Episode 92 - Real Project Leadership: The Recipe for Project Teams to Have Real Impact
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Most project failures don't happen overnight. They happen slowly, through small warning signs that get missed until a project is so far off course it needs a full turnaround.
That's the problem Jeanette Cremor set out to solve after 25-plus years working inside government, higher education, and utilities projects. Her answer is a book called Real Project Leadership: The Proven Recipe for Project Teams to Have Real Impact, and a practical framework she now teaches to project teams directly.
In this article, we unpack what Jeanette means by "project leadership," why she believes it belongs to the whole team and not just the project manager, and how she built a book and a client program out of decades of hands-on experience. We also cover her own transition from full-time government contracting into running her own practice, including the lessons she learned from getting it wrong the first time.
If you're leading a project team, working inside one, or thinking about turning your own professional experience into a book or program, there's a lot here to take from her story.
Who Is Jeanette Cremor?
Jeanette Cremor is a Melbourne-based consultant who spent most of her career in Queensland before relocating 14 years ago. Her background is in business transformation, with more than 25 years of experience across project, change, people, process, and technology integration, largely within government, higher education, and utilities.
She spent years as a long-term public servant before moving into contracting, and later founded her own practice, Jeanette Cremor, in 2017.
From Queensland Government to a Melbourne-Based Consulting Practice
Jeanette's early career was spent in Queensland public sector roles before she made a personal decision to relocate to Melbourne. She continued contracting for years before recognising, around 2017, that she wanted to build something of her own rather than keep working project to project for other organisations.
25-Plus Years in Business Transformation, Project, and Change
Across her career, Jeanette repeatedly found herself brought in to rescue struggling projects. That pattern of "project rescue after project rescue" became the catalyst for the work she does today.
Why Project Teams Fail, and How to Catch the Warning Signs Early
One of the clearest ideas in Jeanette's work is the difference between reacting early and reacting late.
She describes struggling projects like a large ocean liner, referencing the Titanic: by the time a big, obvious problem forces a dramatic correction, it's often too late to avoid damage. Her approach instead focuses on the small bumps along the way, the early signals that something needs attention, so teams can adjust course before a major failure develops. This mirrors what industry research consistently finds: organisations that build in regular checkpoints and early risk reviews, such as those outlined in the Project Management Institute's Pulse of the Profession research, tend to catch problems before they escalate into costly failures.
The "Titanic" Problem: Waiting Too Long to Course-Correct
According to Jeanette, teams that only respond to major, visible failures are already behind. The goal of her framework is to help teams notice smaller warning signs early, so they can make minor corrections instead of a forced, large-scale turnaround later.
From Project Rescue to Project Prevention
Jeanette's own career pattern of being repeatedly assigned to rescue troubled projects led her to ask a different question: instead of continuing to fix broken projects after the fact, could she help teams recognise the warning signs themselves, so fewer projects needed rescuing in the first place? That question became the foundation for her book and program.
The Real Project Leadership Recipe: 15 Ingredients for Team Impact
Jeanette describes her book using a cooking metaphor. Like a recipe, every project team needs a similar base of ingredients, but individual teams might need a little more of one element and less of another, depending on their situation.
The book outlines 15 ingredients in total, drawn from her research, interviews, and direct experience. Importantly, the framework isn't about any one person's technical role on a project, such as their policy, marketing, or technology expertise. It's about how team members behave and interact with each other to create real impact together.
Leadership as Behaviour, Not Title
A central idea running through Jeanette's work is that leadership on a project isn't reserved for whoever holds the project manager title. It's a set of behaviours and actions that any team member can practise, regardless of their formal role.
How the Book Applies Beyond Formal Project Teams
While Jeanette wrote the book with a project-team lens, she has found the same principles apply to operational teams as well. In recent years, she has noticed that many operational teams, including local government teams she has worked with, are shifting toward more project-based, continuous-improvement styles of working, even outside formal project structures. Because of this shift, she says the ingredients in her book are proving useful well beyond traditional, dedicated project teams.
Inside the Accelerate Program
The book now underpins a live program Jeanette runs directly with client organisations, called Accelerate.
Five Workshops Built Around Real, Live Projects
Organisations bring project team members, typically no more than 15 people, into the room with an active, real project already underway. Over five workshops, the group works through the pillars and ingredients from the book, applying each one directly to their current project rather than a hypothetical case study.
Accountability Sessions Between Workshops
Between each workshop, Jeanette runs accountability check-in sessions. Teams report back on the specific action they committed during the previous workshop: did it work, was it effective, and what needs to change. This cycle of commitment and follow-up is designed to turn ideas into applied behaviour change rather than leaving concepts on a slide.
The Graduation Showcase
Jeanette typically runs the full program over three months, though some clients extend it to six. At the end, participants present a graduation showcase to their stakeholders, outlining where the project was at the start, where it is now, and what corrective actions got them there.
One benefit Jeanette highlights is that because participants work in groups on their own live projects, they often learn as much from each other as from her directly. She shares an example of one team member realising, mid-workshop, that a problem she thought was unique to her project was actually shared by another team in the room.
From Contractor to Consultant: Jeanette's Transition Journey
Jeanette's move from full-time contracting into running her own practice wasn't instant. It has been a deliberate, multi-year transition, and she's candid about the fact that her first attempt didn't go to plan.
Why She Left a Full-Time Government Contracting Career
Jeanette describes reaching a point in her contracting career where she was still being repeatedly assigned to fix troubled projects and felt she was "becoming someone she didn't really like." That realisation, combined with a broader sense that she wanted something more, led her to explore starting her own practice.
Lessons from a False Start in 2017
In 2017, Jeanette made the leap without a transition plan. In her words, she went "hell or high water," stopping contract work altogether and moving straight into building her own practice on no revenue. She lived off her savings before ultimately having to return to full-time contracting.
She's direct about that lesson for anyone considering a similar move: a sudden, all-or-nothing jump from steady income into an unproven practice is high risk, and she does not recommend it.
A Deliberate, Staged Transition Plan
Since that experience, Jeanette has taken a much more structured approach. She continues some contracting work to keep revenue steady while gradually building her programs, workshops, and advisory services. Her goal is to fully exit contracting work by the end of the current calendar year, giving herself a longer, more sustainable runway than her first attempt.
