Let’s Explore Our Professional (Journey) Feature Story!
Share in the journey as we discover how project management is changing careers and business . . .
See Professional (Journey) Feature Archive
Each week I’m highlighting dynamic business professionals with answers to 3 questions about project managing career and business story progressions.
Meet Kayla McGuire . . . (Click here for LinkedIn profile . . .)
See Kayla’s answers below . . . (Click here for PDF “Road Map” . . .)
1) Why did you want to get into project management?
I like to say I’m an accidental project manager. I’ve been organizing projects and supporting entrepreneurs long before I realized there was an actual title for what I was doing. Since my college days, I’ve naturally gravitated toward helping people bring their ideas to life—prioritizing what matters, creating systems, and following through on execution. It’s just how I think. I thrive in the space between vision and implementation, and project work allowed me to turn that gift into something tangible and impactful.
2) Where are you at in your career progression? Where do you want to go from here?
About five years ago, I officially launched my consulting business. What began as freelance project work has grown into something much more meaningful. Today, I work closely with founders as a strategic advisor, helping them build and scale businesses that align with their values. I’ve helped create programs, launch initiatives, and lead organizational change. Alongside that, I coach project managers, with a special focus on emotional intelligence and work-life integration. I want to keep expanding in this space—doing work that not only drives results, but also feels human and connected.
3) What types of projects and businesses do you want to work on and what impact do you believe it can make?
I’m most inspired by projects that are impact-driven—where the goal isn’t just profit, but purpose. Whether it’s helping launch a foundation to support children’s education or supporting an entrepreneur who is building healing-centered spaces, I feel most fulfilled when the work is deeply connected to people’s growth and well-being. Projects are transformational, and I truly believe that a focus on this work will play a major role in the future of business—especially as companies seek to become more values-aligned and emotionally intelligent.
If you know anyone who is doing great things with project management to bring team efforts together and advance business, let me know. I would love to reach out to them on LinkedIn and spotlight their professional journey and its business impact.
Let’s Mature Your Business Story!
When careers and organizations align paths, you have the potential to reach your full business maturity!
The Business Problem:
Every organization that scales up, merges/acquires/outsources, or optimizes outdated operations, goes through transformative changes that require project management. Unfortunately, most try to do it without project management professionals. They just assign functional managers to do the work on top of everything else those managers (and teams) are doing. 70% of organizational projects without PMP best practices fail. 70-80% with succeed!
This presents an opportunity for organizations to trust team members, who are familiar with your company, with a chance to lead and manage projects while making professional development applicable. If they do a good job, promote them into permanent improvement project management roles or as team leads. Then, hire other specialists into the vacant position for them to train. Together they can build the companies knowledge management (as part of smaller project teams) for their areas of work and beyond. Now you have established an Improvement Culture and naturally ramped up your collective capabilities to act on growth opportunities and sustain changes for the better.
Another way is to hire PMPs and setup a PMO from the get go. While successful operations allow for growth, project work facilitates it. What got you here, won’t get you to the next level of business process maturity. One thing is clear: Companies that fail to develop their professionals and prepare their workforce for change and progress, either fail to mature and grow or experience extreme growing pains while trying to figure it out.
That’s why I produced a 3-in-1 change, project, knowledge/improvement system of programs that teaches people at each level of the organization their part in integrating a better way of work.
The Plot:
Every Story is About Growth (Professional Development and Business Advancement)!
With every challenging business phase, comes opportunities for growth and success through learning, applying, and adapting while administering change, project, and knowledge/improvement management best practices.
There are 3 main plotlines (storyboards) or challenges/opportunities:
- Startup – Professionals get the business going (and/or get their career going).
- Scale Up – Professionals expand the business (and/or expand their career capacities and capabilities).
- Maturation – Professionals position the business as an industry leader (and/or position their careers as expert resources in progressing a business to full fruition).
Meet regularly as a company, check your scoreboard, and celebrate your accomplishments. If you are all working on company goals in one form or another, everyone will have some part in the wins and have some reason to stick around and celebrate success after success.
The Hero:
Every Business Story needs a Change Agent who takes on the Challenge to Progress Work!
Your story is yours to champion as an organization! If you have accepted the challenge to take on the story conflict in your business story’s path, you are the hero of your story. Your career, teams, and organization are counting on each other to develop professional skills to lead and manage some area of your work in tandem with one another as advocates, adopters, and champions of the work.
Work as one team and make the team the hero of any change projects!
The Story Conflict:
Every Business Story faces Business Problems that threaten the Story’s Success!
Your story would not be a triumphant success without opposition! If it were easy someone will have already accomplished the feat. But with no adversity, it would not be possible for you to achieve best outcomes. You will face internal personal struggles (professional development), project team disagreements (team culture and dynamics), and external challenges (organizational threats) working against your strategic initiatives and professional growth, but relax, projects are a team sport.
Turn to stakeholders invested in your success, your support group cheering you on, and your trusted guides. Rely on each other to overcome any obstacles in your way, work for one another, and succeed together!
The Guide(s):
Every Business Story has Business Needs and can Benefit from a Guide with Business Solutions!
