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Project Leadership & Management Diploma Project Leadership & Management Diploma

Project Leadership & Management Diploma

Great project managers are prepared to go a step beyond to emerge as a Project Leaders. This part-time diploma in leadership and management will help you find your leadership style and prepare you to demonstrate emotional intelligence, excel at communication, build productive relationships and lead high-functioning teams. 
Go a step further and reach the top of the ladder as a Project Director.
IPMA-B/A®, NFQ Level 9, PLM Dip.
15 Weeks
€2,750
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  • About
  • Certification
  • Syllabus
  • Requirements
  • Why IPM
  • Dates
  • Reviews
  • FAQs
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Transform from Project Manager to Project Leader

Project leadership refers to the capability of guiding a team towards successful project completion. Project leaders bring people together to achieve a common goal and accomplish more than they could as individuals.

Organisations face change and disruption in many ways, which can feel unsettling for stakeholders and project teams. It is up to project managers to take a stand and develop the essential leadership skill set to motivate, inspire, energise and guide people to innovate processes and execute plans with strategic impact.

This diploma in leadership and management offers a university-backed curriculum taught by 10 industry experts and three credentials to help you develop the ability to make effective decisions while engaging and empowering teams in different organisational cultures. It’s time to take your career one step further, refine your leadership and management styles and discover who you are as a project leader.

What will I learn?

This course examines the capabilities, attitudes and behaviours needed to become a confident, driven and focused project leader. Classes are delivered in an engaging manner, combining a practical framework with inspirational stories from real-industry practitioners and academics.

Browse more information about the course modules and learning objectives.
Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Evaluate the role and competencies of leadership in delivering excellence in projects and programmes in a global environment.
  • Critically evaluate three core substantive areas of organizational behaviour: leadership and followership; corporate and national culture; the primary task and effective team/group dynamics.
  • Analyse the nature, interests, and different power bases of stakeholder groups and prioritize and manage stakeholders.
  • Apply negotiation and influence techniques to enhance satisfactory agreements with others.
  • Adapt leadership style and role to group dynamics; and manage teams effectively in predictive, agile, and hybrid project environments.
  • Maintain personal integrity that supports an environment built on trust, individual and organizational development, and helps others feel secure and confident.
  • Moderate or solve conflicts and crises by observing the balance between group dynamics, personal agendas, environmental resources, and constraints.
  • Reflect on the outcome of an individualized self‐assessment against the Individual Competence Baseline of the International Project Management Association.
  • Construct a project plan to achieve varying scale, geographic dispersion, and complexity objectives; while mitigating the potential risks inherent in large, complex, intercultural, and virtual projects.
Course Modules

These modules were designed to help you manage change and generate positive results while growing as a project leader who can successfully empower a team to contribute to project success.

 

The Role of Strategic Project Leaders
  • Strategic management, leadership and strategy
  • The role of leaders in accomplishing organisational objectives
  • Distributed and Situational leadership
  • Authentic leadership, followership, coaching, and mentoring
  • Creating effective group dynamics
Strategic Project Leadership Competencies
  • Self-reflection and self-management
  • Personal integrity and reliability
  • Teamwork, resourcefulness, and results orientation
  • Leadership styles
  • Developing effective leadership competencies
Building & Motivating Strategic Project Teams
  • Principles of motivation and motivational theories
  • Corporate/national culture and intercultural teams
  • Effective team/group dynamics
  • Emotional Intelligence: origins and key concepts
  • Building high performance teams
Applying Agile Mindset to Strategic Projects
  • Agile leader mindset and practices
  • Transitioning the organisation to Lean/Agile
  • Delivering in an Agile environment
  • Servant leadership, facilitation and impediments
  • Being a successful Agile leader
Building Engaged Stakeholder Networks
  • Mapping stakeholders interests and influence
  • Stakeholder engagement models
  • Managing stakeholder attitudes, expectations
  • Stakeholder orientation in agile projects
  • Developing effective communication and presentation skills
Managing Power, Interests, Conflict, & Crises
  • Formal organisation versus informal structures
  • Formal and informal power and influence
  • Difference between power and authority
  • Influence, sources of interests, and conformity
  • Understanding the psychology of power in projects
Strategic Project Leadership Skills
  • Compromise, moderation and de‐escalation techniques,
  • Conflict stage models and their value in team building
  • Scenario techniques and crisis planning
  • Diplomatic, persuasiveness, and rhetorical skills
  • Building stress resistance and soft skills
Leading Transformation, Innovation and Change
  • Processes which promote effective and efficient delivery of services
  • Risk tolerance: balancing radical and incremental innovation
  • Understanding the human side of change management
  • Learning from experience; knowledge as a resource
  • Converting the project vision to reality
Structuring Project Organisations
  • Organisational structures
  • Traditional and Agile project structures (e.g. predictive, agile & hybrid)
  • Organisational roles and power relations
  • Adapting your leadership style to the organisational structure
Political, Ethical and Social Leadership
  • Ethics, universal rights, and following own standards under pressure
  • Codes of ethics/codes of practice
  • Social equity and embedding of sustainability principles
  • Personal and organisational development
  • Helping others feel secure and confident through trust
Leading and Managing Global Projects
  • Characteristics of large global projects.
  • Identifying complexity factors g. distance, time-zone and
  • Challenges associated with a multicultural environment
  • Global governance, coherence, and conflicting interests
  • Designing a project management solution for global projects
Managing Virtual Project Teams
  • Traditional PM versus virtual project management
  • Virtual team advantages, disadvantages, and challenges.
  • Communication and co‐ordinating work in virtual teams
  • Building trust and considerations between distant sites
  • Best practices for managing virtual teams
Negotiating & Influencing Project Agreements
  • Negotiation theories, techniques, and tactics e.g. BATNA
  • Legal and regulatory structuring of contracts and agreements
  • Assertiveness and drive to reach desired outcomes
  • Establishing and maintaining trust through empathy, patience, and persuasion
  • Influencing: Verbal and non‐verbal aspects of communications
Programme Review
  • Overview of course content
  • Identify best strategies to succeed on the final exam
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This course is for...