Time Blocking for a Sustainable Practice
Balancing contract work, a growing practice, and family commitments, including regular time with her young granddaughter, has required Jeanette to be disciplined about how she spends her time.
The Six-Week Planning Method
Jeanette works from a rolling six-week time-blocking horizon. Rather than planning loosely week to week, she blocks out her schedule roughly six weeks ahead, prioritising categories of time in a specific order.
Prioritising Non-Negotiables, Revenue, Thought Leadership, and Admin
Her time-blocking order runs as follows: non-negotiables first, such as school pickups and set weekends with her granddaughter, followed by revenue-generating work, then thought leadership activities like content and research, then admin tasks such as finances and invoicing, and finally, social time.
Jeanette is open about the trade-off this has required. Over roughly the past 12 months, social time has been the category she has scaled back the most, a choice she frames as temporary and tied to building the foundation for her practice. She also credits her virtual assistant, Steph, with taking on more of her admin and content-scheduling work, which has freed up time as the practice has grown.
Writing Her First Book: Overcoming Impostor Syndrome
Publishing a first book surfaced real self-doubt for Jeanette, something she's open about rather than glossing over.
Naming the Inner Critic
Jeanette refers to her inner critical voice as "Martha." During the writing process, she describes Martha showing up frequently with doubts, prompting her to write sections, delete them, and set the project aside. A technique that helped her move past this was consciously acknowledging the voice, in her words, telling Martha "not today," rather than trying to ignore or suppress it.
Narrowing 13 IP Components Into One Core Theme
Before writing the book, Jeanette had identified 13 different components within her broader area of expertise. Working with a coach, she narrowed that list down to one focused theme, leadership, which became the core of the book. She credits that narrowing process, along with a structured writing method learned through Jane Anderson'sContent Creation Boot Camp, with helping her take the book from concept to release in around nine months.
Advice for Consultants Considering Their Own Book or Practice
Toward the end of the conversation, Jeanette offered direct advice for anyone in a similar position, considering a shift from employment or contracting into their own consulting or thought-leadership practice.
Test Ideas With Your Existing Network First
Jeanette's first piece of advice is to start small and test ideas with people who already know and trust you, rather than trying to build a fully formed offer before testing it with anyone.
Fail Fast, Not Ballistically
She's clear that "failing fast" doesn't mean being reckless. For her, it means being willing to unlearn techniques that worked in a previous role but don't necessarily transfer to running your own practice, and adjusting quickly based on what you learn, rather than clinging to familiar methods out of habit.
Accept You Won't Be Everyone's Ideal Client
Her final piece of advice is to accept that not everyone will want to work with you, and that's fine. She encourages consultants to stay aligned with their own values and strengths rather than saying yes to every opportunity just to keep revenue coming in, even if it means turning down work you're capable of doing but no longer want to do.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Jeanette Cremor's Real Project Leadership book about?
The book presents a 15-ingredient framework, described as a "recipe," for how project team members can behave and work together to create real impact. It focuses on team behaviour and roles rather than any single technical discipline.
What are the 15 ingredients in the project leadership recipe?
The book outlines 15 ingredients drawn from Jeanette's research, interviews, and professional experience. The specific list is detailed in the book itself.
What industries does Jeanette Cremor work with?
Her core experience is in government (Commonwealth and state), higher education, and utilities, with growing recent interest in local government work.
What is the Accelerate program and how long does it run?
Accelerate is a workshop and accountability program Jeanette runs directly with client organisations. It typically runs over three months, though some clients extend it to six, and combines five workshops with accountability check-ins applied to a real, live project.
How did Jeanette Cremor transition from contracting to consulting?
Jeanette founded her practice in 2017 after an initial attempt to leave contracting entirely, which she has described as too abrupt. She has since taken a longer, staged approach, continuing some contract work while building her programs and aiming to exit contracting fully by the end of the current calendar year.
Where can I buy Real Project Leadership?
The book is available through major retailers including Booktopia and Amazon.
How can I connect with Jeanette Cremor?
Jeanette is active on LinkedIn, where she posts several times a week, and shares fortnightly insights on her website blog. She's also present on Instagram.
Conclusion
Jeanette Cremor's story is a useful case study for two different audiences at once: project teams looking for a practical way to catch problems early, and consultants weighing up whether to build their own book, program, or practice. It's a theme that comes up across many of the guests on the Jane Anderson Show, including Kylie Leota's own transition into thought leadership.
What comes through clearly in her approach is that neither project leadership nor a career transition needs to be dramatic to be effective. Small, consistent corrections, whether in a project or in your own working life, tend to hold up better than waiting for a crisis and reacting all at once.
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Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode:
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Jane Anderson introduces herself and her podcast, "The Jane Anderson Brand New Show," aimed at experts who seek to enhance their impact, influence, and income. Jane emphasizes the importance of personal connection in business, stating that people tend to work with those they know, like, and trust. She expresses her excitement about the current episode and welcomes her audience.
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Jane discusses the current state of the consulting and speaking industry, particularly for women in business-to-business consulting and advisory roles. She notes that the first half of the year has been slower than anticipated, with smaller events and less qualified speakers becoming more common. Despite the challenges, Jane advises consultants to diversify their offerings, such as including coaching programs and one-day masterclasses, to sustain their practices. She shares a success story of a client who achieved record weeks, demonstrating that opportunities still exist for growth.
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Jane highlights upcoming events such as the Women with Influence Retreat, also known as the Nurture Retreat, and the Content Creation Bootcamp. The retreat, taking place in Noosa, focuses on sustaining consulting practices and nurturing personal and professional growth. The bootcamp, scheduled for the next quarter in Kingscliff, aims to help participants develop their thought leadership into tangible products like books, training programs, and workshops. Jane encourages interested individuals to reach out for more information and expresses her willingness to discuss the suitability of these events for potential attendees.
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Jane introduces her special guest, Jeanette Cremore, who recently released her first book on project leadership. Jeanette emphasizes the importance of behaviors and actions over titles in project teams and shares her experience in leading complex projects across various sectors. Jane expresses her excitement about Jeanette's appearance on the show and begins their conversation by asking Jeanette to introduce herself.