Your story, while unique, is not without available guidance from tried-and-true best practices of successful business leaders and organizational change project management professionals who have navigated similar paths. Our guides can assist you at every critical step along the way to organizational project management integration. We can help you achieve success at every step forward in your career pursuits and at every level of your organization!
The Solutions:
Storyboard PM “Pivotal” Change Management Program Guide
Storyboard PM “Practical” Project Management Program Guide
Storyboard PM “Perpetual” Knowledge Management Program Guide
The Plan:
Every Business Story has a well-thought-out Plan, well at least those with Happy Endings!
Your story has only two possible outcomes: failure or success. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Most change efforts fail because there is no formal process, support (sponsorship), and apparent (high-level) sign-off to individual, team, and organizational efforts that keeps everyone focused and in sync on the same priorities. Our guides allow for some autonomy in finding your way, especially when unknowns arise, but what set’s our system apart from any other is how much is known, how it connects it all together, and how each area builds on one another. These plans allow you to reach your greatest potential (individually and collectively).
Organizational Change Management – Setup the foundational models, form, governance, and criteria to measure success (Objectives & Key Results (OKRs)) necessary for strategic implementations, including policies for integrating formal project management that continually matures business processes and teamwork at the organizational level, in order to accomplish strategic change initiatives.
Professional Change Project Management – Setup the structural framework, training, and criteria to measure success (Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)), and support necessary to develop some form of formal change management and formal project management processes tailored to your organization’s current individual, teams, and cultural levels of acceptance and ability, so your leaders and teams can act more officially with greater sign-off, authority, and agility for practical project management implementations to continually mature your capacity, work activities, and work together at the team level, in order to take on change efforts as a unified whole.
Knowledge Management & Continual Improvement Model – Setup the operational finishing touches, documentation (quality checklists, Organizational Process Assets (OPAs) and knowledge base additions and updates), and completion criteria to measure success against (Performance Development Plans and Business Plans), necessary to enact standard procedures for better workflows and continuous improvement at the individual level, in order to optimize growth and desired business and professional outcomes year over year.
The Story Resolutions:
Act Now! Avoid Failure! Enjoy Success!
Storyboard PM’s programs take a holistic approach to connect change efforts for the better across all levels of your organization in the simplest way possible. Together we can get to the heart of your change culture, build cohesive teams working hand in hand, and get the change project results you are after.
See for yourself (buy an individual license). If you like what you see, let’s get all the members of your team up-to-speed (buy licenses for all your employees). Contact me directly for company-wide pricing discounts.
pricing options
Storyboard PM offers a few Essential Professional Programs
*** Exclusive 3-in-1 System only AVAILABLE now here! Experience more project success! Take your career/teams/business to its next level! ***
Storyboard PM “Pivotal” Change Management Essentials Guide
Learn “how to” setup high level organizational change project management that translates through the ranks.
$250
(3-in-1 Option)
✓
Change Management Essentials
Project &
Knowledge Management Essentials
✓
3-Act Training Videos
✓ Program Guides
✓
Quick Start Guides
✓
Org Charts & Maturity Models
Storyboard PM “Practical” Project Management Essentials Guide
Learn “how to” tailor professional project management for your teams and your organization.
$200
(2-in-1 Option)
✓
Project Management Essentials
Knowledge Management Essentials
✓
3-Act Training Videos
✓ Program Guides
✓
Quick Start Guides
✓
Project Management Templates
Storyboard PM “Perpetual” Knowledge Management Essentials Guide
Learn “how to” work as a project team member organizing and managing knowledge and improvement projects.
$150
(1-in-itself Option)
✓
Knowledge Management Essentials
✓
3-Act Training Videos
✓ Program Guide
✓
Quick Start Guide
✓
Continuous Improvement Aids
Our Promise:
Low-Risk Money Back Guarantee!! We provide a 100% money back guarantee within 15 days of purchase, contingent upon sincere and fair explanation within that timeframe (of how the ongoing benefit is not expected to exceed the cost to you), to which we will then process a return of funds within 30 days of reasonable complaint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Your Programs Certified?
Our programs offer the latest in change management, project management, and knowledge management in order to guide best practices of Organizational Project Management Maturity (OPM).
Our programs are cohesively based in practical business experience, not independent (but recommended) certifications. They go beyond in connecting the dots in real-world actionable application. They must be tailored to fit your business type and maturity, but are suitable (and intended) for all levels of an organization to bring it all together.
Our programs were produced by a PMP from extensive experience with Organizational Change, Business Process Improvement, and Knowledge Base Management Initiatives and Projects.
What Program is Best for Me?
We recommend the 3-in-1 option as the best value. 1 of the 3 subject areas will be more specific to an individual, team, or organizational role, but your teams will gain most knowing the big picture of how the full story goes together.
How May We Contract Storyboard PM Project Management Services?
We converted from consulting (service contracts) to digital program guides (products) to mentor many of you at a time, rather than a few, to keep you from waiting in queue, and to “teach you how to fish” to “feed you for a lifetime” (rather than a day).
If you have more questions, please contact us using the “Contact Form” in the “About” section of this website. Let’s discuss how our program guides can work for you!