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The 15-minute conference: Top tips from APM’s Women in Project Management Conference · Project Podcast

• 0:08
  Welcome to the IBM podcast, brought to you by The Chartered
• 0:11
  Body for the Project Profession. My name is Emma Devita and I'm
• 0:15
  the editor of APM's Quarterly journal, Project and Your Host.
• 0:19
  In September, a PM held its annual Women in Project
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  Management conference in London under the heading of Pathways to
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  Progression. The event gave delegates the
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  chance to step away from their everyday project work to focus
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  on their careers and put their project skills to work on
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  themselves. With two streams focused on both
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  career progression and personal development, the event also
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  welcomed an inspirational keynote speakers opening the day
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  was Dame Inga Beale, the former CEO of global insurance giant
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  Lloyds of London. She told delegates about the
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  importance of aiming high and why it's never too late to get
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  focused on advancing your career.
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  Look out for our in-depth interview with Dame Inga in an
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  upcoming episode of the APM Podcast.
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  In this episode we've compiled some of our highlights from the
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  first stream of sessions at the Women in Project Management
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  conference. These sessions focused on how
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  project professionals, women in particular, can take their
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  career to the next level. O listen on to hear tips,
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  including how to balance work and family, how to strategize
• 1:25
  your career, and the importance of intentional networking.
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  In our first clip, we hear from Evelina Crook of the Instant
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  Group Doctor Adeshola Cole of Tritec Consulting and Dr Anne
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  McCann of the Government Property Agency and their panel
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  session. They discussed ways to move up
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  the career ladder. We hear first from Evelina.
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  She picks up the question of how to request a promotion or
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  negotiate a salary increase. From the day when I start,
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  whether it's a new job or whether I've been in a role
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  throughout my performance reviews, I plan to the seat with
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  my managers about what I want to do next.
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  I know it sounds a bit crazy and it isn't to say that I am not
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  concentrating to do my 100% in the role I have.
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  I'm probably doing it, loving it, and I'm pushing really hard
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  at it. But I talked to them about the
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  next step and sometimes you have first line or whoever you're
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  reporting to who will maybe not want to listen.
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  So you just keep on coming back about one of the peace
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  perseverance, mentioning it over coffee.
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  Ohh, I'm dreaming about this, I'm dreaming about that.
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  And some of your boss's may surprise you and my parents.
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  You're really surprised me because from the day I started
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  working with him, he was thinking about what he's going
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  to do next. So he's thinking about
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  succession. And therefore he started talking
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  to me about what he thinks may happen in our team in two years
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  time and how he's going to go forward and how he needs to be
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  thinking about how we're going to move.
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  Forward so. You never know what your boss
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  might be thinking about, so do not be.
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  Don't hold back. Talk about your dreams.
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  Talk about where you may want to go next in the.
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  Future I agree with that and also justify why you want that
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  promotion. You don't just go to your boss
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  and say can I have a promotion? What do you have to back it up?
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  Is it your skills? Is it more certifications?
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  Is it self study? So you need to have a portfolio
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  of everything in order to back up you wanting a promotion.
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  OK, how did you make the jump to senior leadership?
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  Was it an internal promotion or a change of organisation, Dr
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  Anne? It was interesting, the last
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  question, cause I've got one word to that ask.
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  OK. And if you don't get, hmm, You
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  know where you stand. Yeah.
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  You don't get what a promise. You still know where you stand.
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  So for me, can't be sometimes profit in your own country.
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  Sometimes you have to leave and move.
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  And that's what I did. And I'm really pleased I did
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  that because it gives me a breadth of experience.
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  So you can work in the private sector, the public sector, move
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  around sometimes. That's how I've got here and I'm
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  pleased I did that and and that worked for me.
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  I think I just turned to the civil service and I've been a
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  senior civil servant for three years, which isn't very long in
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  comparison to the level that other civil servants spanned,
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  maybe 2025 years and therefore maybe a bit more tricky.
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  But if you have an organisation you can move into different
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  parts as well. So I can understand that if you
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  really like the organisation and the values, maybe try a
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  different sector of the business to get that promotion.
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  And I think the other thing is if a job comes up, apply for a
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  senior promotion. And even if you don't think
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  you're going to get, it doesn't matter because what you're
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  sending is a message to say I'm here, I'm, I'm letting you know
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  I'm here and I would like promotion.
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  So I may not get it in year one, but I might get it in year 2.
