PM-Mastery

Transforming Risk into Opportunity: Insights from Tanya Boyd

• Walt Sparling • Season 1 • Episode 66

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In this episode: 

Discover the art of transforming risk into opportunity with Tanya Boyd as she unveils her upcoming course, "From Risk to Reward," within the PURE Project Management Certification program. This episode promises to equip you with the skills to reframe risks positively, using advanced tools like Monte Carlo simulations and what-if analyses. Tanya's approach masterfully blends technical prowess with essential emotional and social skills, highlighting the often-overlooked aspect of risk management. Through dynamic storytelling and creative metaphors, you'll gain an enriched perspective on how to tackle challenges in project management with confidence and creativity. 

We'll also discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the landscape of risk assessment and management. The shift to virtual meetings and remote work revealed new dimensions to conventional practices, compelling organizations to expand their risk registers to include pandemic-related threats. Tanya shares valuable lessons on proactive risk management, emphasizing the importance of learning from past adversities to better prepare for future uncertainties. Tune in to uncover strategies that will elevate your project management capabilities and prepare you for any unexpected twists in your professional journey. 

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Intro/Outro:

Welcome to the PM Mastery Podcast. This podcast is all about helping you master your project management skills by sharing tips, tricks, tools and training to get you to the next level, while sharing the stories of other project managers on their journey in project management. And now here's your host, walt Sparling.

Walt Sparling:

Welcome everybody to the current edition of PM Mastery, and today I have back once again Tanya Boyd. Welcome, Tanya.

Boyd:

Well, glad to be back here.

Walt Sparling:

So we let's see. We have talked a couple times. We did an interview last year kind of late in the year, and then we did a follow-up last month on another topic. And then today our focus is on a new course that is going to be coming out, a program that we're both in called the Pure PM, and it's taught by working practitioners who do project management or project management roles as part of their daily job, and they have shared their knowledge in this course and there are, I believe, 32 courses. It's a total of 60 hours, and both myself and Tanya and the listeners have heard Joseph Phillips, where he talked about the program, and then we had Russell Parker on. It was his first initial interview, so we talked a little bit about what's going on with him, how we got into what he is doing, and then we chatted a little bit about his course as well. So today Tanya is going to share with us the information on her course in the PURE program, called From Risk to Reward. So take it away, tanya.

Boyd:

Thank you. So when I first got involved in this group which timing-wise I believe was kind of early to mid-September of 2024. You know, I was challenged to come up with a topic where we could create at least two hours of content. So as I was thinking through the different topics I wanted to do, I ran through a couple and this was actually it was my third idea that I came up with, but even after I sent it for consideration it felt like the one that I should really be elaborating on the most. So the course focused very heavily on the topic of risk. Risk is something that we face every day in our personal lives, in our professional lives, and it can be really really easy to think of risk as something that's bad. But this course's focus is more on reframing risks and turning it into rewards, even when it's something super challenging, that's unexpected and rather uncomfortable. It's about seeing the positivity and the ways that that can propel you forward.

Walt Sparling:

So if can you give us kind of a summary now? Obviously you're going to talk more about, or you're going to get into the positive side, which I believe are opportunities. How many sections are in your course?

Boyd:

So I actually did have a little bit more of a methodology when I was structuring this methodology, when I was structuring this. Overall there's 10 sections but in nine of the sections I share, none of them have got a creative theme that's tied through it. The theme is just goes along with storytelling and my love of creative metaphors, but within each of those nine sections, but within each of those nine sections, I've got three different scenarios and three different tools of tools and techniques that they can use to see the bright side or help their stakeholders see the bright side of the risks.

Walt Sparling:

And part of that three hours is three PDUs that you'll also get for taking that course.

Boyd:

So some of the different tools and I mean they kind of span from different things like a Monte Carlo simulation to a what-if analysis. So let's take, for instance, one of the scenarios is that you've got a project team that is running up against a vendor that comes up with a supply chain issue, up with a supply chain issue and it's the team taking that back to their stakeholders and even just brainstorming the array of different what if this happens, what if that happens, and planning different mitigation strategies on how they would prepare and move forward.

