Greetings.
I am new to this wonderful SIG and I have a few observations and would appreciate knowing your opinion and experiences on the topic of leadership and project management.
Leadership alone is a vast subject as is project management. Pound for pound more is written about leadership than project management. The New York Times business book review is dominated by books on advice for leaders. Not to diminish project management. On the contrary. Project management is more objective, thanks to the BOK and its' excellent guidance, than leadership which is more subjective and more deeply tied to human nature.
However, in spite of the valuable guidance in the BOK , my own experience is that the ability to lead, especially by example (my personal base), is 50% of the game. Though the BOK could be described as the Rosseta Stone of project management thanks to the enormous effort of the excellent people who put it together, there is no mention of the leadership of people in the index. It would be unreasonable to expect any single body of knowledge to contain a comprehensive study of both project management and leadership.
Regardless of the processes and procedures that are in place, if it is important for a team member to meet the project manager's expectations the final work product will be of higher quality, productivity may increase, and the odds of meeting project goals are better.
People bring expectations to new efforts, including new projects. I see the look on the faces of the members of a new project at kick-off meetings. What I read into it is what are the expectations of the project manager. What those expectations are that they walk out of the meeting with is heavily influenced by the impression the project manager makes on the team. That point in time can be a tipping point in influencing the success of a project.
I don't pretend for a moment to think that what I am writing should be universaly acccepted. Like many of us who are participating in this SIG I am trying to figure this all out by having this discussion. As someone once said, I reserve the right to be wrong. But these have been my experiences.
Proposal: Add a section to the BOK that address the subject of leadership. Not in detail; that is not practical. But there are some commonly accepted leadership traits and techniques that would add significant value to project management. I would be happy to contribute.
I greatly welcome any feedback. I strive to do my job better every day and your ideas, experiences, and opinions will help me do that.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jerry Bustamente
rosets stone
I am new to this wonderful SIG and I have a proposal for discussion. I would appreciate knowing your opinion and experiences on the topic of leadership and project management.
Leadership alone is a vast subject as is project management. Pound for pound more is written about leadership than project management. The New York Times business book review is dominated by books on advice for leaders. Not to diminish project management. On the contrary. Project management is more objective, thanks to the BOK and its' excellent guidance Leadership is more subjective and more deeply tied to human nature.
Regardless of the processes and procedures that are in place, if it is important for a team member to meet the project manager's expectations, the final work product will be of higher quality, productivity may increase, and the odds of meeting project goals are better. I have no empircal for this but I, and others I have spoken to on this subject, have seen it over and over again.