LEADING

All projects require leadership. Without good leadership from the project manager, the chances of a successful outcome are diminished. Leadership involves inspiring people to perform in a manner that meets or exceeds requirements. But how does a project manager do that?

Leaders provide a vision—that is, they communicate to people a solid visualization of the end result. They also provide a path for achieving the vision. Of course, developing a vision and a path, albeit important, is not enough. They also must generate a sense of urgency and enthusiasm for accomplishing the goal. Further, they must generate in people a sense that the project’s goal is their own goal and that the path is their path. Above all else, they must sustain interest via communication and maintain everyone’s focus.

Leadership offers three obvious benefits. One, it results in greater productivity than the sum of the individual parties, often called synergy. Two, it encourages greater cooperation among all the participants. Three, it terminates with the effective and efficient achievement of goals and objectives.

for Effective Leading

• Define the goals and objectives of the project.
• Develop a path to achieve the goals and objectives.
• Encourage ownership in the goals, objectives, and path.
• Constantly communicate the goals, objectives, and path.
• Track and monitor progress in achieving the goal.
• Place as much importance on the soft skills (e.g., active listening, interpersonal relations) as the hard ones (e.g., scheduling, finance).