Choosing a Leadership Style

LEADERSHIP STYLE	WHEN TO USE IT
Dictatorial: making decisions alone, taking risks, being autocratic and controlling.	This is appropriate in times of crisis with no time for consultation, should be used rarely
Analytical: gathering all the facts, observing and analysing before making decisions.	This can be used when under pressure or threat and decision can be made quickly.
Opinion-Seeking: asking for opinions from the team on which to base your decisions.	Used to build confidence and to show you value people’s views and to impress stakeholders who always like to be consulted.
Democratic: encouraging team participation and involvement in decision-making	Used regularly to empower the team and strengthen commitment to the project.

Cultural Differences

Project managers in the UK often create inner-circles of key members to speed-up decision making, while in the USA the entire team is brought together frequently. In Japan, decisions are reached by consensus in which unanimous agreement is reached through a long process of bargaining.

Points to Remember

1 Be prepared to change your leadership style to suit the circumstances and the team even if you feel uncomfortable because the style you adopt does not come naturally.

2 The key to making good consensus decisions is to listen carefully to everyone before indicating which way you are leaning, a decision is then reached accordingly.

3 The team should not be expected to do everything the way you want it to be done provided the results are satisfactory.

4 When a small point is important to a member of the team, it is wise to give way; you should be striving to win the war and not every single battle.

5 If the success of the project is threatened in any way, that is the time for you to be assertive.

6 When conflict between team members threatens he success of the project, you must mediate.

Exercising Leadership Skills 392

To lead your team successfully you must:

a) Ensure that everyone is working towards agreed, shared objectives.

b) Criticise constructively and praise good work as well as pointing out faults where they exist.

c) Monitor team members’ work continuously by obtaining feedback such as regular reports.

d) Constantly encourage and organise the generation of new ideas within the team.

e) Always insist on the highest standards of work from team members at all times.

f) Develop individual and team skills and strengthen them by training and recruitment of talent.

Points to Remember About Team Members.

1 Not every team member will be equally committed to the project at the outset.

2 Every team member will go through the forming, stage storming stage norming stage and performing stage during the project.

3 Strong leadership can settle the difficulties during storming, norming and performing stages.

3 It is important to develop creative team members rather than conforming team members.

4 Team members will need to be comfortable to work well together.

5 Help workers to define problems themselves and remember relationships will change over time.

The Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing Stages in the Life of the Project.

1 During the forming stage, members feel tentative and unsure about their project roles. You must explain what everyone will contribute to the project.

2 During the storming stage member strive to assert their positions and jockey for positions for seniority or expertise in the work. Explain that team work is crucial to success of the project than senior positions in the project.

3 During the norming stage working practices and processes are agreed and established between team members. You should foster team spirit and develop the team’ skills. Build team confidence in the teams’ ability to complete the project.

4 During the performing stage team members work positively and productively to achieve the project goals. Keep the team focused on completing the project.

It is important that you as the leader that you know and understand these team process stages so that you can encourage your team move towards the performing stage as quickly as possible.

The Last Two stages of Boring and Mourning.

The boring stage occurs when the project is lasting for a long time and team members stop looking for new challenges or new improved ways of doing their work. At this stage you must infuse new ideas to promote motivation and breathe new life into your team.

The mourning stage occurs when a team has bonded well and reacts to another members’ departure by grieving the loss or if one member is not pulling their weight in the project. You must decide quickly how to replace a member of the team or to buck-up the member who is not pulling their weight. If you delay replacement you can cause a drop in team morale.

Developing Teamwork.

For a team to be successful team members must learn to pull together. You must encourage teamwork by promoting a positive atmosphere in which team members compete with ideas rather egos and recognise the team’s changing needs as the project progresses.

Cultural Differences

Project managers in the USA often use rousing speeches and rhetoric to motivate staff and build team spirit.

In the UK they use eloquent speeches to strengthen commitment and the approach is far more subtle than in the USA.

In Japan, mangers seek to build strong ties of loyalty by emphasising the importance of the project to the company.