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Jeanette shares her background, mentioning her move from Queensland to Melbourne 14 years ago. She talks about her life in Melbourne, being close to her granddaughter and daughter. Jeanette and Jane reminisce about their past connection through their work in Main Roads and Queensland Transport. They discuss mutual acquaintances and shared experiences from their time in the public service sector.
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Jeanette discusses her transition from long-term public service and contracting roles to establishing her consulting practice. She explains her motivation to leave project rescue roles and start helping project teams proactively manage their projects. With the support of her coach, Janine Garner, Jeanette began sharing her intellectual property to make a broader impact. She reflects on her leap of faith in starting her practice and the challenges of being the first in her family to pursue this path.
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Jane asks Jeanette about balancing her contracting work with her new role in thought leadership. Jeanette explains that she still engages in hands-on project rescue work while transitioning to teaching others her methods. Jane notes Jeanette's proactive approach to this transition, including the publication of her book. Jeanette begins to discuss how she manages this balance and the influence of her new book in her professional journey.
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Jeanette emphasizes the value of having a coach or mentor, regardless of one's career stage or business. She reflects on her experience working with Janine Garner, who helped her focus on her extensive experience in business transformations, project and change management, and people-process-technology integration. Jeanette highlights the importance of narrowing down her intellectual property to a core focus, which in her case was leadership.
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Jane played a significant role in helping Jeanette structure her ideas into a comprehensive outline during a boot camp. Within nine months, Jeanette completed and released her book, which serves as a recipe for project teams to create real impact. The book emphasizes practical, behavior-based approaches rather than technical skills, outlining 15 key ingredients for project success. Jeanette has developed an Accelerate program based on the book, which involves a series of workshops and accountability sessions designed to help project teams implement the book's principles in real-time.
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The Accelerate program is highly interactive and practical, involving real projects and group learning. Jeanette facilitates workshops where project team members bring their current projects, work through the book's pillars, and commit to specific actions. Between workshops, accountability sessions ensure that participants apply what they've learned. The program culminates in a graduation showcase where teams present their project progress and outcomes. This approach fosters momentum, practical learning, and collaboration among participants.
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Jeanette aims to stay within her expertise areas, primarily focusing on government, higher education, and utilities. She believes her background enables her to understand the language and problems within these sectors. Recently, her work with local government has sparked an interest in expanding her focus to include local authorities. She appreciates the community-based impact and collaborative problem-solving she has observed in local government workshops.
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While Jeanette's book is written from a project management perspective, its principles are versatile and applicable to various operational teams. She notes that many operational teams are adopting project-based approaches due to business transformations and continuous improvement initiatives. The book's focus on collaboration, problem-solving, and practical actions makes it relevant beyond traditional project management contexts.
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Jeanette shares that people are finding unexpected applications for her book, including in their personal lives. For example, a friend applied the book's principles to manage her family's activities more effectively. Jeanette is excited to see how her work resonates with different audiences and enjoys discovering new ways her book can help people.
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Jane praises Jeanette's mindset of focusing on helping others rather than seeking personal validation. She acknowledges that writing a book is a vulnerable endeavor and that it's easy to doubt one's expertise. However, Jeanette remains committed to providing valuable guidance to those struggling in their roles. She aims to help people achieve a sense of accomplishment and contribution, particularly in government roles where individuals seek to make a meaningful impact on society.
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Jeanette's dedication to supporting others is evident in her approach. She strives to alleviate the struggles and frustrations people face in their work, helping them feel a sense of progress and contribution. Her work is driven by a genuine desire to make a difference and improve the experiences of those she works with.
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Jeanette discusses her experience with imposter syndrome, which she personifies as an inner voice named Martha. She shares how Martha would often criticize her work, leading to moments of self-doubt and hesitation while writing her book. However, by acknowledging and managing this inner voice, Jeanette learned to push through the doubts. She reflects on rereading her book and how, despite some initial insecurities about content and anonymity of case studies, she stands by her work and has already begun outlining her second book.
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Jeanette finds writing her book empowering, as it solidifies her credibility based on her personal experiences rather than others' ideas. She recounts an instance where a former colleague recognized himself in one of her anonymized case studies, validating her authentic experiences and approach. This dedication to privacy and respect for her clients' confidentiality is a core value for Jeanette.
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Jane highlights Jeanette's journey and the thoughtful, self-paced transition she's making from contracting to a thought leadership role. Jeanette's approach includes prioritizing her family, particularly her granddaughter, while gradually building her practice. She emphasizes that this transition is aligned with her personal and professional goals, demonstrating a life by design philosophy.
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Jeanette outlines her strategy for managing her time and balancing various responsibilities. She uses time blocking, planning six weeks in advance, to ensure she allocates time for non-negotiable family commitments, revenue-generating activities, thought leadership, and administrative tasks. By sacrificing some social time temporarily, she focuses on laying the foundation for a more balanced future. Jeanette also acknowledges the support of her virtual assistant, Steph, who helps manage administrative and content tasks, enabling Jeanette to focus more on her core activities.
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Jane asks Jeanette to share advice for others considering a similar transition from corporate or contracting roles to thought leadership. Jeanette suggests starting small and testing ideas within one’s network, emphasizing the importance of failing fast and learning quickly. She advises not to worry about universal approval, as not everyone will be an ideal client. Jeanette stresses the importance of adhering to personal values and being selective about the projects one takes on to ensure alignment with one's purpose. Her purpose, she reiterates, is to help senior officers and project teams navigate business transformations.
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Jane and Jeanette discuss the importance of learning and unlearning while still employed or contracting. Jane appreciates how Jeanette has conducted her experiments and tested her ideas early on, allowing her to understand her market's needs without taking significant risks. Jeanette shares that this approach was not her initial method; in 2017, she took a more reckless approach by quitting her job without a solid plan, leading to financial stress and a quick return to contracting. She now values the importance of a gradual transition and planning.
