Leadership Skills for Managing Projects 2 of 2 webinar

Today I listened to the PMILearning Education and Development (LEAD) CoP webinar on Leadership Skills for Managing Projects, part 2.

The presenter discussed the culture of leadership as a success factor.  I would second that and add that a culture and attitude of success is also necessary.  Believing that you will succeed does not guarantee success but it makes it easier than always living under a cloud.

Also discussed was the good of the team instead of the good of the leader.  I guess you can call that servant leadership. The project is the goal, the good of the team is the enabler and the good of the leader flows from the first two.  The leader must foster the good of the team to achieve the goal and must show backbone if and when the going gets rough.

One item that I don’t hear too often is the special status of the leader in the team.  The leader must care for other team members while not expecting anything for him, listen to all information and opinions, and also keep some distance so as not to show preference for particular team members.  The army teaches leadership like that while the corporate wrongly sees the leader as just one of the guy.

The honor (respectability) and fairness are highlighted as providing the basis for the power of the leader.  Fear is also mention but of course that should be used sparingly, if at all.  Again, when I was in the army, some leader where fond of the saying “I don’t care if they love me as long as they respect me”.  Very true; team members may not love you but if you are respectable and fair they will respect you.  If they fear you they won’t.

One thing I don’t agree with is the Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing of team.  I do believe that once you have gone through the first three steps at that you have a performing team you should apply the same team to the future projects instead of forming a new one.  It is much less costly both in money and ego in my opinion.  See my previous posts on the subject (1, 2).

The webinar ran long and a very good pace; there might have been enough for a three part webinar.

Sound quality was good with very little warbling and just a few cuts.  That’s a first with Adobe Connect.  And the bad lag from the presenter was also gone.  Kudos.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

Connect with me on LinkedIn.  I am a LinkedIn Open Networker (LION); you can use “Friend” to add me to your network.

 

Comments

[Becky]

It is difintely important to believe that you will suceed, otherwise what is the point in even beginning?Online project management software can be a great tool for organising projects of any size and ensuring success. It is also a great leadership tool that allows you to keep track of what team members are up to. An online project management program will also help you to track your budget, resources and time.

[Patrick Richard]

Becky,

Thanks for the comment and the "subtle" sales pitch.