Project Management and Leadership Challenges, Volume II

M. Aslam Mirza

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781947441743
• eBook ISBN: 9781947441750
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

Project management endeavor is a change management process requiring all stakeholders to engage and satisfy human aspects about their experience of workplace change. The goal is to help all concerned more quickly and happily adjust to new approaches and new ways of working. Good change management lets people get back to work faster and feel more satisfied with their change experience and the demands of new approach. This second volume provides team members the necessary support before, during, and after the move to establishing project management approach. It includes dealing with human factors, human psychology, human behavior, managing peak performance, work-enabling environment, transformational management, and preparing for challenges of disruption. Managing workplace change takes time and focus. The communication has to go both ways. It is critical to ask professionals for input, to address concerns as they arise, to identify the influencers within teams, and to engage them in efforts.

Chapter 1

The Human Factors in Project Management

Introduction

Project management is both an art and a science calling for a strong understanding of human factors needed to make effective progress in a strategic direction. The major human factors that influence energies for advancement on a project are discussed. The need for a sense of humanity in the workplace is gaining recognition, and professionals prefer working for organizations that value them rather than viewing them merely as a resource. Emphasis is laid on interacting humanely with a team.

Practically, you rely more on emotional intelligence than on your technical skills to gain success in a high-stress work environment. Leadership provides a good understanding for emotional intelligence.

Psychology is inevitable for an effective leader who is supposed to manage the needs and expectations of the team and create enthusiasm. Major human influencing factors are discussed that have an impact on team performance.

Delegation is essentially to avoid suffocation and make the best use of available talent. It is not a choice but surely a necessity.

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Objectives

How certain human factors impact the implementation of a project?

How human factors may influence progression?

How important is the understanding of emotional intelligence and its impacts on leadership?

Why understanding of psychology is necessary for leaders and how to manage it for performance?

What are the influencing factors to manage performance?

Why delegations need attention?

The following are discussed for performance:

• The Sense of Humanity
• Self-Interest “Smart” Questions
• The Power of Intention
• Intuitive Abilities
• Emotional Intelligence Factors
• Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Leadership
• Leadership Styles and Emotional Intelligence

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Project management deals with business advancement in uncharted waters under constraints of time and budget with a team implementing change and satisfying all those who may be affected by the change. The outcomes of an endeavor have a direct bearing on the level of satisfaction of every human being involved in any capacity. This sensitivity requires close attention to the behavior and attitudes of team members and all others involved. To improve the situation in any environment, some of the following human aspects need to be focused on:

1. The power of influence: driving progress and making things happen sometimes requires pushing the boundaries with a view of the bigger picture, convincing the team to buy into the vision. Leadership skills are mandatory for the purpose.
2. Team members’ commitment: in an extreme situation of abuse of the power of influence, team members may tolerate it with high commitment for compliance. Likely, feelings of resentment are overpowered by the sense of engagement with and genuine appreciation for the purpose and bigger picture. However, jumping into compliance mode with fear-based approaches to create sense of urgency is mostly counterproductive.
   The project management processes need to be facilitated to help people with diverse views and backgrounds create sustainable solutions. Excellence does not emerge from telling team members exactly what to do, but rather engaging them enough that they want to do excellent work.
3. Team relationship building: trust is the foundation for a relationship and it needs building; it does not just happen. The real truth about trust is that when others trust us, they are truly taking a risk. When people may be depended on, it reduces risk and builds trust in the relationship.
   Relationships are never a smooth ride; they are invariably tested in tough times where questions about what is more important arises: the situation or the relationship. Choosing situation impacts negatively on the relationship.
4. Assertive communication: an assertive communicator knows how to clearly articulate thoughts and express opinions. You engage others by asking intelligent powerful questions and you actively listen to what team members say. You remain grounded yet can dance into a moment without getting thrown off or erecting defensive barriers. You have good boundaries and won’t allow yourself to be taken advantage of, and, at the same time, you communicate respectfully with others, not taking advantage of them or communicating with them in an aggressive or passive-aggressive manner.
5. Voicing out: Have the voice heard not by shouting over others, but by commanding attention through the clear articulation of ideas, the tone of voice, and the confidence of body language. You know how to focus conversations and keep teams on point. Your words act as a bridge to others. The team listens when you speak because they know you don’t hog air space; rather what you say is worth listening to because your comments are honest, clear, direct, respectful, and valuable.
6. Emotional intelligence: you understand the team and know how to shape your communication to particular audiences so that you are properly heard and understood. You have a good ability to read the team and the situation and know how to adapt your communication to meet the needs of the moment. Since a main aspect of leadership is to know how to influence and motivate the team toward specific goals, you understand what you need to say and how you need to say it to reach and influence the team at any given time, situation, and place.
7. Maintaining a team mindset: your actions help or break the mindset for working as a team. There is always liking, disliking, or other influences in a team situation and a leader upholds the collective output of a team, and not an individual one.

