navigate continuous, organic change, with agility and resilience in respond to changing circumstances – “Evolution not Revolution”.
3. Holistic Success Metrics: Expand success metrics beyond finance and output. Equip leaders with a proactive approach, balancing financial success with ethics, social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and a future-oriented perspective for overall organisational success. “Reward experimentation and curiosity”.
4. Master Emotional Intelligence: Proactively elevate emotional intelligence and insights from neuroscience in leadership development. Inspire leaders to take an active role in developing these skills for effective communication and a positive organisational culture.
5. Adaptable Leadership Models: Shift from rigid leadership models. Encourage leaders to develop an adaptable toolkit that recognises the need for responsiveness to organisational needs, industry dynamics, and cultural contexts. Create a positive mindset that values flexibility in leadership practices, anchored in a forward-looking approach through futures thinking.

In wrapping up, leadership futures are an ever-evolving journey where adaptability, collaboration, and a forward-thinking mindset is key. I feel very grateful to have the opportunity to coach and work with the next generation of leaders. They understand that the power of their words shapes narratives, and those I know actively seek dynamic, empowering approaches over traditional transactional models. They see change not as a hurdle but as an opportunity for co-creation and empowerment. Embracing technological advancements and valuing inclusivity, these younger leaders proactively lead their teams guided by a vision that extends beyond the present. The leadership landscape is undergoing a profound shift, and as we steer towards collaborative, innovative, and adaptable horizons, the potential for growth becomes limitless.

Disclaimer: The ideas, views, and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of International Institute for Learning or any entities they represent.

Author: Joanna Keller

 Dear PMI Members and Friends,

Time is running out!
Don’t miss your chance to join our upcoming Virtual Event on Emotional Intelligence & Active Listening.
Secure your spot now and take your project management skills to the next level!

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the key to effective leadership, collaboration, and communication. It’s the ability to perceive, interpret, and manage emotions - both our own and those of others. In the fast-paced world of project management, mastering EI and Active Listening can make all the difference in fostering strong teams and driving successful project outcomes.

If someone asked me why to attend this event, I would say that it’s a game-changer for anyone looking to enhance their communication skills, build stronger relationships, and navigate complex project dynamics with confidence. Through expert-led breakout sessions you’ll learn practical techniques to improve collaboration and decision-making in your projects.

If you’re ready to gain deeper insights into how Emotional Intelligence and Active Listening can transform your leadership and project success, don’t wait - register now!

Event Highlights:

• Date & Time: April 7, 2025 (Virtual Event)
• Trainer: Natalia Pliszczak
• Topics Covered: Enhancing EI, mastering Active Listening, strengthening collaboration
• Format: Engaging discussions, breakout sessions, and expert guidance

To reserve your spot or learn more about the event, click here.

Looking forward to an insightful and interactive session together!

Best regards,
Joanna Keller
PMI Switzerland

Author: Paul Selwold, PMP

Dear Members,

The votes have been tallied, and a majority (96%) have voted to approve the proposed amendments to the Chapter Bylaws.
This is a percentage well above the two-thirds’ vote required to ratify changes to the Bylaws.

These changes will now go into immediate effect, with a copy of the now-revised Bylaws being submitted to PMI Regional for their records.

Our deepest gratitude to all who participated in this vote. Thank you for being part of the community and thank you for your engagement!

Warmest regards,

Paul Selwold, on behalf of the Board of Directors