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  Our second clip is taken from a session called How to Adapt and
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  Adopt, Embrace Change and Agility, which was a fireside
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  chat between interviewer Deborah Feakins of Marlow Consulting and
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  Beth Rilett of BAE Systems. In the following clip, we hear
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  first from Beth, then Deborah as they share their advice on
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  pathways to career progression, whatever your current career
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  stage. I often have this conversation
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  with my husband. He's like follow a career, find
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  something that's secure, pays well, go for it.
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  And this is when we're talking about our children, by the way.
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  I've got three children at home, whereas I'm probably the
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  complete opposite. Follow your passion, be curious,
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  ask people, reach out and don't necessarily expect your career
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  pathway to be straight. Mine really wasn't.
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  I was all over the place. But I've now landed in something
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  I really enjoy. The company is embracing and
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  I've got some massive support around me.
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  And we're now in the position where we can start to make some
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  real change into the business. And I'm so excited with where we
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  are and I would really encourage anybody who is slightly
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  interested in this go and speak to somebody because it is just a
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  great area to get involved in and with new neuroscience and
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  all this other stuff that's coming out is only going to
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  grow. What about you?
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  Well, there's definitely been a theme, hasn't there, today,
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  around networking. And of course I'm a great
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  advocate of networking, but actually I'm going to call it
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  intentional networking. You actually have to almost make
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  a plan to network networking does not happen because you
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  happen to bump into people. It happens because you give it
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  time, you give it space and you give it energy.
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  And when we're all busy doing the day job, it can be very
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  hard. There's a a really good Ted talk
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  by a lady called Rosalind Torres and she talks about putting in
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  your diary three meetings a week with people you wouldn't
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  necessarily normally speak to or indeed even agree with.
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  And I'm a great believer that you have to talk to lots of
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  people whether they are comfortable or not, whether you
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  are going to have a long term relationship with them or not to
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  really do some listening. And I actually have the same
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  advice to change managers that are out there that and to
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  clients that we deal with. Think about that listening plan
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  before you think about your communications plan.
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  And I think that's the same for all of us.
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  How are you going to go and listen, how you going to to get
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  on? The other thing that I think is
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  really important is reciprocity. There is definitely something
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  that I observe that people that share, that give up their time,
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  that give up their help and support others somehow seem to
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  reap that back because people are ready to help and support
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  them. Certainly in my career I've had
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  lots of people that have been with me along my journey and
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  helped me up when sometimes I thought perhaps I'm not going
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  exactly where I should be. So talk to lots of people, work
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  out your networks, work out those that are going to support
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  you. And don't be afraid to seek help
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  whenever you need it, and sometimes even when you don't
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  need it. Because feedback's great, which
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  we've also been hearing a lot of today.
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  You've phrased really good points.
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  Actually. I was very fortunate.
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  Through my life I've had some really inspirational role models
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  who I've been able to seek mentoring and guiding from.
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  So again, I would encourage everybody to to do that.
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  And even if you're wrong, model that you think of is a bit left
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  field, don't let it stop you. Our next highlight is taken from
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  a session entitled Women in Leadership, in which a panel of
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  senior project professionals shared lessons for women from
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  their own career journeys. In the following clip we hear
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  from Eloise Douglas of the British Army, Emma Burrows of PA
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  Consulting and Martina Blake of the UK Space Agency.
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  They discussed diversity in the project profession and how to
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  open up more opportunities to people from ethnic minority
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  backgrounds. His Eloise picking up the
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  conversation. So my role at the moment is so
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  projects delivery capability development.
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  So I'm all about recruitment and enhancing capability in making
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  people upskilling everything. So in the army for example,
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  inherently we've only recruited in a in a certain area which is
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  not particularly diverse, it's white male dominated.
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  So I've taken the initiative to increase that by recruiting in
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  different parts of the UK so in establishing hubs.
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  So it opens up to people to apply for jobs that wouldn't
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  necessarily apply for it in in this sort of area that we are
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  umm. So I think in doing that then
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  you enhancing diversity opportunities and in the army
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  it's all about there is no have diversity in that sense it's
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  like it's everyone has got the opportunity to apply for
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  everything and me as an advocate for women and everybody in
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  defence it's then there's no barriers but I think open it up
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  to not restricting yourself to a certain area really helps that.
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  I love that. Thank you Emma.
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  I mean so I think a lot of firms have got a long way to go to, to
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  do this. And I think it's first and
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  foremost you've got to be able to attract those individuals
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  into the organisation. And then I think it's about
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  creating those fair and and open opportunities for everybody.