Walt Sparling:

Okay, Monte Carlo. What are some of the other tools that you're going to talk about?

Boyd:

So not all of them are technical, you know. Just even different things like power skills or soft skills are very important nowadays. It's not just about the processes, it's a lot about your people. So, for instance, there's times where our risks could be conflict or a dissension between the teams. That it's apparent, but it's not outright stated.

Boyd:

So, just even using different emotional assessment tools, I even cover different things like personality assessments and understanding a little bit more about the people on your team, their different ways of working, their different preferences, because I think that's one of the biggest challenges for project managers. We all know that we're wired very differently, but when there's conflict or when there's a disagreement, it can be so easy for us to take it personally and think that it's something that we did or that we didn't do, when a lot of times we need to step back and realize there is such a wide spectrum of cultural differences, experiences and personalities. So, throughout the course, I really I just tried to give some thought to it and infusing the emotional, the social skills along with some of the technical tools that can be used, because I think you need to use a combination of all of those, or at least think about them and start learning how some of them might work and help you.

Walt Sparling:

Yeah, one of the things I've seen. I've worked in a couple different places where risk is handled completely different. I've had some conversations online, both in some of the interviews and just general conversations with other PMs, and how they handle risk and it's different depending on who you work for, what kind of project you have. But what I have seen a lot of is risk is one of those things that you're taught when you go through a project management training program to some level, but how it's put in practice sometimes I think it's not really focused on and it's kind of a second thought. And on some critical projects it becomes more of a primary thought because hey, there's a lot of potential things that could go wrong here and I'm one of those that I know risks can be opportunities, but typically I treat risks as potential things that could go wrong. And how do I mitigate those?

Walt Sparling:

And you know, one of the things like in my course is on communications. To me, you can minimize risk by clearly communicating the aspect of the project, timely things like that. So risk can be mitigated by good communications. You said you chose the risk, so is risk something you really like? Is that one of the things you enjoy dealing with in projects?

Boyd:

Yes, it is, and I mean I don't think any of us are absolutely in love with when things go wrong. I mean, sometimes it takes a very intentional flip in focusing on the positive, which I think that's a work in progress for so many of us, which I think that's a work in progress for so many of us, and I think a lot of times that perspective is gained after the fact. So I'll use a very clear instance COVID or the pandemic even when it was upon us, it was probably something I could have never imagined or I could have never foresaw. You know, and I think a lot of us were like that, we knew something was going to go on for a while, but we really couldn't have predicted. Now, in retrospect, I'm not glad that, you know, I am not glad that all that destruction happened. I don't want that to be misinterpreted, but there are some different things that have blossomed as a result of that tragedy. So even like, for instance, you and I talking here today on virtual, we're doing a lot more remote work. We're doing, you know, a lot more virtual connection. That has led to different opportunities that probably would not have existed for us or we would not have grabbed the rein on those opportunities had we not faced that circumstance.

Boyd:

Circumstance, you know, and even different things in my own life, like you know, being closer to my father and some of those things wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for other losses in my life, which, again, that's a different sort of risk to deal with. But I've had to intentionally train myself to start seeing the bright side of when things go wrong and even when you're uncomfortable and you're learning, which in this course, for many of us that were involved in this project I mean I'm going to speak for myself I had never I've done I've presented virtually before for people I've done. I've presented virtually before for people. I've moderated meetings, I've done in-person presentations, but I had never challenged myself to actually craft a course from scratch, come up with all of the different headers and then sit in my own space of videotaping myself for what turned out to be hours and learning new recording studios.

Boyd:

So throughout that entire process I was thinking all of the risks and what could go wrong for me not to complete the course or meet the deadlines required, but for every fear that I had, I'd flip it and go. You know what you got. This you can get through this, you can do this, and when I'd meet those milestones it was a boost of confidence. And so I feel like for project managers, a lot of times risks you know we're looking at that hill, going how on earth am I going to climb this? But when we put one foot in front of the other and we get there, we can look back and go. Thank goodness I stumbled over that stone because I would have never learned how tough I was if I hadn't gotten myself back up.