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Jeanette emphasizes the importance of a well-planned transition period. She extends her transition runway to ensure she can shift from contracting to her new practice without financial instability. She highlights the significance of self-care during this process to avoid burnout. Jeanette expresses gratitude for the support and guidance she received from Jane and Janine, acknowledging that transitioning at a comfortable pace has allowed her to build a solid foundation for her practice. This thoughtful approach will enable her to focus entirely on her programs and advisory services by December.
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Jeanette shares various ways for people to connect with her and learn more about her work. Her website, jeanettecremor.com.au, offers free resources, a blog with fortnightly insights, and information about her past podcast series, "Laugh, Learn, Lead." She is also active on LinkedIn, where she engages with her audience three times a week, and on Instagram, which she uses for more personal, social interactions. Jeanette encourages listeners to reach out to her through these platforms.
Full Show Transcript:
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Hi there, my name's Jane Anderson and this is the Jane Anderson Brand New Show. It's the podcast for experts who want to have greater impact, influence and income for their businesses and careers. As experts, we know that people buy from people and work with people who they know, who they like and who they trust.
So I'm so glad you're here because it's that time again now to really amplify how you show up in the world. Hi there and welcome to today's podcast. I'm so thrilled that you are here.
My name's Jane Anderson and I'm the host of the Jane Anderson Show where we interview women who have consulting and advisory practises, particularly thought leaders in the business to business consulting and advisory space. So today we're going to be talking to a very special guest, but before I do, I'm going to share with you probably a little bit about some of the things I'm noticing that are probably going on at the moment and that if you're in this space, probably that you're not alone. The landscape, particularly for women in consulting and going into a big part of our practise is speaking and the speaking industry, I would say over the first quarter of this year, first quarter to the half, has not been as strong as what we expected.
The research that was released last year and the confidence that was out last year in heading into 2024 is much higher than what has actually happened over this last half year. So it will be interesting to see what happens into next quarter and to see what happens if more events are on. We're noticing probably not as bigger events, smaller events, not as qualified speakers or in-house speakers, micro events, things like that.
So if you're in your practise and you're looking at, well, what am I doing to grow my practise at the moment and how am I going to keep sustaining clients? I think the things you really want to be thinking about is, have I got coaching programmes in my offering? Have I got other things easy to buy? Typically one day masterclasses and things like that are really good to really make sure that you have those in your offerings because those one day events that are sort of smaller events as opposed to keynotes and having the cost of bringing everyone into conferences has certainly eased off at the moment. So reduced spending, those types of things. However, for those, but we're still having those in our community who are doing record weeks, record months.
I've had one client that's done two record weeks in their practise and they've had their business for 30 years. And so there's still plenty of opportunity. You just got to really think about how you leverage your expertise and your IP in the most optimal way.
So a few things that are coming up. We have the Women with Influence Retreat or our Nurture Retreat coming up at the end of July. So that's in Noosa.
I have a couple of spots left if you're interested in hanging out with some women who have consulting and advisory practises and want to learn a little bit more about how you sustain your practise and how you nurture yourself, your practise, your clients to be able to have the longevity. And other things, we've got the Content Creation Bootcamp coming up next quarter at Kingscliff. And we've run this, I've had over 600 people go through this programme.
And this is where you really unpack your thought leadership over a few days and leverage it to be able to put into your books, training programmes, courses, workshops, keynotes, and unpack all those great ideas in your head. So if you're thinking about getting some help, there's a couple of things that are coming up that you might like to consider. I'd love to help you.
So please reach out. I'm happy to have a chat with you first to see if you think it might, in case you're worried, it might not be for you. I always like to talk to people before we kick off something like that.
So our very special guest today. Our special guest today, she recently released her first book. And it's all about project, real project leadership.
So the book is all about a recipe for project teams and to help them to really have a real impact. She is a believer about behaviours and actions as opposed to titles. And she really believes that everybody has a role to play.
She knows that leading complex projects in government, higher education, utilities, and that they're like jigsaw puzzles is what she says. And she says, you've got to kind of be able to integrate the teams, the people engagement and the delivery approach to get that impact and get that result. So I'm so thrilled to share with you a very special guest today, Jeanette Cremore.
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I'm so excited you are here. I've been busting to get to today because I just think you've got such a fantastic storey. And I think for where you're at in your growth and your practise and everything, I think you're a real inspiration.
So Jeanette, I've done the intro, but tell us a little bit about you. Where are you based? You're in Melbourne, yeah? Yeah. Thanks, Jane.
In Melbourne. It's a bit of a freezy day. So I've got my jumper on today.
Obviously not North Queensland. Definitely not. It's a bit overcast and chilly today.
But yeah, Melbourne, I moved here 14 years ago after 40 something years in Queensland. So I'm a Queensland girl at heart. But now live in Melbourne, not too far away from my granddaughter, who's five years old.
Yes. And of course, my daughter. So that's kind of where I hang out mostly now is not too far from where they are.
Yes. And so Jeanette, if you're happy for me to share, Jeanette and I actually didn't realise initially that we went way back together. And then it's so funny because after we first met, I was going, I know Jeanette.
I know her from somewhere. I just can't put my finger on it. And then we realised afterwards that we were working.
We actually worked together in, well, you with Main Roads in, sorry, Marabara. Bundaberg. Bundaberg.
And I was with Queensland Transport based in Toowoomba's head office. But that area covered southern region, which was across, you know, Harvey Bay, Marabara, right across to Charleville, Thargominda. So I sort of was on the road with those.
And so I'm sure we must have passed each other in the corridors or while I was there doing trails training. Well, I think so. Because if you were doing trails training, I would have had to be processing your travel claims because when I started in Main Roads, I was, you know, accounts payable started in grassroots corporate services.
And one of the things that I know that I used to do was process the trails trainer travel expense claim. So yours must have been in the pile that I was doing somewhere because our timing was about right. Well, it was me.
And also, was it not Laurie? What's his name? That was in. Bundaberg customer service centre was Dallas in Marabara. Yeah.
He was a customer in Marabara customer service centre. Because there was a trails trainer who was, who was in Bundaberg, but he had his office there and I was in Toowoomba. Oh, Laurie.
Lawrence. No, Laurie. No, I can't remember.