  • Professionals from a wide range of backgrounds with an appetite for leading and managing change, executing organisational strategy and driving successful project performance.
  • Mid to senior-level professionals, team leaders, managers and any professional directly responsible for the success of projects and programmes regardless of their job title.
  • Emerging leaders who wish to master the foundations of impactful leadership.
  • Project managers responsible for a leadership function with experience managing complex projects.
  • Professionals working either in the private and the public sectors in any size of organisation.

 

If you would like to learn more about being a project leader, read our article: The Difference between a Project Leader and a Project Manager.

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Entry Requirements

  • A level 8 degree, or equivalent qualification, from a recognised body.
  • If you don’t have a third-level qualification but have relevant professional work experience, the Course Director may need to interview you to assess your suitability.
  • Applications will be reviewed by the IPM’s Admissions Assessment Board. A CV will be required to check the eligibility.

 

Not sure if this course is for you? Schedule a call to speak with an educational adviser.

Why Study with IPM?
Reputation & History
Project Management Experts
Global IPMA® Certification
Unparalleled Expertise
Student Hub & Community
Reputation & History
  • Established in 1989 as the first Irish professional body dedicated to the promotion of project management as a discipline.
  • Trained 40,000 Professionals and Certified 6,000 Project Managers.
  • National Body for IPMA® in Ireland.
  • First PMP Certification exam hosted in Ireland.
  • Globally recognised certification body.
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Project Management Experts

The Institute is a specialist organisation dealing solely with the discipline of project, programme and portfolio management. Unlike other organisations, who offer a large variety of training programmes across many functional areas, our focus is purely on project management.

As a result, we attract the highest calibre of international lecturers – who offer invaluable knowledge to our students.

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Global IPMA® Certification

Within the IPMA®, the Institute is the national body representing Ireland in a federation of over 70 countries.

Identify yourself as a competent practitioner and upgrade your status as an internationally accredited professional. Founded in 1965 in Zurich, IPMA® is the world´s first International Project Management Association, now recognised in over 70 countries across 6 continents.

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Unparalleled Expertise

Our graduates are instructed by a world-class faculty composed by a group of subject matter experts with unparalleled proficiency and knowledge in project, programme and portfolio management.

Lecturers range from Project Directors to former Heads of Project Management Certification Authorities.

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Student Hub & Community

Our dedicated Student Support team is here to help you stay relevant and connected to achieve your goals.

Joining the Institute’s community offers you an immersive and engaging learning experience where flexibility and interaction are key. Classroom and virtual learners will gain access to the Institute’s hub where they can find additional resources and connect with other participants to brainstorm, be inspired and share ideas.

Fee & Schedules

This course can be provided to your staff at your own premises with a convenient and cost-effective solution. Learn more

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What Our Students Say About Us

4.8
Google (100+ reviews)

Barry O'Sullivan

Project Manager at Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail
April 18th
Well-rounded course content and lecturers. Highly recommended course. It will upskill you and provide the necessary tools & techniques needed to manage modern-day projects.

Jimmy O'Connell

Project Engineer at DePuy Synthes Companies
Sept 21st
I took this course during COVID and the Institute did everything they could to help ensure we completed the course with as little disruption as possible. All the instructors are very knowledgeable and I would recommend this course to anyone who is interested in Project Management.
26

Ciara Buckley

Senior Client Services Manager at Novartis
July 6th
I would highly recommend it as a beneficial asset to your CV. The lectures and material are excellent and it was a pleasure to attend on a weekly basis.

Brian Edward O'Connell

Senior Consultant at KPC International Limited
May 12th
The Institute of Project Management has given me two fantastic courses in Project Management. I highly recommend them for any further education in Project Management.
15

Paul Derwin

Technical Sales Account Manager at ASML
Oct 29th
The caliber of lecturers is very high and the course content, material and delivery are excellent. I've taken the PMP preparation course and passed on the 1st attempt. The Diploma in Strategic Project & Programme Management was equally excellent with relevant usecases, course work, and high quality lectures over a diverse range of topics.
11

Barry O'Sullivan

Project Manager at Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail
April 18th
Well-rounded course content and lecturers. Highly recommended course. It will upskill you and provide the necessary tools & techniques needed to manage modern-day projects.

