Project Leadership

Sarah Coleman, Donnie MacNicol

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781351981309
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Project Leadership, the classic, best-selling textbook originally by Wendy Briner, Michael Geddes and Colin Hastings, anticipated so many of the changes in approaches to project management that are now regarded as mainstream - not least the focus on behaviours. The Third Edition by experts Sarah Coleman and Donnie MacNicol has been substantially rewritten, introducing new material and experience reflecting the transformation that has taken place in the world of projects and leadership. Project Leadership Third Edition looks at the nature of the leadership role in projects, why it is significant and how it impacts the processes throughout the project life-cycle from shaping and scoping, start up and delivery through to project closure. The authors put considerable emphasis on a set of core capabilities around the themes of vision and strategy, relationship building, communication and engagement. The book also focuses on building personal and organizational project leadership capability including models, tools and diagnostics drawing on experiences of working with projects and organizations from multiple sectors and across the globe. The Foreword and Endorsements have been provided by industry leaders. Sarah Coleman and Donnie MacNicol have retained and built on the wonderful range of simple, imaginative and very applicable models and perspectives developed by the previous authors. Every project leader, aspiring project leader and organization with project management communities should own and use a copy of this book.

PART 1
PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND THE PROJECT LEADER

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all others.

Winston Churchill

In Part 1 we look at a key area separating successful from unsuccessful organizations, that of leadership and the person who takes the role as leader. Much of the recent research into leadership looks at the role it has in helping secure organizational success – both in defining and delivering. We will look at the concept of leadership and how the research, models, techniques and ideas about mainstream organizational leadership are helping to shape current thoughts about effective project leadership. We look at how taking the next steps towards senior and leadership positions will typically take you away from your technical skill base to focus more on people and results. What, then, are the differences that make the difference for project leaders, whether they are on the client or the contractor side?

As one project leader told us, ‘We need more understanding around the facets of leadership and the way leadership can work in projects and organizations to enhance or suppress achievement, particularly with regard to projects.’

In Part 1:

• Chapter 1 looks at what defines project leadership and the role of the project leader. We focus on the skills and competence needed by the modern project leader: how do they differ from those involved in being a line manager or specialist, and what does a ‘good’ project leader look like?

• Chapter 2 concentrates on your individual style as a project leader, the relationship you have with – and the impact you have on – other individuals, and finally the relationship you have with the type of organization you work with.

• Chapter 3 recognizes the importance of the relationship between the project leader and the project, and that each impacts the other. As such, this relationship ultimately impacts the performance and success of the undertaking. We also look at the nature of the approach adopted to manage/lead the project and that ultimately defines the tools you have at your disposal to coordinate, manage and report.

CHAPTER 1
What is Project Leadership?

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

Stephen R. Covey

Introduction

Chapter 1 looks at what defines project leadership and the role of the project leader. We focus on the skills and competence needed by the modern project leader: how do they differ from those involved in being a line manager or specialist, and what does a ‘good’ project leader look like? There are no absolute answers but there are guidelines and concepts, tools and techniques, which can support project leaders in understanding the critical capabilities to allow them to actively develop. We introduce the ‘Eight Lookings’ for the project leader, each of these ‘lookings’ being developed in later chapters.

1.1 From Management to Leadership

Tempted as we were, we do not explore the difference between management and leadership since this has been researched and covered extensively by others. However, it is worth very briefly considering what makes the notion of ‘management’ different from ‘leadership’. Watkins (2012) described what he calls the ‘seven seismic shifts’ from management to leadership, see Figure 1.1.

In our discussions with organizations, they typically describe the move from management to leadership as shown in Figure 1.2.

In short, then, leadership is setting the Big Picture, direction or Vision for a group to follow while management is controlling the resources necessary to achieve this. In reality, in organizations the line between management and leadership is more blurred than these stark definitions suggest, especially around the middle management layers of organizational hierarchy. Perhaps confusingly, project managers are not only expected to manage (that is, control) the resources of the project but increasingly they are also expected to provide leadership within the role. A real challenge when you often have no hierarchical power. Welcome to the wonderful world of the project leader.

Figure 1.1 Seven seismic shifts from management to leadership

Source: Watkins 2012

Figure 1.2 Change in focus from management to leadership

1.2 Leadership Models and Competencies

We all know people who seem to be natural leaders, whether in the workplace or outside. Those who have ‘it’ stand out and inspire all around them. These are the people who build strong relationships even when events are undermining them, and who are able to retain a strategic perspective even as day to day problems try to engulf them. Project leaders share many of the same characteristics as leaders in operational or functional roles. The notion of leadership in mainstream organizations has moved on from command and control into the context of organizational strategy and delivery; the ability to provide clarity, focus and alignment to a Vision that supports where the organization is headed. Much of the recent literature and research into mainstream leadership can also help to educate and develop project leaders.

Notions of leadership do evolve over time and are affected by changes in economic, political, social and other factors. These in turn influence academia and professional bodies, which have a key part in shaping expectations of individuals and organizations. This concept is discussed further in Chapter 12 when we consider how organizations identify the critical future capability of project leaders. Many of the modern notions about organizational leadership, rather than leadership in politics or the armed services, noticeably started in the mid-1800s with Max Weber, Henry Fayol and Frederick Taylor amongst others. These ideas have been progressively refined and developed by Peter Drucker, John Adair, Henry Mintzberg, Warren Bennis, Charles Handy and John Kotter to name but a few.

The personal heroic and sometimes maverick models of leadership popular in the 1980s and 1990s reflected the cult of the personality. These have since evolved into newer models which value leadership as a social process. We all know of ‘guts or glory’ war stories about project leaders adamant at meeting deadlines and expectations, working all hours over extended periods of time, of adrenaline-pumping chaos management. These are remembered stories of past successes as well as monumental cock-ups that pass into organizational and project folklore.

One of our colleagues tells a particular success war story:

‘At the height of the North Sea oil boom in the 1980s the design team in London were working flat out to get the drawing to the construction site in Scotland. We were led by a charismatic six-foot Texan project manager who was renowned for “getting the job done”. One Monday morning we arrived at the Scottish office to find that all the engineers’ offices facing out onto the drafting area had been locked up by an overenthusiastic security guard.

Needless to say as typical Brits we were sitting around drinking tea waiting for the man to arrive to unlock the offices when the Texan arrived. Upon hearing of this small delay he disappeared muttering about timescales and reappeared five minutes later with a fireman’s axe with which he proceeded to smash down the 15 doors, pointing out loudly that doors were cheap but oil production was expensive. At that moment the security guard arrived but he decided not to inter vene – good call!’

These types of stories often involve what is often called ‘natural charisma’, but for those of us who don’t have this, we need to be able to understand what makes the difference and work to fulfil our leadership obligations in a style that is congruent with who we are.

The current view of leadership emphasizes the social and ethical behaviour of leaders (for example, ‘servant leadership’, ‘authentic leadership’, ‘collaborative leadership’), which do not commonly appear in connec...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part 1 Project Leadership and the Project Leader
• Part 2 Leading the Project
• Part 3 The Core
• Part 4 Building Personal and Organizational Capability
• Appendix
• Index