Month: October 2012

Linky

Leadership Skills for Project Managers

Leadership skills for project managers Good leadership skills are what make a good project manager great. This article will explore the attributes that would make the project manager a great leader.

Inspire a Shared Team Vision

For a project to work, everybody needs to share the same vision for the project. Great project managers help all team members feel like they have an equal stake in a project, and empower everyone to share and experience the group’s vision.  When team members share a similar vision, they are committed to deliver their best.

Integrity

Good leadership requires commitment and adherence to ethical practices. Good project managers abide by ethical standards and reward those team members who follow suit is part of the responsibility of the job.

Great Communication Skills

Project managers need to clearly communicate goals, performance and expectations; and they need to manage feedback coming at them from all directions.  Being accessible, open, and direct is critical for being a good communicator. Further, having the ability to persuade team members to do certain tasks a bit differently, or work overtime when necessary, is equally as important.  Overall, a project manager’s overall effectiveness is often realized by the ability to communicate effectively.

Competency in the Subject Matter of the Project

Team members need to feel like their project manager has some degree of expertise in the project’s subject matter. As such, project leaders should have the ability to lead their team with technical expertise if the project so requires it. Leaders who are seen as competent by their peers have the ability to inspire, enable and encourage.

Promote Team Building

A project manager must understand team building dynamics.  He or she must go through each phase of team development – even when conflict arises – and get the team to focus on the common goal.   Great project managers foster a sense of unity on the team, across personal dynamics.

Good with Task Delegation

Assigning the right tasks to the right people and trusting them to leverage the best of their abilities is a key characteristic of a great project manager.

Good Problem Solving Abilities

Great project managers solve problems by sharing the responsibility with the experts on their team. This means leveraging the knowledge of those team members and stakeholders who have the expert knowledge to assist; and setting a plan to solve tough problems by harnessing that team experience.

Stay Cool Under Pressure

In a perfect world, every project would complete on time, on budget, and on scope. Unfortunately, when the going gets tough, good project managers remain calm. Warrant Bennis stated: “Out of the uncertainty and chaos of change, leaders rise up and articulate a new image of the future that pulls the project together.”  Great project managers stay cool under pressure.

I like this definition of Leadership: “leading is about establishing direction and influencing others to follow that direction”. This is a good indicator of how project managers should lead their project teams.

As a project manager you lead and facilitate the team members to work towards the same goal consistently.

About Linky van der Merwe: Linky is the Founder of Virtual Project Consulting. Her mission is to provide project management best practices and to recommend resources to aspiring and existing project managers.  A certified project management professional with more than 13 years project management experience and a track record of more than 30 successful projects.

Linky

Project Management Leadership Master Class

By Kiruben Reddy

Project Management LeadershipThis promotional article is aimed at seasoned project and programme managers in South Africa who aspire to be more successful and outstanding in how they deliver projects. The information to be presented will also apply to CEO’s, Managing/ Project/Chief Directors, Engineering Directors, Project Leaders, Operations Executives, COO’s, HOD’s, I.T. Directors, Municipal Managers, Financial Project Managers, Team Leaders, Project Planning Managers, Business Analysts, Construction Managers.

Organisations more than ever are under pressure to operate and deliver more effectively and efficiently, place greater emphasis on stream-lining internal operations, increase focus on customer needs, on superior service delivery in relation to competitors and within shorter timeframes. This is necessary to retain their existing customer base as well as to increase their market share. With the current rate that Companies are moving at globally, coupled with the pace of change, now more than ever an organisation’s ability to execute (on time, on budget, to stakeholder expectations) is not only good for business but is a necessity.

This shift in mind-set requires organisations to have the ability to manage and effectively utilize their resources to the best of their ability to derive direct tangible value through the projects they initiate.

The Project Management Leadership Master Class will provide you with the essential insights in today’s industry and project efficiencies and touch on what’s required today to initiate, manage, monitor and drive delivery through the life cycle of a project successfully. Delivery is not only measured by the fact that it was brought to existence, but the manner in which it was executed and whether it is in line with the original expectations and business benefits of what it was intending to deliver.

