Transcript Great Leadership in Project Management

GREAT LEADERSHIP
IN PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
Sean Whitaker, PMP, BA, MSc, MBA
www.falcontraining.co.nz
A Bit About Me . . .
Experienced project manager having successfully
delivered construction, telecommunications and IT
projects in NZ and Australia
PMP, BA, MSc, MBA
President of Project Management Institute of New
Zealand
Project management trainer, author and speaker
Overview
Present a competency-based model for leadership
Present four key competencies for leadership within the
profession of project management
Implications for project managers
Feel free to ask questions throughout
Leadership
Studying leadership and developing your own
leadership abilities is important for both personal and
professional reasons
For you personally, a path of growth through your own
leadership development will enable you to reach the
goals you have and fulfil your full potential
Take a proactive approach to accepting the personal
and professional challenges that leadership
opportunities present
The Value Of Leadership To
Project Management
The value of project management
–
Properly applied professional project management
practices do add bottom line value to an organisation
The value of leadership to project management
–
Leadership increases the likelihood of project success
and the absence of leadership negatively affects
projects
Defining Leadership
What do you think defines Leadership and Leaders?
Leadership – Definition
The ‘Purposeful Influencing of Followers’
Purposeful
The leader must accept the challenge that leadership
presents and demands
There are many people we may wish to follow who may
not wish to lead
Influencing
The leader must have a vision and be prepared to
influence followers to see and move towards the vision
Followers
Leadership is a relationship between those who choose to
lead and those who choose to be lead
Without followers there are no leaders
A leader must acknowledge, value and protect this
relationship
What about Followers and
Followership?
Are you a Leader or a Follower?
If you are a Leader do you know what your followers
expect of you?
If you are a Follower do you know what your leaders
expect of you?
Born or Made?
There are certain behaviours and characteristics you are
born with which may dispose you towards a certain style
of leadership
Other than that it is entirely up to you if you wish to study
leadership and learn to develop your particular
leadership style
Leadership is situational, different situations call for
different styles (i.e. charismatic leadership works well in
transformational situations but can be a liability in other
leadership situations))
So what?
Now we know what leadership is, what are the
characteristics, traits and skills a great leader should have?
The Leadership Development
Spectrum
Spiritual
-
Personal
-
Tasks
-
Technical
A Model for Leadership
Leadership within projects presents a unique situation
A project environment is finite and unique
It is also constrained by time, budget or resources
It needs a different prioritisation in the set of leadership
competencies from an operational setting
Leadership in project management is situational and
utilises 15 core competencies depending on several
contextual factors such as project type, complexity,
industry and size
The 15 Competencies of
Leadership
Managerial
Intellectual
Emotional
 Engaging communication
 Critical analysis and judgement
 Self-awareness
 Managing resources
 Vision and integration
 Emotional resilience
 Empowering
 Strategic perspective
 Motivation
 Developing
 Achieving
 Sensitivity
 Influence
 Intuitiveness
 Conscientiousness
A Model for Leadership
Emotional
Competencies
Self-Awareness
Emotional Resilience
Motivation
Sensitivity
Influence
Intuitiveness
Conscientiousness
Personal
Foundation
Intellectual
Competencies
Critical Analysis &
Judgement
Vision and Integration
Strategic Perspective
Managerial
Competencies
•Engaging Communication
•Managing Resources
•Empowering
•Developing
•Achieving
Personal Foundation – It is
Important
The need for an authentic personal foundation is central
to leadership as during your career as a leader you will
at one time or another be required to draw on and
display whatever set of competencies are required due
to the context of the situation
A strong authentic personal foundation is constant in all
leadership situations
Without a strong personal foundation the dark,
narcissistic side of leadership can take hold
What do you think . . .
Constant Core Competencies
A strong personal foundation is a constant requirements of
great leadership
Many of the competencies of project leadership are
situational. However, there are number of the 15 identified
competencies, along with a strong personal foundation, which
are regarded as constant no matter what the situation
The following research added weight to this
Overall the respondents can be described as highly
experienced, motivated, intelligent and educated people
working in a focussed, pressured and high profile profession
The Interviewees
By Industry
By Gender
Social services 3%
Education 6%
Female
28%
IT
59%
Construction
31%
By Country of Professional Origin
Romania 3%
Jordan 3%
Malaysia 3%
Switzerland 3%
Holland 3%
Australia 6%
Male
72%
By Country of Current Residence
Jordan 3% Australia 3%
USA 6%
USA 9%
UK
25%
New Zealand
44%
New Zealand
88%
Project Managers
Why are you attracted to the profession of project management?
Percentage of
interviewees
Leadership
role
Variety,
Like
diversity and organising/
challenge
planning
Seeing work
to completion
Building
Finite nature Remuneration
something
tangible
Project Managers
What are your core values?
