How Project Managers Spot Red Flags and Get Ahead of Them
Project professionals know anticipating the need to pivot is a mainstay on any project. But what warning signs should you look out for? Guests discuss how they identify red flags through communication and technology, the most common threats they see on projects, how they handle red flags like resource misallocation and scope creep, and good practices for raising these types of threats to the C-suite.
Episode Overview
Project professionals know anticipating the need to pivot is a mainstay on any project. But what warning signs should you look out for? How can project managers identify them? And how should you inform the C-suite of major red flags? We discuss this with Mary Hladio, PMP, senior productivity and program leader at GE Aerospace in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, and Franziska Höhne, PMP, project manager for international internal auditing at ALDI in Essen, Germany.
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Featured in This Episode
Mary Hladio
Mary Hladio is a senior program manager in the aerospace industry with extensive experience in leading complex initiatives and empowering teams through innovative project leadership. A speaker and mentor, Mary is recognized for her dynamic presentations, strategic mindset and unwavering commitment to developing people as much as projects.
In addition to her day-to-day work, Mary serves as the VP of professional development for the PMI Western Michigan Chapter. In this role, she designs forward-thinking programming that blends cutting-edge tools with practical application—making complex topics like AI accessible to every project manager.
Mary is also an author. She’s written Transforming Project Management With Generative AI: A New Era of Efficiency and Innovation and Developing Leaders: Why Traditional Leadership Training Misses the Mark, as well as the newly published children’s book Penny’s Treehouse Triumph: A Project Management Adventure.
Franziska Höhne
Franziska Höhne is an industrial engineer and a global speaker specializing in communication during organizational transformation. Her perspective combines engineering precision with psychological insight. Franziska focuses on how language, tone and interaction influence alignment, decision making and trust, especially when organizations restructure, adopt new systems, or shift their operating models.
With her Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification, Franziska supports and leads transformation projects by designing frameworks that make change understandable, transparent and actionable. Her work turns uncertainty into shared direction and enables teams to move from reaction to ownership. Her approach is grounded in practical tools, intercultural experience and nearly two decades of hands-on project and audit work.
Franziska also serves as VP of marketing for the PMI Germany Chapter and is a member of the German Speakers Association.
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