Larry. It was Larry. My surname is on the tip of my tongue, but it was Larry because he taught me trail.
He was the trainer. He must have been going, Oh my God, I can't believe I'm going to teach this girl trail. But yes, Larry was in Bundaberg with Mark because he and Mark were fishing buddies.
And Mark was the head of the customer service centre. That's right. I remember Mark surname, but they were fishing buddies.
And so, yes, I was Larry's protege. Yeah. But isn't it funny? You know, two degrees of separation or something we've had.
So yeah, it wasn't interesting. What a small world. So tell us about where you're contracting currently and making a bit of a transition into your practise.
Is that right? Yeah. You know, a long term public servant. And when I came to Melbourne, I explored contracting because I didn't want to actually commit to a permanent job.
At that time, I was in a bit of a life adventure 14 years ago, and I liked contracting. But around 2017, I knew there was something different that I wanted to do. And yeah, I broke away to start Jeanette cream or practise, which is me had some false starts.
And we'll probably talk a little bit about that later. But yeah, now I work for myself. I still do some contracting work to keep the revenue coming in.
But I am transitioning running programmes and workshops with clients. So, yeah, I hope by the end of December, this calendar year that I can say no more contracting that I've actually built enough revenue and client delivery days that I have to do contract anymore. So six months to go, and I should have transitioned out and into my full time practise.
That's such a big achievement in it. What made you decide to not continue on necessarily in a contracting space and move a bit more over into the thought leadership and that sort of thing? One of the reasons why I ran away and I'll say run away from Queensland is I was doing project rescue after project rescue after project rescue. And I was becoming someone I didn't really like.
I knew there was something more. And I thought, oh, let's go and explore another capital city. I love sport, love wine, cheese at the time.
Let's go to Victoria. And in the contracting role, same thing. I seem to be attracting project rescue after project rescue, always getting projects back on track.
And I thought, surely there's a way that I can help people not do this. Why can't I help project teams be more aware of the warning signs so that they can correct their path rather than doing the big U-turn in the Titanic. They're trying to steer this big ocean liner.
Whereas there's little bumps. So let's react now rather than waiting. And so that's kind of where I went, oh, how can I? And then I had a coach at the time, Janine Garner, that you know.
And she was the one that helped me unpack that and say, look, how about we start Jeanette and start sharing your IP with everyone and to make a difference. And that's how it really started. It was a bit of a leap of faith because I'm the first person in my family to actually do this sort of work.
Yeah. First person to always labourers, farm workers type background. But I'm the first one to kind of go out.
So it was a bit of a leap of faith in myself. Yeah. And I don't regret it.
Wow. So most of your time, say, at the moment in the contracting world that you do. So you're still so you've got a bit of hands on the tools type work.
So which is your mastery around. So really rescuing these projects. And then now you're sort of starting to teach people how to do this.
And I can see something in the background there. And I got my copy. And you actually thank you.
Go on to write a book. Tell us about how this transition works. So you're delivering contracting, but you've done this really proactively, Jeanette, while you're coming into this world.
Tell us about this transition out of being on the tools in contracting, but coming into this leadership world. And you've written a book. Yeah.
Thank you. Well, you have to have a bit of influence here, Jane. So as I mentioned, I was working with Janine.
And I think no matter who you are now in a career or a business or a practise, please have a coach or a mentor. You can't do this alone. I absolutely that's my must advice for everyone.
But when I was working with Janine, I knew what I wanted to do. But when I started working with you, you helped me narrow in on a focus because I've got so much in my 25 plus years experience around business transformations, project and change, people, process, technology integration. And you helped me go.
Okay, out of all my IP, I've got 13 components in it. And you said, let's narrow in on one. And so we chose leadership, the one in the core, the one in the middle.
And I went to your boot camp today to three day boot camp, and you helped me get all my thinking out and put it into an outline and then following the method. Yeah, I think I had it done in six months, and then it was released. What in April this year? So a nine months from July to April.
And this is a recipe that I've unpacked from all my experience, research interviews of the things that project teams need to mix. Like you are a chef, you got the recipe, but sometimes you add a little bit of extra salt or pepper, or you might need a little bit more garlic or just for your own flavour. And that's what this book is about.
It's about the recipe for project teams to have real impact. It's not about the technology experience or their policy or marketing, whatever their technical role is, it's their role in a project team and how they together have real impact. And I've got 15 ingredients in the recipe.
So that's what the book's about. Amazing. And I've now got an Accelerate programme that the book underpins.
So the book is now my Accelerate programme that I'm delivering with clients and workshops. Amazing. What's the Accelerate programme? How does that work? Yeah.
So part of designing this book and building the programme, as you help me sharpen things and let go of things and put some more in, it's a series of workshops and accountability sessions. So the idea is I work with an organisation and they bring project team members into the classroom. No more than 15, because we actually use real projects.
So it's practical learning. So they bring their current project to the table and we have five workshops where we work through the pillars in the book and the ingredients. And then we have a commitment of the action that they're going to take from that workshop that they're going to apply to the project.
And then I have an accountability group session check in between the workshops. Right. How did that action go? Did it work? Was it effective? You know, what can we do differently? Right.
And we build on that. And then at the end of I try to do it in three months. Some clients like to do it in six, but I try to do it in three because that's what's called Accelerate.
Right. To get the project back on track. And then at the end, they have a graduation showcase where they invite their stakeholders and they do a presentation.
This is where the project was at. And this is it now. And this is why, because of what they've done.
They've done the corrective actions based on the ingredients in the book. Brilliant. Momentum is everything, isn't it? In the like to, you know, I can imagine you get these, you know, things that have fallen apart and how you're able to, you know, get them back on track, being able to get that accountability each week.
And, you know, it just gets that energy back into it and the focus and support and all those sorts of things. You know, you can actually get this thing done. The sense of achievement for them must be really powerful.
It is because it's not theory based. One of the things, you know, and I've had to that's probably why I so resonate with it because I'm a practical learner as well. Yeah.
And when we work in groups, I recently I had it was four projects in the classroom for different projects. And one of the team members was having a problem that the other one didn't even know that they had in their project until she talked about. And she goes, oh, hang on.
