Effective Tools, Techniques, & Models for Project Management

We live in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) environment and when it comes to construction management and running a business, there’s a tsunami of information out there.  We need to be agile, and be able to effectively respond to and manage change.  We need to know how to lead and succeed, how to manage our time, tasks and talent, how to turnaround a tumultuous project. Everyone wants to tap into the tools of the trade, but with so much knowledge flying at us, how do we know what really sticks?

Consider this course a carefully curated cheat sheet to help you conquer the multifaceted world of construction management.

This course provides a comprehensive set of tools and mental models that you can draw upon, utilize and combine to assist you in developing pathways and responses to problems that will advance and improve outcomes in the field of construction management – and other areas of your personal & professional life.

Whether you’re just starting out or have decades of experience managing large and complex projects, this course will provide you with a new set of tools and also teach you how to apply old tools to projects and businesses in new agile, thoughtful, strategic and unconventional ways.

Topics & Outcomes Include:

• Mission, vision – why they are important and how to communicate them effectively
• Responding to VUCA- Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous environments regarding construction projects
• How to develop and meet your goals and how it applies to construction projects
• Leadership versus management – the traits to build on
• Proactive vs. reactive – how to maximize one while minimizing the other
• Effective meetings – how to lead them
• Emotional Intelligence – learn how to improve your EQ
• The Planning Fallacy and Confirmation Bias – how to ensure your plans are workable & realistic
• Continuous improvement – why it’s more important than ever and how we need to change to improve
• Project monitoring and control - apply effective tools and techniques
• Personal time management, you can’t manage projects unless you can manage yourself- you will learn to apply tools and techniques that work for your personality
• Management by wandering around (MBWA) – how to effectively apply it to your sites
• Black Box Thinking and Cognitive Dissonance – how to recognize your failures and leverage them to your advantage
• Pareto’s Law and the 20/80 rule – learn to apply to your construction business
• The Checklist Manifesto and construction- how to develop effective checklists
• Building great relationships – you will learn to think differently in your interactions with stakeholders
• Selling and Negotiation strategies –how to negotiate a successful change
• Black Swan events – develop methods to minimize their occurrence
• How to ask better questions in order to get better answers
• How to reframe difficult tasks and problems
• The art of a successful presentation, to clients, to subs, to employees
• Why success can lead to failure and how to avoid it
• Steps to leverage today’s failure into tomorrow’s success
• Productivity and please do sweat the small stuff
• Motivational triggers
• Keeping up in a fast-moving world, learn to learn faster & have better retention

This course is for you is you are involved in managing/leading construction projects at any level

This course is facilitated by the instructor on the Zoom platform. Access information will be provided to you in advance of the training.

Course Requirements (Technology & Participation)

Please make sure you have the following:

• Computer or laptop with webcam: This course will involve on-screen interaction with your instructor and classmates, reading/viewing on-screen content like slides or videos, and interacting via typing with questions or responses. For this reason, we recommend that you have a full computer/laptop set-up and don’t recommend using a cell phone or tablet to attend the training.
• A quiet space with minimal distractions: plan to be fully engaged in the class and clear your work schedule just as you would for attendance in an in-class program.

Tom Stephenson, MBA, CM-LEAN, PMP

Tom is a national award-winning professor and best-selling textbook author whose background in education spans nearly three decades. He has been a full-time Professor at George Brown College in Toronto, ON, since 1992, and prior to teaching, he owned, managed, and operated a mid-sized general contracting company. Tom holds three Trade Licenses: General Carpenter, Brick and Stone Mason, and Industrial Woodworker.

Tom authored, developed, and coordinates the Building Renovation and Restoration Technician, and Technology Programs at George Brown College. He also teaches Project Management for professional organizations including The Construction Institute of Canada and the Ontario General Contractors Association, as well as Building Science courses at the University of Toronto and Ryerson University. Tom is the author of the newly released textbook, Planning, Scheduling, and Control of Construction Projects with American Technical Publishers, as well as four best-selling editions of Understanding Construction Drawings for Housing and Small Buildings with Nelson Publishing Canada (now with Top Hat).

A champion of change management, Tom takes pride in helping students and businesses navigate uncharted territories, take calculated risks, and rise above the status quo.