Workplace Learning Modules
Dr James Murray Gough
Director & Principal Consultant
A Message from Dr. Murray Gough
Welcome to our workplace learning modules. We trust they enable you and your teams to work together to solve common and not-so-common issues.
The workplace-designed activities promote collaboration and leave your team feeling that every accomplishment is worthy of celebration.
Your organisation will benefit from real business outcomes, and you will grow as a leader.
Welcome to Your Workplace Learning Journey
Welcome to the SPMI Workplace Learning series. As you begin these modules, it is important to understand our foundational philosophy: Modern Project Management is about more than just tasks—it is about people.
While you will learn the technical skills to solve complex problems, our modules focus heavily on your attitudinal approach. We believe that leadership, cooperative intelligence, and teamwork are the engines that drive project success in a global, human-centric environment.
What is Modern Project Management?
Modern project management is a dynamic, evolving field. At SPMI, we interpret it through four key characteristics:
- Automation-Driven: We leverage technology for data-driven decisions, while ensuring that human insight—not just software—remains at the heart of every choice.
- Traditional, Complex and Agile: We embrace flexibility and iterative delivery (using hybrid methods) to stay responsive to change and creating efficiencies without sacrificing thoroughness.
- Outcome-Oriented: Success is measured by the strategic value and ethical impact a project has on the organisation and the community.
- Human-Centric: We prioritize the needs of stakeholders and users, building trust and empathy within every team to establish a dynamic work culture.
The 10 Core Functions of Management
Our modules are built on internationally recognised standards. Regardless of your project’s size or context, you will apply these ten essential functions:
| Function | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| Stakeholders | Identifying and collaborating with the people who influence your project. |
| Scope | Defining the features and functions required to meet goals. |
| Time | Establishing and monitoring the project timeframe. |
| Cost | Managing the budget and performing regular cost/benefit analysis. |
| Quality | Setting standards and seeking constant feedback on results. |
| Risk | Designing mitigation strategies while balancing them against opportunities |
| People | Securing competent team members and ensuring their personal welfare. |
| Communication | Building a network to resolve issues and share information promptly. |
| Procurement | Managing the goods, services, and contracts necessary for success. |
| Integration | Pulling all functions together into a cohesive, living Management Plan. |
SOURCES:
These functions are derived from international institutes: the Project Management Institute PMBoK (USA), the International Project Management Association (IPMA Europe and Australia), and the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) Competency Standards for Portfolio, Program, and Project Management.
Note: The first five functions (Stakeholders, Scope, Time, Cost, and Quality) are deeply linked. A significant change in one will almost always impact the others!
The SPMI Organisational Improvement Model
To help you visualise how these concepts create lasting change, we use the SPMI Organisational Improvement Model. This model demonstrates how cultural competence in Portfolio, Program, and Project Management (P3M) leads to measured success.
How to Use the Model:
- The Flow: The model moves anticlockwise, starting with Establishing a Need for Change and ending with Benefits Realisation.
- The Focus: While rectangles represent standard business and program/project processes, the ovals represent components that rely on human behavior. Our goal is behavioral change, not just process change.
- Flexibility: You don’t have to start at the beginning. You might enter the model through a "Project Health Check" or a professional development intervention. It is a systemic tool for examination, not a rigid set of rules.
- Please choose the intervention that will add value and growth to your organisation.
- End Result: enabling your own work Culture
LIST of Workplace Learning Modules
All modules are based on the SPMI Improvement Model for Organisational Improvement
Please note that this SPMI Modules List is mostly under development, with publication of EIGHT expected in May/June 2026:
- An Introduction to the SPMI Modules is a FREE Welcome service explaining how the modules work, their contents and activities. It also explains the SPMI Improvement Model (above) for Programs and Projects.
- Modern Project Management: up-to-date explanations and activities (Published)
- AI for Project Managers (Published)
- Project Chaos Whispering Collective Part 1 Knowledge & Understanding (Published)
- Project Chaos Whispering Collective Part 2 Workplace Activities (Published)
- The Strategic Project Leader: Choosing the Right Path (Methodologies) (Published)
- Value Propositions: Project-Led Pitching and Proposals (Published)
- Project Health Checks: a coaching approach (Published)
- Bridging Generations Communication: how they Affect Program and Project Management (Published)
- Succession Planning in Programs and Projects (Published)
- Change Management in Programs and Projects (Published)
- Staff Retention and Career Progression (DRAFT, not published)
- Program and Project Team Management ( Published)
- How to manage Steering Committees (under development)
- KPI System & Organisational Maturity (under development)
- The Project Management Office as a Value Management Centre (under development)
- Commercial Awareness for Managers (Published)
- Productivity for Program and Project Managers (under development)
- Professional Development and Certification for Program, Project Managers & Teams (under development)
- Cultural Awareness and Sustainability (under development)
- Meeting Quality for Programs & Projects (under development)
- Business Resilience and Sustainability (under development)
- Influencing Program and Project Stakeholders (under development)
- Leadership Styles and Techniques that Work (under development)
- Communication Systems for Programs & Projects (under development)
- How important are Psychometrics? (under development)
