News & Updates
When Climbing Higher Isn’t the Answer
Pivotista Podcast
Jami appeared on the Pivotista podcast to talk about walking away from burnout and redefining success on her terms.
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch on YouTube.
Project Management for Nonprofits
Mission: Impact Podcast
Jami appeared on the Mission: Impact podcast to talk about project management for nonprofit organizations, including as a practice for facilitating collaboration.
Listen at https://www.gracesocialsector.com/missionimpact/project-management-for-nonprofits-with-jami-yazdani
Reflecting on 2024
We’re taking a moment to reflect on the work we've accomplished this year in partnership with other consultants and our amazing clients.
As the year comes to a close, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the work we've accomplished this year in partnership with other consultants and our amazing clients. It's been a privilege to work with organizations making a difference in their communities. Here's a glimpse into a few of the impactful projects we've been a part of this year:
Change Management Project: We’ve partnered with a change consultant to support a leading community nonprofit in navigating organizational change. Our work includes equipping their team with the skills and processes to lead change projects effectively through training, coaching, and the development of a sustainable project management framework.
Fundraising Feasibility Study: We partnered with a fundraising consulting firm to conduct a fundraising feasibility study for an arts nonprofit. Our role included project planning and monitoring and supporting stakeholder communication.
Monday.com Customization: We helped a small nonprofit streamline their processes and enhance collaboration by customizing their Monday.com platform to meet their specific needs.
Association Implementation Planning: In partnership with a strategic planning firm, we facilitated the creation of an implementation plan for an association's new strategic plan. Our ongoing support includes quarterly check-ins to monitor progress, address challenges, and ensure successful execution.
Organizational Development Project: We continued our support of a multi-year career and pay transparency project. Our contributions included project planning, monitoring and communications, and support for the development of career resources and training materials.
Project Coaching: We empowered individual project coaching clients to lead their own projects more successfully. For one coaching client, we provided personalized advice on setting up efficient project processes and implementing Asana.
Jami also designed and led more than 50 training sessions in 2024 for audiences ranging from nonprofit leaders and librarians to HR professionals.
Consulting Considersations
Librarian Linkover Podcast
Jami appeared on the Librarian Linkover Podcast to talk about what librarians should consider if they are thinking about opening their own consulting business.
Three Tips for Juggling Multiple Training Projects at Once
Learning for Good Podcast
Jami appeared on the Learning for Good podcast to talk about project management for learning and development.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
How Project Managers Can Lead And Influence
The Influential Nonprofit Podcast
Jami appeared on The Influential Nonprofit podcast to discuss how project managers can lead and influence.
Results of Research Survey on the Strategic Alignment of Projects
Results from our research survey on the strategic alignment of projects in mission-driven organizations.
Over the summer, we conducted a research survey about project management and the strategic alignment of projects in mission-driven organizations.
The results of the survey are now available! Key findings include:
The majority of respondents (55%) identified their projects as being "closely aligned" with their organization's strategic goals or objectives.
While there was no correlation between a respondent's role and their agreement on alignment, higher-level leaders were more likely to view their organization's projects as being closely aligned.
Most respondents indicated that alignment was considered early in the project timeline, with 61% responding that alignment occurs during the project proposal/approval/justification process and 55% during strategic or organizational planning.
While the small sample size in this initial phase of our research limits us in drawing conclusions from the survey data, it does suggest several avenues for future research phases. As such, we plan to conduct targeted interviews with leaders in mission-driven organizations in 2023.
Agile for Libraries
Common Stacks Podcast
Jami appeared on the Common Stacks Podcast to discuss how libraries can implement an agile framework in their own projects and management.
Invitation to participate in project alignment research
Join our research about project management and the strategic alignment of projects in mission-driven organizations!
We’re inviting leaders at all levels in mission-driven organizations (nonprofits, education, libraries, government) to take part in our research regarding project management and the strategic alignment of projects.
Are your projects aligned with organizational or department strategy? Does alignment impact project success?
Our survey will take 5-7 minutes to complete and participants will be asked to answer questions about your organization’s project and planning environment and processes: https://forms.gle/UeS8ntpMigmQTpAB7
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Jami Yazdani at jami@yazdaniconsulting.com.
Strategy Aligned Project Management Webinar
Close the gap between strategy and projects!
Missed the live webinar? Register to watch a recording.
You’re invited to our Strategy Aligned Project Management Webinar!
In this free webinar, Jami Yazdani and IYCON CEO Jude Chagas Pereira will offer practical techniques for aligning projects and organizational strategy.