I think we're experiencing that as well. And so by having that group sense around looking at your projects, going through the behaviours and what's going on, you can actually mirror or learn from one another. And so they're not just learning from me.
They're learning from each other because they're using their real like their projects, their active projects. And that's the only way that I think I can help people learn what the warning signs are and then how to take action to keep going forward and have all those real great storeys about successful projects and customers that are satisfied and stakeholders that are engaged and all the things we want to celebrate. But really hard sometimes.
And Jeanette, what's your hope with the book and with the clients you work with? Do you want it to sort of help promote you to work with a certain market or is it to go across other markets? What are you hoping that it will do? Yeah, I probably want to stay in my lane. Yeah, I've got government background, like I said, and higher education and utilities. Right.
It's not that I need to know exactly what their projects are, but when they come to the table, I can understand some of their language and their tones. And I can actually think and position myself in their problems. Yes.
And so because I've been in government, higher education, utilities, that's probably where I want to stay. Yes. And it's mainly Commonwealth and state.
But recently I've been with local government and it's ignited my interest, actually. Has it? Yeah, I want to explore a little bit more of that in the next 12 to 24 months around what other local authorities I can work with, because being in the... I was running a creative problem solving workshop series. There were six workshops, everything from field staff to admin to corporate.
And seeing them solve their problems collaboratively in the workshops went, oh, wow, this is community based impact. Right. And I really got to know, oh, okay, this is something of interest to me.
So I might be exploring local government a little bit more, but my strengths, Commonwealth and state at the moment. But I'm really liking being in the local government. Oh, that's great.
Well, the beauty of, you know, because if you look at, you know, a book like this, which is real project leadership, the proven recipe for project teams to have real impact. So the beauty of it is it's giving you the versatility to like it's selling the message. This is the message I can, you know, that you could still deliver it regardless of, you know, who wants to know about it.
You've got sort of that proactive type of business development and things like that with, you know, local government. But you've got the ability to go into that market quite easily. You know, the message isn't too tight.
But at the same time, what I love about that is you're also leveraging all your history that, you know, clients want to work with people who feel like they get them and they understand them. Yeah. And I wrote it with the project lens because that's kind of my experience.
But working with these local government individuals that are from all different functions within, you know, the local council, they're operational teams. And what I've more recently, probably in the last three years, working with other government clients, we've changed the way that we work. And they're really project based working now.
We actually have moved away from that task based list, operational teams and operational teams now being challenged through business transformations to look at different ways of working. And so we're looking at virtual ways of working, you know, at working from home, working offshore, working with teams across the nation and very time orientated, blocked into let's add value quickly. Let's continuous improvement is maybe a word that people are more familiar with.
And I think that's actually now how operational teams are working. They are starting to work very much more project based. Right.
Because they're in this cycle of continuous improvement. And so I'm finding what I've written in the book can be applied to operational teams because I do have to collaborate. They do have to work together.
They do have to solve problems and things like that. So, yeah, I think it is versatile. I didn't go out to do it.
I didn't write it for that reason. But it's starting to play out that, yeah, other people are resonating even to the point that I had a friend read it and she goes, I'm going to apply some of this to my life. Like, right.
Wow. Like to her family, because there's all over the place with sport and everything on the weekend. And she said, oh, if we could actually just take this ingredient, that ingredient would make a difference.
Why don't you go for it? Just have a go. So, yeah, I'm even finding people now resonating it with their home life. Wow.
That's an incredible impact. It is not what I thought. Well, not my intention.
But, yeah, let's see where it goes and what it does. Yeah, it's part of the fun. Like, you know, you've got this, you know, new phase of your life and your career.
You know, these are the things that I know. But it's funny, once you put a piece of work out and, you know, even Seth Godin talks about this is, you know, where we're creating, we're waiting for you to lead us. I made this for you.
You know, he talks about those sorts of concepts. But, you know, we don't know what we don't know in terms of the people it brings out of the woodwork who you go, oh, wow, that would never have, I never would have thought about someone like that. But now I can see, you know, why they find this helpful and why they find this relevant.
These poor lost people, no one's looking after them. And, you know, there's people, you know, what I love about your attitude with this is some people kind of can get a bit caught up. A book is a really vulnerable thing to do.
And it's easy to get caught up in, I don't know, maybe I don't know enough. And maybe I'm not good enough. And maybe it's, I don't know, what if people read it? And there's people who are so much better at project management than I am in project leadership.
And there's all this self-talk that goes on. But what I've always loved about you, Jeanette, is you always have a mindset that this is about helping people. It's not even about me.
You know, I'm just trying to get something out that can, you know, there's people out there because you see them every day. You see the struggle that they have, the suffering that they have in their roles. People just really want to go to work, do a great job, feel that sense of achievement.
And particularly when it comes to government, is a sense of contribution is that I feel like I've made a difference. I feel like I'm contributing to society. I feel like I'm contributing to the community, the betterment of the country, you know, state.
And, you know, if people aren't feeling that sense of accomplishment and achievement and growth, you know, in their roles, that's a big impact to be going to work every day and not feeling that you are being able to make any sense of progress. So I love that you've always had this attitude that you go, oh, well, this is my experience. And my experience has been people need help with this stuff.
So I'll write it down and I've captured it here. And here you go. So I love that you and maybe it's just my perception, but you've certainly had that energy about you from the beginning.
Would that be right? Oh, look, thank you. And, you know, I know you need to take some of this credit, too, Jane, because of what the environment you help us ladies that are actually, you know, women that are consulting in corporate arenas, you help us deal with some of that imposter syndrome behaviour. And I call my inner voice Martha.
So sometimes Martha rocks up, you know, Martha, I love it. She rocks up and she definitely had some yelling moments with me writing the book. Not good enough, Jeanette.
People aren't going to read this. I would write, then I would delete. And then I go, yeah, put it away.
But working through the techniques that I've learned around, you know, dealing with your inner voice, I'd say, Martha, not today. I do not need you today. Please go away.
And that's one of the techniques. When you acknowledge your inner voice, it actually helps you get through that imposter syndrome disbelief very quickly. But to truth, I've read the book again since it's been to print.
