Episode 430: Are You An Inclusive Project Leader? (Free) #PMOT




The Project Management Podcast show

Summary: Play Now: Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam: PMP Exam prep : Agata Czopek and Cornelius Fichtner In this interview we welcome Agata Czopek (LinkedIn Profile) and discuss that diversity is a fact and inclusion is a choice. Companies with diverse executive teams are 21% more likely to outperform the companies rated in the bottom quartile of diversity. Have you ever experienced a situation that made you feel uncomfortable? Let’s discover the attributes of an inclusive leader and the steps needed to improve team performance by addressing unconscious bias. This interview was recorded ad the crowded Project Management Institute (PMI)® Global Conference 2018 in Los Angeles, California. We learn to describe attributes of an inclusive leader, identify techniques to improve performance by addressing the unconscious bias, and see that privilege is invisible for those who have it. Episode Transcript Below are the first few pages of the transcript. The complete transcript is available to Premium subscribers only. Podcast Introduction Agata Czopek: In this episode of The Project Management Podcast™, you will learn how to be an inclusive leader and the steps needed to improve team performance. Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to The Project Management Podcast™ at www.pm-podcast.com. I am Cornelius Fichtner. Podcast Interview Cornelius Fichtner: We are coming to you live from the crowded 2018 PMI Global Conference in Los Angeles. And with me right now sitting here in hallways just outside of Room 411 is Agata Czopek. Hello, Agata! Agata Czopek: Hello, Cornelius. Cornelius Fichtner: How are you doing today? Agata Czopek: Very well, thank you! Cornelius Fichtner: Yeah, you have just completed the presentation for a second time. How is it for you speaking here at the conference? Agata Czopek: It’s a great pleasure always. It’s always stressful situation but the feedback that I get after the speech, it makes me continue. Cornelius Fichtner: And it is a great topic because PMI actually made you give it twice, right? Agata Czopek: Yeah, I was really surprised by the number of people that showed during the first speech and also the second one, I was well that made the difference. Cornelius Fichtner: Yeah, I came in at the tail end. There were about 120, 150 people in the room, close to that, very nice. So in the opening I said: We are coming to you live from the crowded 2018 PMI Global Congress. You chose the word “crowded”. Why did you choose “crowded”? Are there too many people for you? Agata Czopek: I have realized that I’m a bit of introvert. So a number of people here like, I don’t know, I guess 2 or 3000 for now. Cornelius Fichtner: Something like that, yes. Agata Czopek: It’s really overwhelming. So if you are very small in that crowd and it’s there. Cornelius Fichtner: I feel you because sometimes there are thousands of people around you and you are just sitting there going: “Oh my God, I hope nobody speaks to me because whoa!” Yeah, I have the same feeling. Agata Czopek: I have another like I want to find a friend. Cornelius Fichtner: Yes, yes: “Oh I know you. I know you.” He talked to me. Agata Czopek: Exactly! I’m just having lunch but he sighted me. No, this is impossible. Cornelius Fichtner: Yes, alright! So your presentation is titled “The Future Lies in Diversity and Inclusion. Are you an inclusive leader?” Why did you choose to speak on that topic? Agata Czopek: The topic of diversity and inclusion is close to my heart as being a person who moved to another country. A person that is looking for inclusion myself and having different experience in different countries, how do you feel when you are from somewhere else that you don’t speak the native language here, and how it impacts then the team performance. But on the other side, how big the business case is behind that having the diverse people in you