Break out of the usual failure traps in designing digitalization and transformation projects by thinking differently and acting anew.

At first glance, most project managers (PMs) and their superiors seem to know how to successfully implement change projects – even though, according to relevant studies, there is an alarmingly high number of projects that have been failing for years for the same reasons. And, incredibly, the “solutions” often proposed by PM professionals from the well-known PM canons remain ineffective.

So what is preventing the implementation of known or new approaches, or what in some cases leads to the “undermining” of the positive effects of proven methods? Here are two hypotheses:

1.      We believe that some of the often cheaply offered PM approaches are no longer up to the task in today’s dynamic and complex project business (buzzword: planning illusion) and that the frequent mix of different PM approaches requires other skills to bring them together fruitfully.

2.      We also believe that successfully applying learned concepts/models etc. in the respective project/organizational context requires more personality, action variants, and “environmental know-how” than can be conveyed in PM training (from “knowing” to “wanting” and “being able to”).

In search of forward-looking answers to these hypotheses, we drew on our combination of systemic and agile thinking approaches used in change projects (linked with the dynamic organizational model by Glasl/Lievegoed), together with methods for identifying and overcoming obstructive thought patterns and emotional evaluations (Theory U, Scharmer, OpenSpaceBeta, Pfläging, ZRM, Storch).

From this, we have created an analysis and development format titled “Projekt- oder Change-Reload”, which, according to our experience, enables participants to perceive and evaluate project situations differently (“Reload”), including learning about new approaches to try out new action variants. This significantly reduces the risk of falling into harmful patterns of behavior and makes it possible to identify what is needed for the success of the most important projects in your portfolio.

In the “Reload” workshop announced here (the duration is up to you if you want to run the format in-house – we offer it publicly in sessions of 4–8 hours – we work with two moderators), we will show you, using your examples (we also have some on hand), how this process works and how profound it is in encouraging learning and new actions. We hope we’ve piqued your interest – feel free to contact us (by the way, we will be presenting on this topic on 9.6.26 at the CEO University of SVE): info@metisleadership.com