[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.If your organization is lacking the latest virtual communication American Management Association • www.amanet.orgThe Project Manager as Leader 179tools, become a squeaky wheel.Sell the need to invest in upgrades by highlighting the costs and negative effects of outdated programs on previous projects.As the project progresses, it can also be useful to facilitate as many opportunities for informal interaction among team members as possible.This helps overcome the loss of casual interaction and assists in breaking down barriers.Key Points to Remember៑ The more agile you become in leading others, the greater the chance for project success.៑ It is important to “walk the talk” and establish consistency in your working relationships.Encouraging risk taking, eliminat-ing fear of failure, and establishing a positive culture of dissent will make you a more effective project leader.៑ It is your job to keep the momentum going by knowing your team and ensuring high morale.៑ As a project leader, you need to be able to identify and develop team member roles, determine the appropriate approach to conflict resolution, lead project status meetings, and work with virtual teams.Exercise.Analyze the project environment in your organization.Make a list of ten important project leadership characteristics that help ensure success.From that list, identify the three most important characteristics.Then contrast the list with your own abilities.Which characteristics are your strongest? Which areas may need improvement?American Management Association • www.amanet.orgCHAPCHTER 14APHow to Make ProjectManagement Work inYour Companyt is one thing to know how to manage projects.It is another to get people to actually do the work of the project.Running by the seat of the pants seems a lot easier than doing I all the planning, scheduling, and monitoring that have been presented in this book.Even when people invest three or four days in project management seminars, you find that they soon forget what they have been taught and go back to the old ways.I have struggled with this problem for twenty years and finally have some answers.Here are suggestions on how to make the principles of project management work in your company:៑ Dr.W.Edwards Deming learned more than fifty years ago that if you don’t get top management involved in a program, the program will be short lived.This doesn’t mean just having them pay lip service to it.As Tom Peters suggests in his book Thriving on Chaos, if an executive wants something to happen in the company, she has to change her calendar; she must spend time talking about project management, sit in on project planning or 180American Management Association • www.amanet.orgHow to Make Project Management Work in Your Company 181review meetings, start asking to see people’s project notebooks, and ask questions about how projects are doing.In other words, she must show an interest in the subject.៑ Companies must build into performance appraisals items that evaluate a project manager’s use of the best management tools.They should reward people for practicing the best methods and, if necessary, sanction them when they do not.But be careful.Be sure upper management is not keeping managers from practicing good methodology.៑ It helps to have the entire team trained in the basics.After all, when you tell members of your team that you want them to do a WBS for their part of the project and they’ve never even heard the term before, they can’t very well deliver.I have found that project managers generally need a minimum of three or four days’ training in project management, and team members need about two days’ training.៑ I have found that senior management should have a brief overview of the principles so that it knows what it is realistic to expect.One of the most common causes of project failures is unrealistic expectations on the part of senior managers.However, I have found that most senior managers are so busy that you can get them together for only about three hours—if you can even do that.We have finally videotaped a briefing and cut it down to one hour and fifteen minutes, just enough time for busy executives to learn what they need to know to support and drive the effort.Today, senior managers should take advantage of the many online training options available to them.៑ After the training is complete, pick a project that already has a pretty high probability of success—don’t pick your hardest job; the probability of failure is too high—and have your trainer/consultant walk the team through the steps.This is the hand-holding phase, and I have found it to be essential (as have a number of major companies with which I have worked).It really helps to have someone assist the team in practicing what it has American Management Association • www.amanet.org182Fundamentals of Project Managementlearned.All new procedures feel awkward when you first try them, and an outside expert makes things go smoother.In addition, an outsider can be more objective than members of the team.៑ Plan small wins for people.Forget the Pareto principle.It’s wrong in this particular instance, even from an economic point of view [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]