Jimmy O'Connell

Project Engineer at DePuy Synthes Companies
Sept 21st
I took this course during COVID and the Institute did everything they could to help ensure we completed the course with as little disruption as possible. All the instructors are very knowledgeable and I would recommend this course to anyone who is interested in Project Management.
26

Ciara Buckley

Senior Client Services Manager at Novartis
July 6th
I would highly recommend it as a beneficial asset to your CV. The lectures and material are excellent and it was a pleasure to attend on a weekly basis.

Brian Edward O'Connell

Senior Consultant at KPC International Limited
May 12th
The Institute of Project Management has given me two fantastic courses in Project Management. I highly recommend them for any further education in Project Management.
15

Paul Derwin

Technical Sales Account Manager at ASML
Oct 29th
The caliber of lecturers is very high and the course content, material and delivery are excellent. I've taken the PMP preparation course and passed on the 1st attempt. The Diploma in Strategic Project & Programme Management was equally excellent with relevant usecases, course work, and high quality lectures over a diverse range of topics.
11

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Find your questions answered and everything you need to know about the course.

Need further information?
What is included in the course fee?

The course fees include the examination and certification fees, access to all course materials on the Student Hub, live expert-led virtual classes, recordings and unlimited support from our Student Support team.

What payment options are available?

There are two payment options available:

  • Full payment before the start of the course;
  • 50/50 instalment plan: the first instalment of 50% should be paid upfront, and the remainder halfway through the course (week 7).
What are the delivery formats available for this course?

This course is available online and facilitated through weekly online evening classes with industry-expert lecturers. Do not worry about missing a class – a recording of each online class will be available for playback in the Student Hub for a limited period of time.

Is the course suitable for candidates without former PM knowledge?

This course is better suited to candidates with knowledge of project management frameworks and practical experience. The course is suitable for emerging leaders, project managers, change managers or any professional who directly contributes to projects.

Is the course applicable to any industry?

Yes, the content of this professional diploma in project management programme is suitable for various industry sectors. We have students from different backgrounds – such as engineering, pharmaceuticals, design, construction, IT and many others – who completed the course successfully.

How is this course assessed?

The course is assessed through four written assignments and a 3-hour online examination at the end of the course.

How much time do I need to spend every week to complete the course?

Classes run one evening per week, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Plan to spend approximately 4 to 6 hours each week on the core material and reflecting on what you have learned. However, as you can appreciate, this is very dependent on each individual’s capability.

Are the course qualifications recognised internationally?

Yes, the course credentials are recognised in over 70 countries.

Will recordings be available if I miss a class?

A recording of each online class will be available for playback in the Student Hub for a limited period of time, so you do not need to worry about missing a class.

How will this course help with my career?

This course curriculum is designed by industry-experts to help you develop a project leader mindset and the practical competence that is so valuable to hiring managers. Gain the concepts, skills, and confidence to take the next step in your project management career with globally recognised credentials.

Am I eligible to get the IPMA Level B/A® Certification?

Eligible candidates must have a minimum of 5 years’ experience as a project manager of which at least 3 years were in a responsible leadership function managing complex projects. The Institute’s Admissions Assessment Board will do a preliminary eligibility assessment at the time of your application.

 

Candidates undertaking the course have an option to apply for IPMA Level B or Level A certification at a reduced rate of 80% of the standard fee, subject to them meeting the IPMA® experience requirements.

 

If candidates are not eligible for this certification level at the time of completing the course, they can return once they have gained more experience within a two-year timeframe to apply and avail of the discounted rate.

If I don’t have the necessary academic qualifications, can I still be admitted?

Candidates with relevant professional work experience but no primary degree will still be considered to join the course.

 

Applications will be reviewed by the Institute’s Admissions Assessment Board. A CV will be required to check eligibility, and candidates may be invited to interview via phone to assess their suitability to attend the course.

 

Eligibility for those wishing to pursue IPMA Level B or Level A certification at a discounted rate will be assessed separately.

What is the difference between your diploma courses?

The Certified Project Management Diploma is the best course for those who want to start their accredited career path as a project manager. It is also best suited for project managers who need to strengthen their practice with formal training on core project management tactical subjects.

 

The Strategic Project Program Management Diploma is designed for candidates with at least 3 years of professional experience in a project management role, who are confident managing a project from initiation to close out according to best practices and standards. This course will build on your foundations to develop your skills to manage multiple projects and implement strategic project management in your daily practice and in your organisation.

 

The Project Leadership and Management Diploma is best suited to emerging leaders and project management professionals looking to refine their management and leadership skills. The programme is designed to help you evolve from a project manager to a project leader. As such, the focus will be on developing the capabilities, attitudes, and behaviours needed to become a confident, driven, and focused project leader.