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  But it comes back to that allyship, it comes back to the
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  championing, creating the opportunities and it's on us as
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  leaders, you know, in firms you know and in teams you know on
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  projects and programmes to recognise that we have a role to
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  play in that. You know when you spot talent,
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  you know you elevate talent. When you spot people that might
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  be struggling a little bit, you elevate them too.
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  It's about creating the even even playing fields And I think
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  only by talking about it and by advocating for I think when we
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  make a difference. Lovely.
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  Thank you and. Martina.
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  Yeah. And I think although most of the
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  challenges I faced have definitely been around sort of
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  gender bias for me, I'm very conscious of other other biases
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  that that that are there. And so one of the things that I
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  am heavily involved in across government is our equity,
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  diversity, inclusion strategy as well which would that would kind
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  of be reasonably launched for the Infrastructure Projects
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  Authority. And that's something I'm really,
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  really passionate about investing my time in and and
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  just making sure we're actually that we you know operate a
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  profession across government that is open to all.
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  And I'm very, very passionate about not just those that work
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  in the profession but actually those who want to work in the
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  profession. That's always something that I
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  try and get through to people. Actually there's a lot of people
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  out there who just maybe don't know how to get into the
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  profession, whatever sort of background you're from the
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  social mobility and and you know what we call Ed and I sort of
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  equity, diversity, inclusivity is is something that I focus a
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  lot of my, dare I say spare time on in in government as well.
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  Our final clip comes from a session called Sector Insights
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  to Support Your Career Plans, which brought together
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  practitioners from different sectors for a comparative view
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  of their differences and needs. In the following extract, we
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  hear from Hayley Burnell of Versus Arthritis, Rukaya Isa of
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  HMRC and Victoria Richards of Jacobs as they discussed the
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  challenges of balancing work and family life while trying to
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  progress in your career. I'm in awe of women that can
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  balance family and work. I myself am young, free and
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  single. I have lots of women in my team
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  who are mothers, one to twin 3 year old boys, which you know, I
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  just can't imagine. But I guess I would say really
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  consider who you're working for. And if they're not accommodating
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  of your other priority alongside your work, then I would question
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  whether that's somewhere you want to be contributing your
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  energy and your efforts. And I know that's far easier
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  said than done because security, especially at the moment of a of
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  a job, is really important. But I would like to think that I
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  as a manager and very supportive of my team in that role and I
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  would hope that everyone else would be.
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  Yeah, it is harder. I've got three daughters, all at
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  very different stages of their life, ones at uni, ones at
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  college doing her A levels and the youngest is 10 so she'll
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  start high school next year. And you know, a lot of the time
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  you have the mum guilt that you you live with and it is quite
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  challenging. I was lucky I had my parents to
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  help with my children when they were younger and you know, one
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  thing I don't do is work weekends.
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  So there are times where we've been under pressure, everything.
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  I'll work late in the evening sometimes, but sometimes it's
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  tending to the kids and then working.
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  So luckily in the government sector there is flexibility.
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  So you know, sometimes during the day I might take time out
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  and then do some more work later on, but it is a challenge and
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  you know, hats off to people that that can do it.
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  So yeah, for me, I had my children late in life as well.
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  I've got two boys, 10:00 and 9:00 and I made the choice on
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  when I had them to take him a a year off for maternity.
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  But it it was hard. I had family as well that could
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  look after them and I feel like it did.
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  I did take a step back from my career, but actually it doesn't
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  take that long to catch her once you're back in it, when she back
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  full time, you know. Those those early.
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  Years are really important as a family and I think it's quite
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  nice to prioritise that. Now working from home, my boys
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  will say mummy, you work too hard because I'm working from
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  home and I'm there working from home, isn't it?
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  But again, hopefully I'm a good role model then the actually
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  it's, you know, it's important to have enjoy your job.
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  That's what I say to them. I enjoy what I do and that's
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  what's important. That concludes our wrap U of the
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  Women in Project Management Conference.
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  Next year's conference will be returning to London on the 26th
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  of September 2024. To register your interest in the
• 15:11
  event, head over to apm.org.uk. If you enjoy this conference
• 15:17
  round up podcast, check out our earlier episode published in
• 15:20
  August, which brought together highlights from APM Change
• 15:23
  Changes Conference held in Birmingham in June.
• 15:26
  APM runs more than 200 events every year, ranging from
• 15:29
  webinars and awards ceremonies to day long conferences.
• 15:32
  You can find out more at APM Events.
• 15:37
  That's It from us for this episode.
• 15:39
  If you enjoyed it, don't forget to subscribe or leave us a
• 15:41
  review. Thanks for listening.