Susanne Madsen Intl. Developing Project Leaders
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Project Leadership

1/7/2012

9 Comments

 

20 Essential Tips for Project Leaders

1. Spend your time pro-actively – the number ONE project leadership tip is to focus your attention on the long term as opposed to being reactive and firefight in the present moment. The more time you spend planning and building relationships, the fewer issues you will encounter later in the project. 

2. Deliver on your promises – it’s essential that what you say is credible and that your stakeholders trust your opinion. Always be conservative in your estimates and never promise a delivery you are not sure you can meet. To be safe, produce a detailed plan and remember to build in contingency.

3. Focus on business benefits – to be of ultimate value, you must focus on the delivery of business benefits to your client; not just the tangible outcomes of your project. This requires you to have a good understanding of the business domain, to challenge the status quo, and to fully embrace the project’s end goal and vision.
 
4. Listen with your heart – one of the keys to project success is to build strong relationships – and to do that you must be able to really listen. Listen to your team members and to your stakeholders. Forget your own agenda and listen from the heart. Then great relationships will be built.

5. Focus on customer needs – focus on what your customers really need rather than what they think they want. Get into their heads and involve the end users as much as possible when gathering requirements. Demonstrate and prototype the product and constantly check that what the team is building matches the requirements and customer needs.

6. Act as an inspirational mentor and a guide – be an inspiration to the team and share the project’s vision and end goal whenever you can. Don’t tell your people what to do but coach them to find the right solutions and to make decisions on their own. Let your vision and engagement be the prime motivator for the team. 

7. Take a big picture view – step back from the project on a regular basis and take a balcony view. Observe what is going on.  What is working and what is not? Examine ways in which the project could operate more effectively and take action to implement your ideas and risk mitigating actions.

8. Utilise the strengths of your team – in order to build a truly motivated and high performing team, you must understand what drives each individual. Listen to each team member and understand what their strengths and  aspirations are. Then take action to utilise them in the best possible way. 
 
9. Delegate  administrative tasks – if you are to add maximum value, you must focus on those tasks that matter the most to the success of your project. That means that you must learn to delegate. Get a project administrator on board to help with tasks such as documentation, timesheet tracking, financial tracking and low level task tracking.  
 
10.  Establish a solid foundation – before the project kicks off in earnest, spend time fully defining it, estimating it and planning it. Document your findings in a project initiation document and get it signed off by the steering committee before you proceed. This becomes the contract you deliver to.

11. Take control of risks – effective project leaders consistently manage risks by asking “what could go wrong” and “what have we not yet thought about”. Brainstorm risks with your team on a regular basis and ask them what they worry about. Then take action to mitigate them or put in place contingency plans. 

12. Ask for help and guidance – have the courage to talk openly about  project issues and to ask for help when required. It is a sign of strength to seek guidance when you are faced with a major decision. Your team and stakeholders will respect you for being honest and will appreciate that you ask for advice. 

13. Draw on the steering committee – gather the most important stakeholders on a monthly basis to make decisions about the project’s risks, issues and deliverables and to report on financials. Prepare a flawless presentation and take the opportunity to showcase the team’s good work. Summarise decisions and distribute meeting minutes within 24 hours. 
 
14. Get close to your stakeholders – to build great relationships with your stakeholders, set up regular one-to-one meetings with those who have the most power and influence over your project. Listen to their concerns and suggestions and act upon their feedback. Pay special attention to those who are opposed to the project and seek to win them over.

15. Know your numbers – stay in control of your project by tracking the project’s key performance indicators. Know how much money the project is burning per month, and how much scope you have delivered to date compared to plan and budget. Include these key metrics in your project reporting.

16. Get the best people involved – a large part of your success as a project leader will depend on how skilled you are at recruiting and retaining the right kind of people. Never compromise when building your team and go to great lengths to reward and motivate people who do a good job.

