Course Catalog

You know the process. You’ve managed complex projects and kept schedules moving—but some still stall, not because of the plan, but because of the people. Stress runs high, communication turns reactive, and even experienced leaders struggle to keep everyone aligned.

This immersive five-day workshop equips project leaders with actionable tools to move teams forward when communication falters. You’ll learn to uncover what’s driving tension, defuse stress before it spreads, and shift dialogue from defensive to productive. Through 30 field-tested tools and visual techniques, you’ll expand your ability to influence, coach, and collaborate with confidence—especially when others can’t.

This participatory program focuses on doing, not theory. You’ll build skills through experiential labs, small-group dialogue, and real-world practice that turns concepts into behavior. Expect to leave with a sharper vocabulary, stronger composure, and the skill to turn difficult interactions into forward momentum.

Agenda

Day 1: Aware

• Self-Awareness & Mindset Foundations

• Emotional Resilience & Communication Clarity

• Feedback Integration & Self-Reflection

• Understanding Behavioral Motivations

Day 2: Label

• Navigating Goals & Managing Manipulation

• Emotional Awareness & Cognitive Processing

Day 3: Agency

• Emotional Intelligence & Behavioral Language

• Mindset Tools & Bias Reduction

• Emotional Regulation & Empathy Dial

Day 4: Control

• Effective Questioning & Inner Voice Engagement

• Advanced Communication Tools & Mindset Shifts

Day 5: Own

• Integrative Leadership Practice & Applied Cognitive Control

• Adaptive Communication & Real-World Tool Application

• Empathy in Action & Constructive Influence

Reviews

“This training helps you understand what it takes to be a more effective manager and get the best from your team.”

“I’ve started applying your tools and feel as if 50 lbs. have been lifted off my shoulders—the way you make it real and comfortable is hugely important!”

Learning Objectives

• Cultivate self-awareness and manage emotional responses under pressure.

• Enhance communication, listening, and reframing to influence stakeholders.

• Apply emotional intelligence to foster psychological safety and team trust.

• Recognize mindset patterns to increase flexibility and resilience.

• Navigate interpersonal dynamics ethically while managing manipulation.

• Align behavioral insights with project and organizational strategy.

• Employ ethical communication that supports governance and collaboration.

Graduates leave with a usable toolkit, measurable increases in confidence, and communication skills proven to reduce project friction, increase collaboration, and improve stakeholder satisfaction.

The course cost includes Owning Your IT, its companion workbook, and all learning materials mailed directly to you.

About the Instructor

Margot Halstead, MBA, PMP, MCC, is the creator of Owning Your IT: Actionable Tools to Improve Your Interpersonal Communication—a framework advancing project leaders’ emotional intelligence and self-awareness. With 15 years designing and delivering leadership and communication programs for NASA, the Department of Defense, FEMA, and Fortune 500 firms, Margot bridges technical execution with human dynamics—where most projects falter.

As both a PMP and Master Certified Coach, she blends project management discipline with the behavioral science of coaching. Her programs teach that behaviors follow thoughts, helping leaders recognize patterns that derail collaboration and apply tools that restore clarity and composure.

Her signature Grumples—visual bookmarks from her book—help learners recall techniques under pressure. Each course is experiential, filled with frameworks aligned to PMI’s Talent Triangle. Learners describe her facilitation as “direct, life-changing, and unforgettable.” Participants leave equipped to manage what truly determines project success: the human connection.

Project environments move fast—but so do your thoughts. This session equips project managers and technical professionals with practical, field-tested tools to translate rapid thinking into clear, constructive communication. Participants learn how to regulate reactive responses, slow communication to match stakeholder needs, and prevent misunderstandings that lead to rework, conflict, or scope drift.

Using the F.E.A.R. tool, Listening Modes, and cognitive-control techniques, you’ll develop communication habits that support alignment, influence, and decision-making under pressure. Aligned with PMI’s Power Skills domain, this course strengthens collaboration, emotional intelligence, and stakeholder engagement.

Leave with tools you can apply immediately—in meetings, escalations, and every high-stakes conversation that demands clarity.