Making Team Decisions

Quality decision making is essential when mapping out the future of a project. To ensure that you make the right decisions as a team you must establish a logical process that you will follow every time and then use feedback to double-check the quality of your decision-making process. The team must agree the criteria of decision making process because people implement decision-making process more willingly if they have participated in them.

Making Safe Decisions. 397

What would be the impact if you made a wrong decision? You should always ask yourself this question before you make an important decision. If the result would be catastrophic, then you must think again and make a less risky decision. Use the acronym SAFE to validate your less risky decision.

S=Suitable: is the decision the most suitable one under the current conditions of the project?

A= Acceptable: is the decision acceptable to all the stakeholders who have an interest in it?

F= Feasible: will it be practical and feasible to implement the decision successfully?

E= Enduring: will the solution of the decision endure to the end of the project?

Finally you must check out that you have made the right decision by asking for views from your sponsor, stakeholders, customers or suppliers.

Managing and Accessing Project Information

Make sure that information data is kept up to date, recorded efficiently and accessible to everyone when they need it. Establish an information-knowledge centre, appoint a coordinator of information, explain to staff what type of information goes into the knowledge centre, ensure that the knowledge coordinator has the necessary software tools to run the centre and ask the coordinator to remind staff of deadlines for completing tasks and reports.

Communicating Clearly

If communication is good and effective the project will run smoothly. Make sure that everyone has access to information they need at all times.

The team is the primary channel for information between customers, shareholders, the project manager and you the leader.

Encourage feedback from the sponsor, interested parties, use open questions to ascertain their real feelings such as:

1 “How do you think we could improve the ways we are working on this project?”

2 After completing a task think if there is anything you can change if you could start again.

3 “How are your customers reacting to the project work; do they appear satisfied?”

4 Are you aware of any negative reaction concerning the progress of the project?

Monitoring Performance

Effective monitoring keeps the a project on track in terms of performance, time schedule, budget and focuses on your plans while and alerts you to tackle problems and changes in order to stay on course. Even the best plans can go wrong, which is why it is crucial to have an early warning monitoring system to keep all the aspects of the project under control.

Monitor the project progress through team members’ reports, managers’ interim summaries, review meetings at fixed times.

Points to Remember

1 If the project is large or complex, reports will be required more frequently.

2 When the project involves tackling issues for the first time, frequent and tight controls should be established.

Overcoming Problems

However well prepared you are for the project, once you start to operate the project problems will occur. Encourage team members to raise concerns and use the discipline of problem solving techniques to tackle difficulties as they arise.

Listen to the concerns raised by team members; discuss their impact and look at options; take an overview and make a final decision; up date plans if that is necessary and send the up dated plan to the knowledge and information centre coordinator.

Dealing with Change. 408

Whenever the need for change arises, it is vital to be able to adjust the project plan as necessary and inform all interested parties about the inevitability of adjustment to the plan.

Bring the team together to evaluate how changes will affect the project plan, look at proposed alternatives against your original plan.

Focus on the positive aspects of change and be frank and open about why change has to happen. Finally spell out clearly any new expectations, schedules or objectives in writing so that everyone understands what should happen.

What to do

1 Talk to the team about how changes will affect them.

2 Explain the rationale behind the changes and why they had to be done.

3 Re-define new objectives, time scales and roles if that is necessary.

4 Discuss issues individually if anyone is still unhappy about changes.

Maximising the Project Impact.

As the project draws to a close, it is important to evaluate exactly what has been achieved and what can be learned for next time. Take your project through a formal close-down process that ties up all loose ends and marks its success.

Ask Yourself the Following Questions.

1 Is the sponsor satisfied the original project aims and business objectives have been met?

2 Are customers satisfied that they are receiving improved service?

3 Have we spoken to all our stakeholders about the final results of the project?

4 Have we gained new insights and ideas for the future from the operation of the project?

5 Have I thanked everyone who contributed to the success of the project?

6 Have I written a comprehensive report for the sponsor, stakeholders and interested parties?