Presented by: Mustapha Abdul, HND, BSEE, PgCBA, PMP

Leadership LessonsFor Project Managers

Peter Drucker famously stated that "management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.“

“People cannot be managed, inventories can be managed but people must be led “ H. Ross Perot

*7 Things Successful Leaders Do DifferentlyPaula Davis-Laack, J.D., M.A.P.P.

They put relationships first. Successful leaders not only build networks, but they also nurture the connections they make.

They know that meaning matters. Successful leaders know how their life’s work fits into a broader, more significant context.

They use humor. Successful leaders deal with tough stuff, but they fight back with humor.

They lead and live with their strengths. Successful leaders understand that they cannot be everything to everybody and remain effective; instead, they have a keen awareness of how to leverage their unique blend of strengths, skills, and talents.

They manage pessimistic thinking. Successful leaders reign in their pessimistic thinking in three ways.

They make their own luck. Successful leaders pursue goals with passion, don’t back down from challenges, don’t allow a failure to define who they are as a person, and simply put, don’t quit.

They manage their energy. Successful leaders become adept at moving between energy expenditure (stress) and energy renewal (recovery). In order to get the energy renewal required to live and work in an ideal performance state, successful leaders know when to refill their tank.

*Project management encompasses an intriguing combination of both hard and soft skills

*Hard skills: The mechanics of project management (budget, scope, schedule, issues/risk, change, stakeholder)

*Soft skills: leadership, team dynamics, politics, influence

Share your vision

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Mathew 15:14

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet”.Theodore M. Hesburgh

What is your vision for the project- Begin with the end in mind

Focus on the human side of the project- How will you interact with each other- What do you expect of the team- What can they expect of you- What processes will you use

Share it and share it oftenExercise: Wire down 3 bullets of what success looks like for your team/project

Steve Jobs was a visionary. He changed the way we interact with technology timeand time again.

Focus:

Focus was ingrained in Jobs’s personality Havard Business review said that his biggest strength was his ability to stay focused. He relentlessly filtered out what he considered distractionsNear the end of his life, Jobs was visited at home by Larry Page, who was about to resume control of Google, the company he had cofounded. Even though their companies were feuding, Jobs was willing to give some advice. “The main thing I stressed was focus,” he recalled. Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up, he told Page. “What are the five products you want to focus on? Get rid of the rest, because they’re dragging you down. They’re causing you to turn out products that are adequate but not great.” Page followed his advice. In January 2012 he told employees to focus on just a few priorities, such as Android and Google+, and to make them “beautiful,” the way Jobs would have done. Look at where they are today

*The Paradox

Project managers often have all of the responsibility and none of the authority

Like an orchestra conductor…does not play the instruments, does not write the music and can’t force musicians to practice, but gets all of the blame if the music sounds bad during the concert….

We PMs have to figure out how to get the job done with our team members when we do not have the explicit authority to do so

Positive Attitude:Are you an Eeyore or a Tiger?

Do you expect the worst from someone or the bestWhen something happens what does your team see you doAre you calming the team down or is the team calming you down

*“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Empower:Chris spent most of his childhood and high school years participating and playing soccer at a competitive level

At age 21 he slipped an fell in a bathroom and damaged his spinal cordAs a paraplegic he found a sport named power soccer, played and went on to coach, and become the US national coach

Have you ever seen a coach who screams constantly from the sideline, telling the team what to do

Spinal cord injury cannot be heard from the sideling

His philosophy; empower and enable them to make the decisions on the soccer pitch

With this approach his team has gone on to win back to back world Championships

Listening:

The master violinist Joshua Bell

One of the world’s greatest violinists plays six pieces of some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made

Donning street clothes, at a busy metro station in Washington D.C., and before an audience of roughly 1,000 morning commuters?

The challenge Joshua Bell faced is that he was competing for people's attention. This is the core problem that leaders experience everydayIn many ways, everyone who is competing for attention in the workplace needs a strategy

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." - Ernest Hemingway

Catch someone doing something rightRecognition: Acknowledge the behavior you want to continue Exercise: Identify one way you are already recognize your team Now Identify a different way you can recognize them

Inspiration:“I don’t know what it is but when it comes I hope it find me working’

Pablo Piccaso

“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

Nelson Mandela

As a leader Nelson Mandela Inspired millions of people

Exercise: Write down one thing that you do to inspire your team

Manage yourself:

The life which is un examined is not worth living

Socrates

Be self aware You can use that self awareness to created space for others to strive

Always be fair:

Neutral and Transparency

PMs are right in the middle - not taking sidesBe even handed with how you treat peopleIf you treat people equally they will trust you when you provide feedback

When a team member makes a mistake, ask these questionsWhat happened?What recommendations do you have to fix it?What did you learn ?How can you prevent this in the future?Let them know it’s OK to approach you

Leadership Matters, no matter what your role or title isIt’s how you show up that matters

What we do is just a drop of water in the ocean, but remember, the oceancould have been deprived of that little drop

Mother Theresa

Share your visionPositive attitudeAlways be fairResponsibility, Recognition, RewardKnow and manage yourselfListen to and manage your resourcesEffective conflict management