17.  Adapt your leadership style – all good leaders adapt their style to the individual they are interacting with. You can do this by providing more guidance to those team members who are inexperienced, by giving more moral support to those who lack confidence and by delegating to those who are both experienced and confident.

18. Stay calm in stressful situations – set a great example for others by managing your state of mind and appearing calm under pressure. Maintain a balanced perspective and think of solutions rather than placing blame. Take on the role of a mediator whenever you can and convey both sides of the argument. 

19. Stand up for the project – be confident enough to stand up for yourself and your project when required. Protect your team from unnecessary noise and from unreasonable demands. Never accept an increase in scope without further funding or time allowance – and never accept a shortened timeframe without reducing scope.
 
20. Ask for feedback – one of the most rewarding actions you can take for your career and for your project, is to ask for feedback. Ask the following three questions to your boss, peers and project staff: What should I continue doing?, What should I start doing? and What should I stop doing?


To take this a step further, let yourself be coached by
The Project Management Coaching Workbook - Six Steps to Unleashing Your Potential.
 
 
If you liked this post you might also like:
Delegate Effectively and Thouhtfully 
Be a Project Champion
10 Tips for Handling Conflict  
Creating a Highly Motivated Team
6 principles for building trusting relationships with your stakeholders



9 Comments
Vinay Ikhe
1/7/2012 08:22:21

20 steps are really important & helpful for effective project mgt.

Reply
bhasker.ravivarma
8/7/2012 04:54:30

Interesting read as usual , however projects being executed in a different geography ( typically a JV ), multicultural setup has a few additional challenges not enlisted i thought for the Leadership.

Blending of team members & adaptation to the local culture by the foreigners is key , typically most of them operate with a closed mind & fail to trust personnel & work in silos. There is a need to adapt oneself to the new environment , so also at times to learn to live with lesser expectations at time rather than work with a comparison thought process in mind.

Another key is to get the projects driven by "Accounts" who are the outsiders rather than the PM's who at times due to project pressures are clouded with the day to day operational issues/challenges but Accounts personnel with a cool cucumber head have the numbers close to their chest and are good enablers for a successful project. The only challenge being that they tend to slow down things at times and lack big picture thinking.

Last but not least - personnel should set themselves aggressive targets and work on a common pool of buffer rather than pad the estimates - Parkinson's syndrome. So also , Pareto principle is key while executing Projects.

Decision making is again key & has a bearing since different cultures have their own strengths and weaknesses in this area.

My two cents.

Regards
Basskar

Reply
Ashok Jha
26/10/2012 21:45:09

Good reading and 20 steps are very nicely pointed out.
Regarding point 2 and 5: As per my opinion Project Leaders should give focus on the task to make it sustainable enough as per stake holder and end user expectation.
Regards,
Ashok Jha

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
27/10/2012 04:42:46

Thank you for your comments and additions.
I really appreciate it and I'm sure other readers of the blog do too. Keep them coming :-)

Susanne

Reply
Marian link
19/2/2013 03:37:16

Great tips. I feel you touched on most if not all the areas a project leader will face throughout a project.

Thanks for sharing!

Reply
James link
28/2/2013 10:31:08

This is one of the most thorough lists of tips for project leaders, I've read. I think listening as a skill is the most important, and the most under utilized. In terms of specific phrases used by high performing leaders, we've captured some here, would love to hear your insights: http://blog.swiftlaunch.com/2013/02/28/boosting-project-performance-how-do-you-speak-among-your-team-part-1/

Reply
windows live support link
7/6/2013 03:54:14

The twenty essential tips for project leaders is indeed a helping hand for many of them. The tips were explained in a clear perspective and this has been one of the best tips as a project leader I came across. Thanks for this article.

Reply
Susanne Madsen link
7/6/2013 05:36:22

Thanks again for sharing your views. It's lovely to get your feedback :-)

Reply
pinterest link
25/7/2013 01:39:46

Thank you for another essential article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a complete way of writing

Reply



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