The unique endeavors of project management demand special care in talent management and team building to pursue assigned goals with the utmost level of satisfaction derived from important aspects of human psychology.

1.1 The Sense of Humanity

Project management is both an art and a science where art deals with human aspects for repeat success and to enhance team engagement. Here, it helps to revisit the teachings of Confucius as well as Maslow´s hierarchy.

These two theories depict the pattern that human strengths and virtues (Confucius) and motivations (Maslow) generally move through.

Maslow´s hierarchy of human needs is popularly used in sociology studies as well as in leadership courses around the world.

When leaders do not remember human virtues, or what drives human motivations on a day-to-day basis, they often face problems. Let´s look at the five layers in Maslow´s hierarchy, illustrated in Figure 1.1.

When you want the team to understand your needs, you must understand their needs first, as noted in Figure 1.1.

Physiological Needs

Physiological needs come first; when not met, the human system fails. The needs for survival are air, water, food, clothing, and shelter.

The physiological needs of a team must be satisfied with all necessary support for productivity before moving onto the second layer.

Safety Needs

Once the physiological needs are satisfied, safety needs will drive team behavior.

Safety and security in the work environment leads to personal security, job security, financial stability, well-being, and protection against unexpected adversities, such as illness or accidents.

At this stage, the reputation of a leader and an organization for honoring commitments brings the needed safety that a job would have covered most of the basic needs.

Love and Belonging

Once basic physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, humans need to develop a sense of belonging. The sense of belonging is developed with engagement to the purpose of works that contribute to larger benefits of the community, business, house, and team.

When you want teams to love you, you must love them first and engage them with sharing the bigger picture, showing the value being added by them.

Esteem and Respect

The feeling of respect is not limited to positions of authority and power; every human being has the need for respect. When you want the team to respect you, you must respect them first.

The team desires to be respected at work, where one-third of their mature lives are spent. Their interest declines when they do not find due respect at work, and attention is diverted to other activities that may satisfy the self-esteem and nurture the respect they need.

“People follow leaders who understand their needs, show respect for them, and, most importantly, make them feel part of a cause.”

Self-Actualization

Every team member has the potential for self-actualization, which is achievable when team members get the opportunity to reach their full potential. The leader is responsible for helping each team member achieve the full potential for every task they are assigned.

Team members want to achieve excellence. They want to take pride in their contribution and feel that they have accomplished something important in their field of interest. The sense of achievement with excellence is a source pride that every member aspires to.

Be Humane

You need to connect with team members at human level and practice at least the below noted;

Be sensitive—you must be sensitive to negative emotions from a team members for any reason and proactively address the issue to build trust and confidence. The emotions are contagious and damage takes place subtly. The emotions are contagious and particularly the negative ones.

Be honest—be above reproach in your ethics and honesty. When you are always honest and ethical, it spreads to other people. Even when your honesty and ethics do rub off on others, you’ll feel better about yourself. Realize the opposite is true: that dishonesty and unethical behavior spread like wildfire.

Listen—Keep your ears open and listen empathetically. This means be quiet and listen to what someone is saying to you. Repeat what you thought you heard, in your own words, to make sure what you heard them say is what they truly meant to say.

Keep a schedule—a calendar and a schedule help to keep activities organized; you will discover more time in your day to accomplish your goals.

Ask for help—never be afraid to ask for help. No one is an island and no one succeeds in this world alone. So always ask for help when you need it. The more you ask for help, the better it is for everyone around you. By asking for help, you empower others to take a leading role and give yourself a break.

Say what you mean—be straight, say what you mean, and mean what you say, but do it with a kind heart. There is no need to be mean spirited to be clear. The tone of voice makes a big difference in how communication comes across. Clear communication is very important to help avoid ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 The Human Factors in Project Management
• Chapter 2 Human Psychology
• Chapter 3 Human Behavior
• Chapter 4 Moving to Peak Performance
• Chapter 5 Workplace Environment Enablers
• Chapter 6 Transformational Management
• Chapter 7 Management of Changing Workplace
• Bibliography
• Index