Our expertise draws from years of experience working with development organizations around the world: from the grassroots community based organizations and individual beneficiaries to Multilateral Organizations and Large Foundations.

Our professional consultants, trainers and moderators have extensive international experience in project management, they can provide you with the best methodologies to increase the skills of project managers and develop the best solutions to meet your challenges.

What is coaching?

Coaching is a way in which a manager can benefit from alternative ideas and opinions, and the reasons behind them, from an experienced mentor. Coaching is mind-opening, not instructional. Through sharing the mentor's ideas, the manager becomes better able to make his own good decisions, on specific issues. Coaching styles may vary, but the goal is the same - more effective managers in your organization.

It is a very effective way of bringing on talented people who are managing projects but have not gained much experience of the complexities of different project situations. It can also be highly beneficial to experienced project managers who appreciate the usefulness of talking through current and potential issues. All advice given is in confidence, building trust between manager and mentor .

We provide a coaching service to managers on a one-on-one basis. Individual requirements vary greatly, depending on the scope of the job to be done and the skills and experience of the manager being coached. The commitment may be for just a few hours per month, or for several days per month in total.

The service can include face-to-face discussions, telephone conversations and e-mail exchanges. In addition to ongoing advice and comments on draft presentations, etc., we expect areas for attention to be identified at regular reviews. Coaching is targeted. Because it is an integrated part of the manager's work pattern, rather than a classroom exercise, it can deal with specific gaps in experience or areas of concern.

Potential Benefits to the organization and individuals include:

• Assistance with internal issues and team dynamics
• Help to broaden perspectives, "out-of-box" thinking
• Extra support in crises
• Sounding board for ideas
• Help to walk-through scenarios, identify missed opportunities, hone action plans
• Overall confidence enhancement

Coaching Arrangements

PM4DEV matches the coach to the individual manager, agreeing the scope of each assignment and reviewing it from time to time. Effective charge rates are significantly lower than those from the big consultancy companies, and in most cases the caliber of person is higher. For example, we can offer the services of people who have held senior management positions in other leading development organizations.

Coaching is tailored to meet the convenience of both parties. The coaching service is provided for a fixed monthly fee, agreed for a set period, based on a broad assessment of the time required. This method removes inhibitions from making specific requests for advice (i.e. no clock ticking away) and results in better value for money. The service is based on trust that it will not be misused, and is subject to periodic review by either party. We offer two methods to deliver coaching:

e-Coaching

International coaching sessions are conducted via telephone with email support. Telephone sessions may be conducted either via fixed phone line or Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), To keep telephone call costs to a minimum prepaid calling cards are used as a cost effective option. Alternatively participants can use VoIP solutions such as the one provided by Skype, at no cost:

• Email support, during the entire coaching engagement email will be sued to provide ongoing support.
• Extranet, a secure access web site will be provided were participants can access to download files and post questions
• Conference calls are used to help develop understanding of the topics discussed

On Site Coaching

For teams that need a customized solution to deal with their own unique issues, on site coaching is a great opportunity to look at the special problems in the project and jointly discover solutions and opportunities. On –site coaching is designed to quickly jump into practical solutions the project needs to build to deal with issues in project management.

Follow up session can be accommodated using e-coaching delivery options to support and provide feedback to the project teams. The main areas for the PM4DEV regarding coaching services are:

• Specific project management coaching to project managers and project teams
• Coaching on project management tools
• Meeting facilitation services for project management related events
• Related team effectiveness coaching, or people management coaching

We provide effective, unbiased assistance to help project managers achieve their goals. We offer a fresh perspective and tools to help get through barriers, and create more value. We often include our coaching services with a package of our other services - because we believe coaching is a strong investment for an organization.

PM4DEV can provide flexible coaching solutions tailored to the unique needs of your organization. Our coaching services will enable you to quickly take advantage of the many benefits of our project management expertise.

Send us an e-mail to (coaching@pm4dev.com) for information on coaching services. Or schedule an interview with one of our customer representatives.

Development projects face constant demands to do more with less, and donors and beneficiaries are demanding more accountability and professionalism in the delivery of development services.

A leading root cause for many of the problems facing development organizations is the lack of a project management methodology used in a consistent, predictable, and reliable manner.

The lack of project management methodologies results in the duplication of efforts, which affect the bottom line of the organization's development goals by producing outcomes at higher costs, increased risks, and within an environment of distrust from donors and stakeholders.

Working side by side with our clients, PM4DEV helps project management
professionals and their organizations reap the benefits of improved project
management skills by using modern management techniques to achieve the objectives of scope, quality, time, cost, and stakeholder satisfaction.