Walt Sparling:

Yeah, the COVID pandemic was well. It was life-changing for the entire world. But, to your point, I did a few virtual meetings prior to that. We did a lot of Teams meetings because we worked with stakeholders from all over and you couldn't always get them in your office because they were in another town or another state. So that really having that start on virtual meetings was helpful, because when COVID hit, yeah, we all got sent home and for the next years.

Walt Sparling:

I mean I went probably a year and a half before I was back out as our contractors kept working, but it changed how we interacted and we had our risk register completely changed because it came to you know, covid's happened. But how do we deal with it on our projects? Well, if we get a crew, that which has happened multiple times we'd get a crew, that someone on the crew got COVID and they were exposed to other people. So they would say we cannot send our entire crew to your site because they're all in quarantine. And that happened more than I liked, but it was a reality and we started building in what if? If someone was infected and it was a key vendor, what is the impact on the project?

Boyd:

So it taught us that your risk management accelerated because of that and that people actually started paying more attention to that philosophy because they had to go through that duress.

Walt Sparling:

Oh, yeah, I mean I know that when we started, when I first started at this company or this client, they had their own way of doing risk and we had two different methods depending on the project size. But we had a risk register and we started realizing the same things that were consistent. Some of them were our customer delays, you know, getting signatures, and I know I've talked to other people about that. That is a risk because it affects your schedule and if it affects your schedule it ultimately can affect your budget. And so we had standard you know, maybe 10 standard items that went in every risk register because these are all potentials and then we would have custom ones for the project. Then we ended up with like five that were COVID related.

Walt Sparling:

And you know, before you knew it, that risk register was getting huge because it wasn't just getting the work done with supply chain. You know. You know, before you knew it, that risk register was getting huge because it wasn't just getting the work done, it was supply chain. You know how hard it was to get toilet paper. Can you imagine how hard it was to get materials when the factories are shut down and supply chains were impacted? So yeah, I definitely got a lot more into risk and tracking and mitigating items once COVID hit for sure.

Boyd:

I think I did too. You know what I mean.

Boyd:

I think a lot of people that may even be listening to this podcast later can go through their careers and kind of reflect on that too.

Boyd:

And I mean I think of course things have settled down some, but I mean I think it's even taken lessons from that time, because I feel like I've watched the world go from where it was during that to where there's so much return to the office and there's so much of these different things, and a lot of times people are getting to be more reactive again rather than proactive, and sometimes it's wishing that they would remember those lessons that are not that far in our past and go okay, I know we're busy and I know we've got a lot going on, but we really need to take the time to plan this up front and think about what could happen, not from a negative perspective, but just let's be really realistic and think about why we should have multiple vendors or multiple options for delivery If one of them gets backlogged, you know.

Boyd:

So it's just, and that's a lot of. The course, too, is trying to make people think through a wide variety of scenarios and what could happen and and sort of intentionally place them in those shoes through storytelling, but telling some of the different processes is the goal.

Walt Sparling:

These are some good insights into what the course is going to be about. If you had to summarize at the end, kind of I know everyone did a summary at the end of their course and this is what you've, this is what we reviewed and you learned. If you had to summarize your course right now, what do you think or what would you say that the students are going to take away from your course?

Boyd:

I believe the students will. I think just the way the structure is, with the 27 different tools and 27 different scenarios, will make them think of risk in a completely different way and even the storytelling aspect throughout of it and just the themes is trying to place them in those scenarios. Because I find a lot of times, um, whenever viewed risk from a textbook. I mean, I'm used to the risk registers, I'm used to the priority and the impact matrix and those different things. But I think having the story and the scenarios matched up with it throughout the course will make it make more sense on how they can apply it in their daily lives.