And oh, my gosh, would I write it differently? Absolutely. Would you? Yeah. To the point that I wouldn't probably stress around if I had enough content or not.
And I don't mean write it differently as in I would rewrite it. I would write it differently in the way that I thought about it. So I definitely wanted to have ingredients.
And, you know, I definitely. But the way that I went about it, I was stressing all the time. Do I have enough case studies in there? Did I remove that person's identity so that they can't identify themselves? And it's all this.
Yeah. Am I good enough? I'm not. And at the end of the day, I would just.
Well, and I think I've got the second book outline starting. Oh, it's the case, isn't it? You're really writing to Jeanette. And I think that's what I mean by rewriting.
I've already started to shape book two. By taking the lessons out of book one and going, oh, that's how I would write it. So that's what I mean by rewriting it.
It's kind of I'm already launching into my book two thinking. And I've got some pink sheets going and some models. But it's also building from my project, the project ecosystem, which is my primary IP, which has got all the 13 components.
But yeah, it's definitely a lesson. Seriously, I think it's empowering. It gives me credibility for what I know.
I stand behind it because it's not someone else's thinking or experience. It's mine to the point that one of the people that I shared the book with, he was a vice president for a supply that I was working with in Queensland government. We were implementing the first digital enterprise solution.
And the vice president for South Pacific, I sent him the book saying, thank you. And he contacted me, he says, are you Emily in the book? And I said, oh, I could be or could not be. That's up to you.
And he says, oh, I'm reading this. And I think that it's some of the conversations you and I've had in the office at one point. Um, yeah.
So I tried to de-identify situations and people because that's one of my values. I don't share really who I work with. And yes, because I think that's the way that I like to be treated.
You know, privacy. So, yeah. But yeah, he's sort of thinking, oh, I think I've talked to Emily before.
And Jeanette, what's this transition time is a time, you know, for the ladies that are listening to this podcast might be men as well, but mostly women who are listening to this podcast, you know, they've had 20 plus years experience like yourself where they, you know, perhaps have, you know, they're listening to your journey here and they're going, okay. So, you know, I'm a Jeanette. I reckon I've probably got a book in me.
I reckon I could probably, I might be in consulting or in a role where I'm doing, I'm contracting in and I want to make this sort of transition. What are some of the things that are working for you that are helping you? Because what I love that you've done is you're doing this on your time. Like you're just going, this is what's right for me.
I'm doing this, you know, I'm doing this at the pace that is right for me. You've prioritised family in particular, your granddaughter, and particularly those first five years. Like she's going back to, she starts school this year.
And so it's been a plan of around, you know, a real life by design type decision. What are some of the things that are working for you in being able to sort of start to make this transition? Yeah, probably one of the ingredients in my book is self-discipline. That's definitely one of them.
So I find time blocking works for me. Right. So I'm very much, and I think this also could be a project trait, but I always work six weeks ahead in my timeline.
I try to go, okay, what's my time blocking for the next six weeks? Okay. And I put the non-negotiables in first. So things like picking my granddaughter up from after school care, having her on certain weekends so that my daughter and son-in-law can work.
So all my non-negotiables get blocked out first. Right. And then I put my revenue time blocking in next.
Yeah. And then I put my thought leadership in third, which is all the content, the curation, research, writing down my next lot of book ideas. And fourth, then, is my admin.
Right. So things like finance, insurances, all that stuff you have to do every week, invoices and expenses. And then fifth is actually my social time.
So I had to make a decision to give something up. And what I've given up, particularly in the last 12 months, is social time. Right.
But that was a choice that I've made for a short time. Now, 12 months out of my 50 something years is a really little moment because I know this is the building blocks for me to start flipping that. So I won't have to do that.
And I have a VA, a wonderful VA, Steph, who takes a lot more now of my admin time. Right. My content time.
So I do a lot of the content, and then she shapes it, schedules it and all the things that I don't need to do anymore. So you do get to a point that you can start then delegating to other people, but then shifting the time blocking allocation percentages. So I'll start to have more social time, less admin time, less content time, more family time.
My idea is to work with clients 100 days a year. Okay. That's it.
Yep. That's my aim. So if I have to compromise now, I know that by doing this now, I will get to 100 client delivery days and then 100 family days and 100 days, and the rest is just sprinkling of magic.
So that's kind of how I think I've achieved it is I've done time blocking. Yeah. I love it.
You just have to because otherwise the weeks just go and you go, I haven't achieved anything. So I love that. So six weeks out and you're right, the social time, that was what I had to do too, Jeanette.
I just, it's not going to be forever, but this is setting up for the second phase of your life and to go, you probably do this for a fair while because we're going to, let's face it, we're all living to 100 plus, we'll retire at 110. That'll be the new retirement age. But we're living longer and we've got, and women, it's sort of coming into the second phase of their lives, when their kids have left home or into this phase and go, well, it's my turn now.
What do I want it to look like? What are the things that fulfil me? What do I love to do? But I don't want to, but they're often saying, but I don't want to retire yet, or I'm not ready to retire. No, I'm just not at that stage in my career. But I feel like I've got the energy.
I feel like I've got more in me.
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So Jeanette, what would you say to someone who is perhaps thinking about doing this, if they're thinking about going, well, I'm seeing Jeanette going, wow, gosh, I'm Jeanette, I could do this. I'm in a similar situation.
And maybe I haven't written a book yet, or maybe I haven't done that, but they've come from perhaps a similar background, whether it's been government or not. What would you, what advice would you have for them if they're thinking about sort of going through this path, or perhaps if they're sort of working out, how am I going to make this shift? What will I do to start to make this shift out of corporate or contracting to move into perhaps more of a thought leadership type practise? Yeah, my advice would be just try one thing and reach out to your network that you, people you've previously worked with, they know you and test it. One of the things for me is I didn't fail fast enough.
And I know that might sound weird. You want to be successful. But I think once again, in the book, I talk about adaptability and it's about learning, unlearning and relearning.
I didn't unlearn quick enough. So for me, I just kept following the same techniques that I knew worked in projects. But when you work for yourself, I don't have a HR department.
I don't have marketing. I don't have technology. You are all those for yourself.