When & Where: Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at 1 PM ET via Zoom
Registration: Reserve your seat
From project planning and assessment to project tracking and management, you’ll be introduced to strategies and tools for closing the gap between projects and organizational strategy and for supporting more agile and impactful planning.
Last chance to enroll
Our self-paced online trainings will only be available until April 30, 2022!
Our self-paced online trainings will only be available until April 30, 2022 when CourseCraft shuts down. There is still time to enroll and fully enjoy these excellent courses!
We currently have no plans to make these courses available on another platform.
Now on LinkedIn Live: Our Impactful Project & Planning Microtraining Series
Our free monthly microtraining series will now premiere on LinkedIn Live.
Our Impactful Project & Planning Microtraining Series will now premiere monthly on LinkedIn Live.
This series covers project management and planning topics, from leading teams and projects to strategic and program planning, via free monthly trainings that last less than 15 minutes each.
During each LinkedIn Live premiere, Jami will be responding to your questions and comments in real-time. If you miss the premiere, the session content will continue to be available on-demand on LinkedIn and via our YouTube channel.
Our next microtraining premieres on Wednesday, November 17th at 2pm ET and will focus on going From Strategic Plan to Action Plan. We’ll talk about realistic strategies for successfully implementing your strategic goals.
Our new Impactful Project & Planning Microtraining Series!
Our new (free!) microtraining series will cover project management and planning topics in less than 15 minutes.
Our new Impactful Project & Planning Microtraining Series will cover project management and planning topics, from leading teams and projects to strategic and program planning, via free monthly trainings that last less than 15 minutes each.
These short trainings will premiere monthly on our YouTube channel. During the premiere, Jami Yazdani will be responding to your questions and comments via chat in real-time. If you miss the premiere or want to watch the content again, the session will continue to be available on demand.
Our first Impactful Project & Planning Microtraining Series premieres on Wednesday, August 18th at 2pm ET and will focus on Stakeholder Engagement. We’ll talk about simple strategies for engaging with our community of stakeholders during strategic planning and when managing projects.
Looking forward to 2021
Little went as planned in 2020, so we really appreciated your business and support.
Little went as planned in 2020, so we really appreciated your business and support. We are looking forward to 2021 and the exciting possibilities that come with a new year!
Here's a few of the articles and resources we shared this year that you may have missed:
What makes our approach to planning different?
We bring a project management perspective to our planning strategies.
How is our approach to planning different?
We bring a project management perspective to our planning strategies. Project managers plan for how their teams will actually deliver on goals, targeting the processes and people critical to successful outcomes.
So our project management perspective means we support actionable planning that focuses on outcomes and implementation. We want our clients to have plans that result in real change, so we move beyond big picture goals and help craft plans with specific, timelined objectives that consider the realities of your team and environment.
To support actionable planning, we design our planning programs to integrate 3 types of planning and consulting sessions:
Learning Sessions, supporting assessment, discovery and understanding.
Strategy Sessions, generating ideas and solutions.
Outcomes Sessions, facilitating creation, action and implementation.
We combine these engaging and expertly facilitated sessions into customized packages tailored to the needs of your organization and the results you want to achieve.
Whether we are helping clients develop strategic plans, supporting planning for new initiatives or technologies, or facilitating continuity or board planning, we ensure your plans are realistic and can be successfully implemented.
Let us help you facilitate a planning process that fits your stakeholders and environment and results in an actionable, impactful plan for your organization. Schedule a free, no obligation consultation to talk about your planning needs!
Celebrating 2 years!
Celebrating 2 years of helping people solve management problems!
Celebrating 2 years!
Enjoy discounts on events and courses in August 2020
On July 31, 2018, Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation was born. We started out with a different name, but our commitment to helping people solve management problems hasn’t changed.
We’re proud of our growth over the last 2 years, and look forward to continuing to serve our clients and our community.
To thank you for your support, we’re offering 20% off our events and courses throughout August 2020. Just register using discount code BDAY20.
Virtual Fundraising Discussion
Discussing staying connected to donors and virtually fundraising on the Sipping Tea with Sabrina series.
Jami Yazdani joined Sabrina Walker Hernandez of Supporting World Hope for her Sipping Tea with Sabrina series on July 22, 2020. In their Facebook Live discussion, Sabrina and Jami talked about the key strategies for staying connected to donors and virtually fundraising during the COVID-19 crisis.
