Ok, your mission is that you have a team of individuals and you must lead that team to deliver successful project results. The scope is sketchy, deadlines are tight, and team members are already overextended. What will you do? How will you rally these individuals and harness their talents towards a common goal? The purpose of this webinar is to provide practical tips, suggestions, and real life experiences for doing just that.

The success or failure of a team can often be traced back to the leadership of the project. In today’s work environment, team leaders must possess a wide array of skills to successfully accomplish objectives. There are certain fundamental steps to take and skills to hone in order to get the most from the team. Some of these are as follows:

• Understand your own strengths and weaknesses. Without a thorough self-assessment to understand your own shortcomings and strengths, how can you possibly understand the dynamics of your team and the building blocks with which you are starting.
  
• Earn the trust of your team members and build trust within the team. Trust is the foundation upon which successful relationships are built. Without trust, a team is going nowhere fast, and it will be more difficult to deliver successful results.
  
• Establish a strong foundation for the team in the beginning of the project. This will serve many purposes, one of which is that team members will begin the process of identifying themselves as team members contributing to an effort rather than as individuals performing a set of tasks.
  

In addition to these skills, team leaders must also be able to communicate effectively, motivate team members, manage conflict, and appreciate the generational makeup of the team. These topics and others will be examined in this webinar, and you should walk away with several strategies to step up your game and become a more effective team leader.

Connie Maldonado, PMP is a project management consultant and trainer for SoftKey, Inc., a technology project management training and consulting firm. She oversees and manages the activities of SoftKey pm U., the training wing of SoftKey, Inc. She has been fully certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) since 1998 and has over 15 years of project management experience.

Ms. Maldonado has worked on projects in many areas including information systems, business and project process reengineering, software application development, financial systems, travel reservation systems and project management offices. She specializes in system migration, implementation planning, project management office development, risk management planning and analysis, and project management training. Ms. Maldonado also has over 7 years of financial experience in the banking and actuarial arenas.

Ms. Maldonado is a Past President of the South Florida Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI). She has served on the board for over twelve years and has held the President and Vice President Finance positions. During Ms. Maldonado's tenure on the board, the Chapter was awarded the prestigious Chapter of the Year award by the Project Management Institute. She is also the past Chair of the Certification Disciplinary Sub-Committee under the PMI Certification Governance Council as well as a past board member of Toastmasters International.

Ms. Maldonado has extensive project management training experience and has conducted training for the University of Miami, Florida International University, and Nova Southeastern University. She has taught a wide range of project management courses including Project Management for the Executive, Fundamentals of Project Management, Practice of Project Management, and Advanced Project Management. Ms. Maldonado has also conducted courses to prepare students for the PMP certification exam and has written courses in other topics relevant to project management such as scheduling, risk management, procurement, and business requirements, including a seminar for the PMI Annual Seminars and Symposium. She also wrote and conducted a webinar on risk management for the PMI Information Systems Specific Interest Group. She has taught project managers in many industries including the construction, pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries.

Ms. Maldonado holds a double degree from the University of Rochester in Mathematics and Economics. She received a scholarship to the University of Rochester and while there, was a runner up for the prestigious Dorothy Chandler Award for excellent contribution to the University.