And I thought I had to be resourceful and not ask for help. And so my only advice is start on one thing, small as it is and start testing it early with people that you already know and fail fast. And I don't mean fail to hurt yourself or fail as in unlearn.
So you can keep learning. I love it. Yeah.
That probably would be my number one and probably number two would be you're not going to be liked by everyone, even what you do, how you go about solving their problem. And it's okay because they're not your ideal client anyway. Yes, and walk your own values.
Don't try to fit in with someone else's just to have revenue coming in, because I think that was part of that fail fast for me. I've had to now now that I know who I am really, and that is helping senior offices and project teams navigate business transformations. I've had to say no to things that people knew me because I can also run week long sporting carnivals.
That's some of my volunteer work. You know, can I organise events with volunteers and players? And absolutely. But I'm no longer an event person.
Please don't come to me to run more events. I've done that. So I can now say no to stuff because that's not my purpose.
My purpose is to definitely help project teams navigate business transformations. So, yeah, that probably be my third one. Yeah, I love it.
You know, you've come a really long way, Jeanette, and I love that you've been able to publish this work. But also, you know, we're talking about this unlearning and learning and failing fast. There's a lot that you can do isn't there while you're employed or while you have when I say employed, I mean, as in while you're contracting and you have clients in that sort of capacity is it sort of like that you can what I love is that you've got you've got this done early.
And for most people, I don't always say necessarily doing it early because we sort of we take things to market, see what people buy, and then we double down on what's working well. And then we might do the book. But in this case, you've run the experiments.
You understand deeply what they are, what they're needing and what they need help with and what they're prepared to pay for and what they're so you've sort of you've done a lot of testing while you're not at a while you're at a lower level of risk. And so for you to be coming out of the you're just coming out of the blocks like this going right here. So, you know, it's a really you're really inspiring to watch Jeanette.
I wish I'd done this the way you're going about it. Jeez. I wish I did it that way.
Can I tell you in 2017, I didn't do it this way. I went hollis bollis. And that's probably.
Yes. And that's probably something I have to admit that I didn't do that lesson that you've just shared now. We've just talked about now, Jane, that's probably been more probably just probably about six months before I started working with you.
Um, I was talking to Janine and I was just saying, look, I feel as if I'm not moving forward. And and so, yeah, and working with you and Janine has helped me. But when I was in 2017, I did that.
I wasn't listening to my coach at the time. And I went, oh, all or nothing. I mean, let's go.
And I jumped and I jumped into a no revenue world. Yeah, right. And holy shivers.
Did that teach me a lesson? I quickly had to go back full time contracting because I had taken off all my savings and lift off my savings. But now this transition that you've helped me navigate through and say, it's OK, I've had a longer transition period. But like you've said, I'm now can run because I've done all the testing through the transition stage.
And I think that's definitely please don't do a hollis bollis stop work and then go into this. That does not work at all. I guarantee definitely transition playing your transition.
Be kind to yourself, I think, is another thing. Fast pace sometimes can burn you out. And but yeah, so I extend my transition runway, like I said, to December this year, knowing that I met that intersection now that I can now take all my programmes and workshops and advisory services and not do contracting anymore.
Yeah, that's exciting, Jeanette. I'm so happy for you. And you're a true inspiration and particularly for your family.
I know your granddaughter means so much to you and you're a real role model for her. And I think she'll always have these great memories and conversations with you as she gets older. And and because I think for us and now I don't have children, but I have nieces and nephews and this is the future of work.
This is for them to say, well, you can achieve your potential. You can take it. You've got a message.
You can be visible. You can you know, that's so inspiring to be the first in your family to do this type of work. Your granddaughter saying that, my God, my grandmother.
So, you know, the legacy of your work is and just what you're creating is really incredible. So, you know, Jeanette, you really you're really inspiring. So congratulations on your progress.
And we can't wait to see what happens next. You know, thank you, Jane. Thank you to women with influence and our community.
We've had a lot of fun. I definitely cannot do this alone. And yeah, we're very supportive of each other.
And geez, and we have good and bad days. Yeah, it's not it's not all shiny mirrors. We have bad days, but we're in a safe space when we can get support.
So thank you. It's my pleasure. Jeanette, if people want to learn more about your work or whether they want to follow you or learn more about your book or connect with you, where would they be best to do that? Jeanette cream or dot com dot you can explore my website.
You'll find some free resources there. You'll also find my fortnightly insights on my blogs. So I put new thought leadership up every fortnight, as well as I hosted a podcast show called Laugh, Learn, Lead a couple of years ago.
So there's about 50 episodes on there. Wow. Yeah, but I'm thinking about doing another series later.
But not just yet, Jane. Hey, because I'm not yet. Yes, that's the right answer.
My coach would probably be giving me a slight little butt kick at the moment. If I put my energy into a podcast. But I do love him.
I love to talk. That's why I probably love workshops. LinkedIn is my digital platform for engagement interaction.
I post there three times a week and Instagram bit of a fun place. So I hang out there. That's more my social platform.
But, you know, LinkedIn website and Instagram are probably the three ways. Ping me and and let's find some time to have a chat. Yeah, thanks, Jeanette.
I'm so glad to have you on today. So follow Jeanette on all the socials. Jump on, have a look at a book.
So books available on Booktopia, Amazon.com, all the usual spots. A real project leadership. And Jeanette loved your insights today.
I loved about the value of your history, particularly coming out of government utilities and education. I don't think we value our history enough when we're talking about our practises. And, you know, like I said, sort of go holus bolus.
You know, I'm just going to forget that whole previous life and I'm going to start this one. And the value of your history. I loved your tips around the time blocking with making this transition and putting the most important things in first and then working around it.
And then, you know, you had to make some tough decisions while you're doing this. And it's not always not forever. And it's OK.
You're rebuilding and or redesigning and setting the platform for that. I love that you talked about failing fast enough and testing and trying things and working with the people who trust you the most when you're getting going. So so many great insights and lessons today.
So we look forward to cheering you on and watching your next phase of your growth. And remember us all when you're famous. Well, that's it.
I'm going to be JC forever. Thank you. Thanks, Jenny.
Goodbye.
