Caroline asked this after a discussion, at one of our last London event, about how internals can be saying one thing for many years but never taken heed of, then an external consultant comes along saying the same and suddenly senior management are all ears, acting on their advice.

She wanted to know what tips people have in this situation. Has a GI ever overcome this difficulty?
This is a question which comes up again and again, and we talked about it again late Thursday at our Birmingham event. Here’s what you had to say on the topic:

Sponsorship and mentoring

• Find someone in a senior position to act as a sponsor or a mentor. Even if they are not directly involved in your work, the fact they understand the politics and the key players means that they can give you a different perspective on things. 
• If you work with external clients, use this to your advantage – if the client is singing from your hymn sheet, it’s much harder for those within your organisation to ignore you.
• Arrange to be mentored by objective and completely external professionals
• Get appropriate supervision to help you work out the problems and issues in a safe and productive environment

• Acting like a consultant 
• Resilience
• Working with people
• Books suggested by the tribe to help

• Great Debat

  The 7 mistakes
• The bonus 8th Mistake
• Understanding which was most relevant to the delegates and how they could start to tackle it
• A challenge by choice
• A master class from Chris Spray
• The Internal Consultancy Roles
• The Internal Consultancy Process

Susanne Madsen

In the fast-paced master class , Susanne Madsen will show you how you can improve your performance as a project manager and change manager without spending long hours in the office. In fact she will show you exactly which activities you need to focus on, and which strategies to use, in order to become more successful AND enjoy a better work/life balance. You will learn to avoid stress, firefighting, unhappy clients and project failure. Instead you can transform the project you are currently working on to propel yourself to the next level.

The strategies which Susanne will share have allowed her to go from being an overwhelmed and frustrated project manager to a program director who is in control of successful projects and programmes; as well as taking back control of her time and very importantly, of her own career. In fact, Susanne has improved her work/life balance so much that she found time to qualify as a coach and write a book about project management coaching.

Whether you’re a Project Manager, Change Manager or have another Great Insider role which includes projects (and most of our roles do), Susanne’s masterclass will help you to;

• Get better results and get recognised for those results
• Reduce your stress levels and leave the office on time
• Focus on the 20% of activities that add to 80% of your results
• Build effective relationships with your clients and with your team
• Feel more energized at work
• Avoid project failure and redundancy
• Become a more inspirational and appealing leader
• Improve your project, change management and leadership skills

March’s workshop  also includes all the highly-valued Great Insiders goodies (Exploring the 7 Mistakes, Prioritising the key one for you, taking part in Challenge by Choice, Learning with others, Creating your ‘Go Do It’ Plan at the end of the day’).

Book your place here

(If you're thinking you'd like to attend are based in London and budgets are tight, and you have a lovely large meeting room, then get in touch - we'e offering palces for spaces. This is the last chance to do this, as we'll need to book a venue later in the week).

Wow! What a week for the tribe. The 3 offers are:

1. Discount on a retreat
2. Completely free tickets to a Devops Conference
3. Discount on a IRM-UK Seminars

OFFER 1: Crossroads Retreat - £100 discount for Great Insiders

We've talked to the www.crossroadsretreats.co.uk  team and they would be delighted to offer the last 3 places on next week’s retreat in Cheshire (13th and 14th) at £100 off full price. That's £150 for a 2 day retreat with full board.

Crossroads provides a guided retreat experience, offering individuals the opportunity of a life changing experience at a personal crossroads. The process helps people to make good choices at key decision points in their lives by identifying their own uniqueness, what they really want and creating a plan to move forward with confidence.

Most importantly it provides a vital opportunity to invest in yourself away from all the really well meaning people offering you their ideas. It's your life and you can put yourself in the driving seat.

OFFER 2: UNICOM Devops Conference – FREE Tickets for Great Insiders

Due to generous sponsorship and the friendship thatUNICOM and Great Insiders have grown over the last few months, we are delighted to let you know that you can go to the Devops Conference for free (just pay your own transport/accommodation).

On the 21st February you can “Deep Dive” into each of the 4 pillars of Devops, just by going to  http://www.unicom.co.uk/product_detail.asp?prdid=1945  and then asking for your F*R*E*E place as a Great Insider. Learn more about Automation, Release Management, Measurement and Culture Change – and how organisations are bringing together “Dev” and “Ops” for major improvements in their IT Delivery.

The event is at a great venue in Amsterdam – and if you’re outside London, that’s even cheaper than getting a train to our own capital much of the time! So book yourself a cheap flight and wear an extra vest (Holland always seems a bit chilly at this time of year) and make the most of some free training! Who says there is no such thing as a free lunch. There is for the GIs!

OFFER 3: IRM UK offering a discount to all Great Insiders tribe members

Pop over to http://www.irmuk.co.uk/events/seminars.cfm  and you’ll find oodles of IT Seminars – as well as great opportunities for Business Analysts. Just in February alone, you could go to a Zachman Enterprise Architecture session, or learn to drive Innovation with Business Architecture – or how about improving the way you define and implement your IT Strategy? Whatever you fancy, as a Great Insider, you are offered a 10% booking for each seminar you book.