Percentage of
interviewees
Your Leadership Experience
Think about a time in your life when you have accepted a leadership
role. As a result of you being leader things went really well.
What behaviours, characteristics and traits did you display as a great
leader?
What do you hope your followers would say about your leadership
style?
The Core of Great Leadership
What did they do when being great leaders?
Percentage of
interviewees
Your Followership Experience
Think about a person in your life who has inspired you with their
leadership role
What was it about this person that you admired?
What lesson did this person teach you about leadership that you
would pass on to someone wanting to be a great leader?
The Core of Great Leadership
What did they admire in great leaders?
Percentage of
interviewees
The 15 Competencies of
Leadership
Managerial
Intellectual
 Engaging communication  Critical analysis and judgement
 Vision and integration
 Managing resources
 Empowering
 Strategic perspective
Emotional
 Self-awareness
 Emotional resilience
 Motivation
 Developing
 Sensitivity
 Achieving
 Influence
 Intuitiveness
 Conscientiousness
Bridging the Gap
What things do they need to work on to become a great leader?
Percentage of
interviewees
People
skills
Strategic/
visionary
Work on
leadership
skills
Coaching/
mentoring
role
Better
processes
Empathy
Communic Confidence
ation skills
Servant
leader
Proactive
Becoming a Great Leader
Now we can see what the essential and core elements of
leadership within the professional of project management
we can look at ways to develop the required core
competencies of great leadership
5 Practices of Exemplary Leaders
1. Model the Way
2. Inspire a shared Vision
3. Challenge the Process
4. Enable others to Act
5. Encourage the Heart
Model the Way
1. Find your voice by clarifying your personal values
2. Set the example by aligning your words and actions
Titles are granted but its your behaviour that wins you
respect
Leaders are supposed to stand up for their beliefs, so
they’d better have some beliefs to stand up for.
People follow first the person, then the plan
Inspire a Shared Vision
3. Envision the future by imagining exciting possibilities
4. Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared
aspirations
Leaders gaze across the horizon of time, imagining the
attractive opportunities that are in store when they and their
followers arrive at a distant destination
Leadership is a dialogue not a monologue so you have to
listen to others as you communicate your vision
Your enthusiasm and passion for your vision will be
catching
Passion defined
pas·sion [pash-uh n] – noun
an instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire.
a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for
anything i.e. a passion for music. [dictionary.com]
The best leaders are passionate about what they do.
Discover what you are passionate about.
Challenge the Process
5. Search for opportunities by seeking innovative easy to
change, grow and improve
6.Experiment and take risks by constantly generating small
wins and learning from mistakes
Leaders are pioneers and are willing to step into the
unknown.
Don’t sit around waiting for luck to make things happen.
Leaders search for opportunities to innovate, grow and
improve
Failure doesn’t guarantee future success without the ability
to learn – Try, fail, learn
Enable Others to Act
7.Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and
building trust
8. Strengthen others by sharing power and discretion
Leaders foster collaboration and build trust to build
teamwork.
A leader who can make people feel strong and capable will
get more from their team.
Leaders enable others to act not by hoarding the power
they have but by giving it away – empower your people to
be amazing and exceed their own personal best.
Encourage the Heart
9. Recognise contributions by showing appreciation for
individual excellence
10. Celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of
community
Leaders encourage the heart of their followers to carry on.
Recognise contributions, celebrate values and victories
This demands that you are authentic and genuine
People will know if you aren't a genuine person.
How can you apply all of this?
• First make a decision to develop your leadership skills. They can be
learnt
• How do you think you can apply what we have gone over today? At
your work place? In your personal life?
• Leadership opportunities are everywhere
Follow the K&P model and start a journal noting down where and
when you have, or wished you had, developed and displayed any of
the 5 characteristics
Take the opportunity to get feedback from followers – ask the hard
questions and accept the answers
Copy those leaders you admire – get a leadership mentor
Summary
Project management adds value to organisations
Leadership adds value to project management
Great project leaders demonstrate great communication,
a vision, trust and empathy
Protect your personal foundation
Project environments are more focussed and constrained than
operational environments and this affects leadership skills used
Actively (and proactively) seek to develop within yourself the traits of a
great leader.
Just as you would study medicine to become a great doctor you can
study leadership to become a great leader
Further reading
The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner
The Encouraging the Heart Workbook, Kouzes and
Posner
True North, Bill George
Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman
Final Thoughts
The project management profession must take
responsibility for developing our own leaders
Make leadership development a core component of
ongoing professional development
Thank you
Please feel free to contact me with any questions,
comments or feedback.
Sean Whitaker, [email protected] (and on
LinkedIn)