Emotional Agency: Holding Boundaries Without Guilt helps project leaders develop the emotional agility required to stay composed, clear, and strategic under pressure. Using an interactive Emotional Management Inventory and a set of cognitive and communication tools—including Behavior Follows Thought, Inner Voice, JJJ, and the visual Wheel of Emotions—participants learn to regulate reactions, stop over-functioning, and communicate expectations with confidence. This experiential format improves stakeholder engagement, reduces interpersonal friction, and strengthens leadership presence across complex or high-intensity projects.

Project leaders make high-stakes decisions every day, but reactive judgment can distort communication, erode stakeholder trust, and stall collaboration. This workshop gives project professionals practical cognitive-control tools to move from assumption to clarity.

Using the Inner Voice, JJJ Tool, and Wheel of Emotions, participants learn to reduce bias, improve team communication, and strengthen leadership presence—especially under pressure. Aligns with PMI’s Power Skills by enhancing emotional intelligence, influence, and conflict navigation.

This live, virtual course prepares working professionals to pass the PMP® certification exam and to put what they learn to use right away. It is delivered with a PMI Authorized Training Partner, and it carries the 35 contact hours of formal project management education that PMI requires for the exam application, taught from official PMI courseware.

Instruction follows the current PMP Exam Content Outline across the three domains of People, Process, and Business Environment, and it covers predictive, agile, and hybrid ways of working.

Bonus features include added support: a one-year PMI membership and exam voucher, ninety days of practice exams, application assistance, small group tutoring, and a two-day Exam Sprint of focused practice and drills before the test.

Through our partnership with MindsparQ, you are given the following add-ons with your tuition:

* One-year PMI membership and exam voucher. Your membership and the voucher to sit the exam, handled for you

* 90 days of practice exams. Three months of full-length practice tests to sharpen your timing and recall.

* PMP application assistance. Hands-on help completing and submitting your application so it clears.

* Small-group tutoring. Personal tutoring whenever a topic needs a second pass.

Project professionals operate in high-pressure environments where communication, alignment, and trust make or break outcomes. Yet every project leader brings internal habits—“ITs”—that shape how they respond to stress, miscommunication, shifting priorities, or challenging stakeholders.

This workshop helps project managers uncover those ITs, understand the behavioral patterns that appear under pressure, and learn a structured method for interrupting unproductive reactions. Using the Swiss Army Life Tool, IT Discovery, and the IT Naming Map, participants gain a clear picture of how their internal habits influence team dynamics, conflict, collaboration, and leadership presence.

Professionally, participants learn to:

1. communicate more precisely, even when under stress,
2. reduce knee-jerk interpretations that derail collaboration,
3. strengthen leadership presence,
4. improve stakeholder trust, and
5. navigate conflict with more emotional intelligence and influence.

Personally, participants gain tools to self-regulate, reduce anxiety, build confidence, and shift long-standing patterns that limit career advancement or leadership effectiveness.

This class supports PMI’s Power Skills by equipping project leaders with the awareness and behavioral flexibility required to lead more effectively, communicate more clearly, and create team environments where people perform at their best.

This live, virtual course prepares working professionals to pass the PMP® certification exam and to put what they learn to use right away. It is delivered with a PMI Authorized Training Partner, and it carries the 35 contact hours of formal project management education that PMI requires for the exam application, taught from official PMI courseware.

Instruction follows the current PMP Exam Content Outline across the three domains of People, Process, and Business Environment, and it covers predictive, agile, and hybrid ways of working.

Bonus features include added support: a one-year PMI membership and exam voucher, ninety days of practice exams, application assistance, small group tutoring, and a two-day Exam Sprint of focused practice and drills before the test.

Through our partnership with MindsparQ, you are given the following add-ons with your tuition:

* One-year PMI membership and exam voucher. Your membership and the voucher to sit the exam, handled for you

* 90 days of practice exams. Three months of full-length practice tests to sharpen your timing and recall.

* PMP application assistance. Hands-on help completing and submitting your application so it clears.

* Small-group tutoring. Personal tutoring whenever a topic needs a second pass.