The RPM Techniques Programme 2025
in partnership with
What is it?
The new RPM Techniques Programme is a series of ten interactive workshops that will explore Systems Thinking for projects. We will focus on how to build resilience and contribute to adaptation in the face of the crises facing societies around the world. Each session will highlight one principle from the Manifesto for Responsible Project Management and then investigate selected practical techniques. There will be opportunities to practice one or more techniques, with reflection and dialogue to deepen learning.
Each workshop is booked individually, allowing you to choose the sessions most relevant to you.
Overall, the Programme supports personal growth that connects knowledge, beliefs, values, and action for all four quadrants of the competency framework for RPM (Thompson and Williams, 2024).
why attend?
Projects and project management create the future. Yet, projects are frequently managed as a set of siloed activities and outputs, and it is time to see projects differently. RPM aims to support individuals and organisations re-imagine project management as a series of interventions into a set of existing systems that bring about change and progress towards a better future. A future that enables people and nature to flourish together. Systems thinking is at the heart of such change and underpins RPM.
This series of workshops is new for 2025. Each session will introduce and practice one or more tool or technique for systems thinking to support new ways of thinking about projects and project management. You will be encouraged to apply the techniques in a practical context that you are familiar with, past or present, to share ideas and to explore management challenges from a range of perspectives.
To optimise your experience, you can book and attend the workshops that are most relevant to you.
delivery
Each workshop is delivered as one highly interactive 2 hour online session. Facilitated, interconnected activities are used to integrate principles, concepts and models, with reflection and dialogue designed to promote personal learning. Participants are encouraged to focus on addressing current challenges in their own practice.
Early booking is recommended because the sessions are interactive and numbers are limited.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Each session costs £10*. If you join all ten workshops, the last one will be free to attend.
*plus booking fee
“As our world continues to change rapidly and become more complex, systems thinking will help us manage, adapt and see the wide range of choices we have before us. It is a way of thinking that gives us the freedom to identify root causes of problems and see new opportunities.” (Donella Meadows)
the schedule
17th February 2025
16:30-18:30 (GMT)
principle 1: Purpose
The objective of this workshop is to introduce systems thinking and explore how project context, complexity and interconnections among projects, people, and natural resources impact perspectives of project scope and purpose. We will develop context diagrams to identify and understand the intentions underpinning projects from different perspectives.
10th march 2025
16:30-18:30 (GMT)
Principle 2: Awareness
This second workshop will consider project success and sustainability as a means of raising awareness of potential impacts, opportunities and unintended consequences of projects. We will examine how techniques for guided visioning and harnessing emotional responses can contribute to project planning by exploring preferred, possible and probable futures, and seeking opportunities for improving project outcomes.
14th April 2025
16:30-18:30 (BST)
Principle 3: Engagement
In this third session we will develop understanding of how projects can deliver value. Techniques for uncovering the connections among projects, results, uses and benefits will be introduced, and discussion will focus on how these techniques can be used to identify common interests, improve decision-making and build resilience in projects, programmes and outcomes.
19th May 2025
16:30-18:30 (BST)
Principle 4: Curiosity
This fourth session will introduce selected techniques to support our curiosity about system interactions and help to uncover hidden ethical complexity and influences on projects. Together we will investigate connections between data and observations, underlying structures, and ways of thinking that influence projects and outcomes.
9th June 2025
16:30-18:30 (BST)
Principle 5: Uncertainty
The objective in this session will be to recognise gaps in knowledge and develop ways of encouraging information sharing among diverse groups of people, communities and organisations. We will consider approaches to analysing gaps, assessing risks and generating options. Metrics for assessing the scope, clarity and diversity of risks and opportunities will be introduced and practiced.
14th July 2025
16:30-18:30 (BST)
Principle 6: anticipation
This sixth workshop will explore the need to anticipate change and mechanisms for incorporating adaptation into project plans. With a focus on delivering value and benefits, techniques for adaptive project planning and metrics for monitoring change will be shared. We will discuss ways of identifying change, evaluating options and promoting informed decision making.
8th September 2025
16:30-18:30 (BST)
Principle 7: Creativity
In this session, ideas from the circular economy will be explained and applied to projects as inspiration for improving outcomes. Techniques for analysing processes and introducing circularity into projects will be shared and you will be encouraged to apply a chosen technique to an example from your own context.
13th October 2025
16:30-18:30 (BST)
Principle 8: TranspaRency
The objective of this workshop is to explore how to encourage transparency among those involved in a project. We will consider ways of making meetings open for sharing visions, thoughts and feelings, as well as structured and collaborative techniques for problem solving. Participants will be invited to share experiences of successes and challenges of incorporating diverse perspectives into projects.
10th November 2025
16:30-18:30 (GMT)
Principle 9: Stewardship
In this session we will explore how project professionals can be effective stewards for protecting, restoring and creating social, natural and economic resources in the development of a prosperous future for generations to come. Together we will share approaches to adaptation, regeneration and sustaining resources, including examples from nature and indigenous communities.
8th December 2025
16:30-18:30 (GMT)
Principle 10: Balance
This final session will address the need for projects to seek harmony among stakeholders and balance needs over the short, medium and longer time horizons. Techniques for back-casting and evaluating progress will be introduced, and the importance of storytelling in shaping action and perceptions of success will be discussed.