Key strategies to be discussed, include:

  • Implementation of a project lifecycle methodology
  • Risk Management
  • How to deal with shortage of project management skills in South Africa
  • Achieving project results through our people

For more information, download the Project Management Leadership Master Class brochure and register for this today.

About the Author: Kiruben Reddy is the General Manager of Solutions Bridge, a 100% Black Women Empowered company and is Level 3 B-BBBEE certified. Your organization can recognize 110% of your spend for the Leadership Master Class hosted by them.

Linky

Project Managers – How To Find Happiness In Your Job

By Ryan Sauer

How to find your dream jobToday’s article is about matching your work style with a dream job. It shows how you can assess your strengths and skills; then how to create a transition plan to move you towards your new job.

Working in a field and within a work setting that matches your own instinctive abilities and workplace needs can make a world of difference in how you perceive your job and your goals.

The Conative Connection

When people place themselves in a role that matches innate work styles then the job feels right. You know the feeling even if you have never heard of the theory.

When people are most unhappy in a professional situation it is often because the job they are doing doesn’t match their inherent talents or desires. The Kolbe Index made me re-consider my career path and also see co-workers differently. Someone I perceived as stubborn in my other part-time workplace, I began to see as having a different way of problem-solving as me, and so I needed to shift communication tactics when dealing with that person.

Overall, the assessment provides insight into four main categories of instinctive “action modes” that people inherently use for creative problem-solving; these are:

  • Fact Finder – addresses the innate process an individual uses to gather and share information.
  • Follow Thru – addresses the “arrange and design” part of the work process.
  • Quick Start – addresses the way “risk and uncertainty” is interpreted and acted upon.
  • Implementer – addresses elements of dealing with “space and tangibles.”

The test then matches those indicators on a continuum of workplace strengths such as being able to: “specify, maintain, modify, and imagine,” among others. For each area people have varying degrees of innate tendencies; working with a team that is balanced across the continuum makes for a highly effective workplace.

Work Style and Happiness
Knowing your work style can help you narrow down the sorts of jobs that best match your conative ability (and also clarified for me the type of work environment or team that I was or was not willing to collaborate with in the future).

It also gives you glimpses of what your perfect job would be and lays a foundation for getting there. Here are some job ideas in growing fields based upon a few highly simplified work style tendencies:

If your passion is being analytical and seeing a problem through until its completion then these areas might be a good fit:

If you are more inclined to work on a sustained problem alone and in general feel the need to interact with people less, then here are some growing career fields would allow for that flexibility:

  • ROI methodology;
  • forensic accounting; and
  • IS security.

If it turns out that working with big ideas and using your innate charisma to influence teams and sustain growth is your passion then these areas might be a good match:

  • Six Sigma Leadership;
  • HR management; and
  • Business administration leadership.

Transitioning Smoothly
By and large everyone I have ever known that took the Kolbe Index found long lasting insights that are directly applicable to life at the present moment. You might feel that overwhelming sense to jump boldly on over to new meadows. Channeling some of that energy into creating a plan first is a great idea. Consider the following before your take the leap on over to your dream job:

  • Take a few online classes while you are still employed at your old job to be sure you have what it takes to be competitive for the transition.
  • Attend a few of the local chapter meetings held by professional organizations in the field(s) you are considering.
  • Attend a regional conference to learn more about key topics in the field, career growth, and employment opportunities.
  • Join LinkedIn and participate in forums related to your prospective field.
  • Explore volunteer or paid internship positions (most professional organizations have lists of opportunities on their homepage).
  • Identify an affordable and knowledgeable career coach and create a more detailed time line and action plan for the transition.

In a tough economy competitions for jobs is fierce; passion for a job is not enough to secure employment. Creating a strong transition plan will keep you focused on you dream, but also able to feed yourself in the meantime.

Ryan Sauer is a writer and editor for Bisk Education in association with University Alliance. He actively writes about project management and leadership in different industries and strives to help professionals succeed in getting their PMP certification online.