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  • eBook Review: Leadership and the project manager

    Art Petty writes at Management Excellence . A few months ago, he published the ebook Leadership and The Project Manager: Developing the Skills that Fuel High Performance . While there is a lot of talk about leadership and project management, Art takes an original approach. Instead of telling anecdotes to illustrate his point, he uses questions. For example, to illustrate what leadership maturity means, he lists the following questions: Does the PM understand the true role of a leader? Can the PM lead effectively without formal authority? Is the PM capable of inspiring and motivating others and leading across silos? Does the PM understand her role in creating a high performance culture? Is she comfortable receiving and delivering constructive feedback? Does she have high credibility as a professional and a person? Does she understand the stages of team development and the changing leadership tasks at each stage? Does she manage upwards and communicate with stakeholders effectively? Art's question-based approach creates a book where one stops and thinks at each chapter, and ponders one's own answer to the questions. Leadership as a three-way street Art sees leadership as an art practiced on three aspects. Project Managers, he writes, should be able to show leadership to their team, the project sponsor, and the client. Especially project sponsors. He also compares project leadership to being the salesperson for the project. The project manager must sell the project, its strategy, to both the team and stakeholders. Through four "universal areas," Art explains his vision of leadership within a team: leadership maturity, strategic awareness, executive presence, and execution orientation. Leadership is not control I think this quote summarizes Art's vision of leadership: "The effective PM understands that he/she is working for the project team and constantly reinforces this philosophy in both words and actions." Art's brand of leadership is making people want to follow you, not forcing people to follow. A quick an inspiring read Leadership and The Project Manager: Developing the Skills that Fuel High Performance is a short ebook that is worth the time you'll invest in it. Chances are, like me, you'll spend more time thinking about the answers to the questions in the book than reading the actual text. In Art's words: "Go forth and succeed as a leader!" Connect with Karine Simard and the AceProject team via Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter .

  • Take the risk of trusting your team

    From the part of the person who gives it, trust is hard. It requires a leap of faith. It requires that we believe the person we trust is worth it. From the part of the person who receives it, trust is energizing. It means that someone was willing to take that leap of faith for us. It means we are worth it. Trust also carries responsibility: if we want to keep that trust, we must prove the giver right. This means delivering on that trust. Project management requires a high level of trust The project manager must trust the team to do quality work on time and on budget. The project team must trust the project manager to lead them efficiently and help them meet their deadlines. The stakeholders must trust the project manager to understand their needs. The project sponsors must trust the project manager to control the project and prevent cost and schedule overruns. In a nutshell, the project team must trust each other. That includes the project manager, the team, the stakeholder and the sponsors. For most of us, trust is not something we give freely, to everyone. We tend to be careful with our trust. We want people to prove that they are trustworthy before we trust them at all. From a leadership and teamwork standpoint, this is a problem. How can we know someone can be trusted if we won't trust them? Sure, they may have built a reputation - which helps - but we've never trusted this person before. Or maybe they've never managed such a big project. Or maybe the technology is new to them. There is always a reason not to trust someone. Lack of trust is bad We all know how it feels not to be trusted. It reflects on the opinion people have of us. It taints the perception we have of the person who is not willing to trust us. It's difficult to do a good job if our project manager is constantly double-checking out work. It's even more difficult to build project forecasts if we always question the estimates the team is giving us. Over time, a team that is not trusted will lose its initiative and dynamics. They will turn into drones who simply execute. It this what we want in our teams? I think not. Take the risk of trusting your team Trusting someone is taking a risk. While having that trust broken can have a high impact on the project, it also carries the opportunity of better project performance. Just like project reporting by exception is a technique that saves time, as project managers we should practice mistrust by exception: trust your team by default, and take the trust away from people who have proven they couldn't be trusted. Isn't it what a risk register is for? :-) Connect with Karine Simard and the AceProject team via Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter .

  • The human factor: Your Most Valued Resource

    We think a lot about schedules and costs and quality when planning a project, but do we spend enough time thinking about our project team? When's the last time you thought about you team's happiness? I worte an article for Project Management Tipoff's May editiion, about the importance of human resources in your project. Read my article here , and the entire newsletter here .

  • Suggested reading: the first 100 days

    Neal Shen wrote a very interesting post on the PMI blog, titled: The First 100 Days... Neal argues that when being assigned on an existing project, it can be a challenge to get up to speed and build good relationships with your project team. I completely agree with the 3 Ls of communications management: Listen, Learn, Lead. There's a reason why Lead is last You can't lead effectively if you're ignorant. Ignorant of your project, ignorant of your team. Once you've built a good understanding of the project and the people, then you can choose a leadership style that fits the situation.

  • Motivational Friday: punish inaction?

    Bob Sutton, the famous guy behind the " No *** Rule ", wrote a very interesting post titled: Reward Success and Failure, Punish Inaction . Why would we reward failure? Bob then goes to make a very good point: "It is worth remembering research on difference between the most creative and successful people versus their more ordinary peers. Einstein and da Vinci had more bad ideas than their peers. Babe Ruth struck out more. That is because they acted, failed, learned, and kept moving forward." What Bob argues is that not doing anything is worse than doing something wrong. I agree with him. Inaction breeds a passive attitude towards problems and life in general. Inaction gets you nowhere Go ahead. Read Bob's post . And think about what you could do to fix things in your project. No need to know for sure if it will work. Just try something.

  • Human resources management: what do you bring to the table?

    I've been reading on HR management for my upcoming PMP exam. According to the PMI, HR management is about getting the right team for the right project, and developing that team so that the product of the project is delivered on time and on budget. As the project manager, what do you bring to the table? It's is easy to know what the software developer brings to the project. It's harder to know what the PM brings to the project. We're usually the cat herders: we do our best to keep the project on track, the team happy, the stakeholders under control and the deliverables...delivered! It doesn't feel like a productive job. But without a project manager, how many projects would ever end, let alone on time? That's what project managers bring to the table: cohesion and coordination.

  • I hate the word resources

    In project management and in management in general, the word resource is seen often. According to Wikipedia , a resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability, or anything used to help one earn a living. This includes: Space: meeting rooms, offices Furniture: desk, chair Equipment: computer, tools Humans: people, coworkers How can one put people in a list of resources? A person is not a resource, she is a person . She cannot be reserved, allocated and definitely should not be sold or bought. She cannot be stored until you need her again. Treating your teams just like your material resources dehumanizes. A human is not something you need to accomplish a goal. A human is the reason why your organization exists: to provide goods and/or services to other humans. Humans should be more than numbers and work-hours that can be contributed. Humans are the foundation of any company. They should be recognized as such.
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