Projects are everywhere: Companies, institutions, associations and public administration often carry out part of their duties in the form of a project. However, professional project management is seldom implemented. All too often, it is "forgotten" that one of the success factors in project management is team work. The basis for this - communication, leadership, motivation, team spirit and conflict management - will be made familiar and more understandable to you by the many means used in this book.
Thanks to our extensive experience as project managers, managers, mediators, trainers, consultants and coaches, we are convinced that projects can only be successfully carried out if the project manager has the corresponding social competence.

Textbook, reference book or novel?
A bit of everything. You are holding three books in one in your hand.
The project management story is a practical case study, which aims to inform as well as entertain. Alongside the chapter contents, we illustrate the topics relevant to social competence in a literary manner, at the same time taking into account standards of the two international project management organizations, the International Project Management Association (IPMA®) and the Project Management Institute (PMI®).
Our story: Katharina Berghof, consultant and coach, prepares the seasoned project manager Walter Pointer for his new job as program manager and for certification in project management. With experience from coaching sessions and Katharina Berghof's preparatory texts, distributed throughout the chapters of this book, Walter Pointer goes from being a social competence grouch to becoming a sensitive, reflective program manager.
Walter's experience and insights can be seen in each chapter in the form of condensed tips and tricks, which contribute towards the book's reference aspect. The index facilitates the search for relevant social competence models and methods, whereby this volume is also a highly useful and clearly laid out textbook.
Walter and Katharina's story appears throughout the book on a gray background. The story delves into the fundamental issues regarding social competence and continually highlights aspects of its implementation. When simply consulting the book or preparing for project management qualifications, the story can of course be passed over.

Our approach
Practically orientated problems and the impulse towards daily program and project work are the reason for our systemic, constructivist approach. Of course, not every method presented is suitable for every situation. Anyone who tries to implement as much as possible in one go, is more than likely to be faced with a lack of understanding and rejection from their team members and sponsors. Intelligent selection and dosing adapted to the level of knowledge and development within the team are the secrets of success in implementing the methods presented here. For putting social competence into practice, as well as for certification, extensive know-how and in-depth knowledge of methods are an important requirement. With this book 'Light Up The Team Fire – Social Competence: The Success Factor in Project Management' we aim to add a useful tool to the project leader's toolbox, but by no means overwhelm them with too much information.
In times of fast-changing methods and concepts in business management, stability in project work is close to our hearts. We can see it above all in the reinforcement of team work from a systemic perspective. The reflective approach and the learning processes deriving from it can lead to a project culture which, despite admitting new trends, does not go along with all the methodical fads.