Walt Sparling:

And I think what's going to probably happen out of this is I'm just envisioning that with all the courses, there's going to be some aspect of this, but you're going to walk away with having a different perspective of risk. You're going to be more confident. You're going to see more things that you may not have encountered but realize they could come up. So now you're going to have the opportunity to have that education that you know. You're sitting around doing a plan for your project and risks come up and you start bringing up items you know as a student, you say, well, what about this? And they're like, oh well, that's a good idea. Where'd you learn that?

Boyd:

That's, and it really it's the storytelling, but it's the training. It's the training through story. So like, for instance, you have a friend that's a financial advisor and he was telling a story. Now this was on LinkedIn. You know his.

Boyd:

His daughter, who's a teenager, but I think in her freshman year, is wanting to go to college, but it's an illustrious college and it's somewhere farther off. That will cost more money, and so he just took the opportunity to educate her through storytelling. He's like that's great and we can support from that and we can do that. However, I want you to think about other milestones in your life that this may impact. So, for instance, if we have to spend X amount of dollars on this type of college and your education, then later on the road down the road, when you decide to get married, maybe we can only do $10,000 down payment for your house rather than the 50,000 planned because we put it here.

Boyd:

And so when I read that and I don't have children, but it was like I can appreciate the way that he educated her on that, on the mitigation strategies, the trade-offs, that not everything goes in the bucket, but here's how to plan in advance is just I try to take project management and apply it in applicable ways that somebody who has been in project management for five months may even recognize, and then somebody that's been in project management for 50 years says, oh my gosh, we've faced that scenario a million times. So a lot of us just trying to use layman's term and avoid a lot of the jargon that I say to make it make sense- Now I'm excited about taking that one and I'm excited about taking a lot.

Walt Sparling:

I actually dove into my course tonight just to kind of get a feel for the system and I'm anxious to get through. It's going to be a lot of work 60 hours total and, of course, 60 PDUs you're going to take out of it. But the cool thing is and my conversation with Joe is you don't have to wait till the end of the course to get your PDUs. Once you've taken an individual course, you'll get the PDUs for that course that you can apply to your existing certifications, and then at the end of the course, you'll get your full certification and you'll have whatever remaining PDUs that you've completed. So if you're mid going through a renewal and you've taken 12 hours of coursework, you get 12 PDUs that you can apply. So it's going to be Exactly. I really like the way the program is structured and I mean, I'm a PMP as well and I need to do my PDUs, you know, every three years, just like everyone else. So yeah.

Boyd:

So I think what? I think just the everyone else so yep. So I think well, and I think just the diversity of the group too. I think that that's going to be very different too. And one thing that I love about this collective is oftentimes I always see the same names in groups. You know the usual suspects, and there's a lot of diversity in the topics, in the people, in the experience that went into this, the different types of businesses that people have been in, so I think that that's going to add a lot of flavor to it as well.

Walt Sparling:

Absolutely. It's going to be awesome. I plan on doing some blog posts myself about it. I'm going to do a little write-up on mine. I want to do one about some of the instructors. I don't know the exact count I haven't put it down on paper but there are quite a few instructors that have been on the podcast before, so they're already industry gurus and they're out there sharing their knowledge, and now they're actually in the peer program sharing that knowledge with the world. So it's it's going to be exciting to go through it and I'm I'm super happy that you came on and talked a little bit about yours, and we've already. This will be our third conversation in like six months, so maybe, as as we get farther down the line with this, we'll have another conversation, Maybe I'll get a few instructors on here and we'll have a little round.

Boyd:

Great if I can come to Florida and do an in-person collect there you go. I told you that, like I'm trying to figure that out with timing in this year and planning between work and everything else going on and hopefully getting that figured out, because I know a lot of the instructors are there in Florida as well and it would be great to be in person and do a live with everybody. That would be cool. It would.

Walt Sparling:

All right, tanya. Well, I appreciate your time and I'm excited to take your course. And for everyone else, make sure you check out the peer program. There'll be links in the show notes and we'll chat again on the next episode of PM Mastery.

Boyd:

Sounds great. Thank you, Al.

Intro/Outro:

Thanks for listening to the PM Mastery podcast at wwwpm-masterycom. Be sure to subscribe in your podcast player. Until next time, keep working on your craft.