Project leadership is more than project management (podcast)
What is the difference between leadership and management ? Leaders take action, proactively; managers react. Yes, we have heard this before. But how does this relate to projects? And why is leadership the decisive factor for project success? Listen to Cornelius Fichtner’s latest podcast and…
5 Leadership Skills for Project Managers
I have written many posts on the right leadership principles for project success. I strongly believe that effective project management needs to have a solid foundation in leadership. Without leadership chances are that projects become „just another project“ – far from the sought after „Wow“-project….
A call for holistic leadership
In a recent blog post Elizabeth Harrin points out how important the right attitude is for effective project leadership. She writes, “leadership attitude is summed up by being open, honest, trustworthy and acting with integrity.” She continues, “If you adopt [these] four pillars of leadership…
Creating the right atmosphere for your team to succeed
In a recent post on the PMI Blog „Voices on Project Management“ Dmitri Ivanenko is pondering what it takes to create the right atmosphere for your team to succeed. He is writing „[…] I ground myself in the project goal. I determine what’s required to…
One of the most important keys to project success: building vision
There are many factors that contribute to project success. It starts with your attitude toward project success and your belief in success. Without a clear vision of project success, your project is likely to fail. This is why it is important that you spend enough…
Culture – the often forgotten element in Agile
As Agile project management and the concepts of Radical Management become ever more popular there is at least one important factor that everyone who is honestly interested in embracing the Agile evolution has to be aware of: know thy culture. Agile offers many methodologies, tools,…
Refreshment for weary agile teams
In a recent article on the website of the Scrum Alliance Bob Martin addresses the problem of Scrum teams which after a period of hyper-productivity faces declining productivity and team morale. His article aims to lay out a possible path back to high-performance and great…
The Death of Traditional Management
Steve Denning, author of “The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management” (Jossey-Bass, 2010) has published a great article on Forbes.com entitled “Wal-Mart And The Futility Of Traditional Management”. In this article he points out the declining business numbers of Wal-Mart and compares them to thriving and…
Creating high-performance contexts for teams
According to Charles J. Pellerin high-performance contexts for teams have the following characteristics: Mutual respect, people feel valued Reality-based optimism, commitment People feel included, trustworthy Clear organization, accountability In his book How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams….
Learning from Egypt: A Lesson in Leadership
History is in the making when you look to Egypt these days. It is fascinating and scaring at the same time watching the Egyptian people demonstrating against the Mubarak regime, demanding „their“ leader to step down. – This is not the place to comment on…