The recording is available at https://www.facebook.com/supportingworldhope/videos/350830649243881/
Sipping Tea With Sabrina - How to Stay Virtually Connected with Donors
Need support moving an event online? Want to discuss options for virtual events that will work for your organization’s budget, staffing and unique environment?
Diversity and Inclusion Actions (Updates as of 12/15/21)
We are committed to supporting diverse and inclusive workplaces, teams and professional networks.
On June 17th 2020, we posted about our intentions around diversity and inclusion. In the spirit of accountability and transparency, we are providing updates on our progress. Updates to the original post are in bold (updates as of 7/30/2020 & 9/4/20 & 3/24/21 & 12/15/21).
Yazdani Consulting and Facilitation is committed to supporting diverse and inclusive workplaces, teams and professional networks.
In response to the protests over George Floyd’s murder, and in support of those fighting against systematic racism, I promised to examine my own assumptions, and to look for and speak up about prejudice and bias in my projects, teams, networks and communities.
To keep that promise and take action to support diversity and inclusion, I’m committed to:
Seeking out diversity and inclusion resources and education and the support of diversity and inclusion experts.
Jami has done a variety of trainings and reading, but there is more to do. So far, Mary-Frances Winters’ We Can’t Talk about That at Work!: How to Talk about Race, Religion, Politics, and Other Polarizing Topics has been most transformative.
Critically examining existing vendor relationships and prioritizing historically underutilized businesses when selecting new vendors.
Jami examined our existing vendor relationships only to find a list of major corporations (mostly in technology). We have started to use more technology from smaller companies, but this remains an issue for us.
Reconsidering partner and referral relationships, including maintaining and sharing a list of contacts doing diversity and inclusion work.
Jami is continuing to build our list of contacts and partners, and is being more critical of our referrals.
Critically examining my professional networks, including advocating for diversity and inclusion in the membership, leadership, decision making and procedures of my professional organizations, and increasing my involvement with professional organizations dedicated to diversity and inclusion issues.
Jami has examined her professional networks and was part of some initiatives to support inclusion in a primary network. She is still working towards increased involvement.
Researching diversity and inclusion issues in relation to marketing and branding, and critically examining and improving my content.
Initial research in marketing and branding has been done, and we continue to work to improve our new content.
Reconsidering my approaches to providing core services, including researching diversity and inclusion issues in relation to these services.
Jami critically examined our training materials and has focused her research and education on inclusive approaches to considering our project management and planning services and training. She has been including discussions of the positive and important impacts of inclusion in our trainings.
Reconsidering internal systems, processes and procedures, including researching diversity and inclusion as it applies to client relationship management.
Jami considered our internal systems, processes, and procedures, and considered diversity and inclusion in developing new client relationship management approaches.
Stepping Back before Moving Forward
How can we take the personal interactions our users and clients enjoyed, such as networking and brainstorming sessions, hands-on support, and product demonstrations, and move these experiences online?
At our recent Supporting Successful Collaborations Session, one of the topics of discussion was effectively replicating face-to-face interactions in a virtual environment. How can we take the personal interactions our users and clients enjoyed, such as networking and brainstorming sessions, hands-on support, and product demonstrations, and move these experiences online?
Image Description: Laptop drawn on notepad, with coffee mug
A session participant talked about how effective and fun her face-to-face interactions with her users had always been. She typically worked with multiple users at one time in the same setting, hopping from user to user as they needed support, with easy access to whiteboards and other tools. Moving her services online has meant a significant increase in interactions, with individual Zoom conferences and email and text exchanges added to group meetings. Trying to replicate her face-to-face interactions has been draining her time and her energy. And would this approach of increased interaction work as well with new users, who hadn’t already had the experience of working together face-to-face?
Over many conversations and in presentations, I’ve encouraged leaders to step back and consider their goals before moving forward with a transition to online services and tools. While virtual environments are rapidly improving and increasingly seeking to mimic in-person interactions (Remo, LunchPool, and Zoom’s Breakout Room feature come to mind), adopting these technologies may have unintended impacts on staff time and might be out of reach for some organization’s budgets. Rather than merely selecting tools to imitate in-person experiences, go back to the purpose and desired outcomes of the service or interaction and consider how those goals can be best served in a virtual environment. You may find that a different type of interaction or access to content using tools you already have (and with which your users are already comfortable) will also support your goals.
How has your organization managed the transition to virtual? Are you trying to replicate face-to-face interactions, or have you moved in a different direction? I’d love to chat with you and hear about your successes and challenges!
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