The PPM Leadership

Challenge

David Richardson RPP

Leadership

Definition

“Leadership is the ability to establish vision and direction, to

influence and align others towards a common purpose, and

to empower and inspire people to achieve success”

APM BoK 6th edition

What are we going to cover

The role of the PPM leader

Sharing experiences of leading and/or being led

Different leadership styles

Emotional Intelligence

Personal Resilience

Where’s the Challenge?

Diverse stakeholders

Transient teams

Inconsistent levels of support/interest

New and novel products

New and novel methods

New customers

New suppliers

Diverse/conflicting Political agendas

7 Keys to Project Leadership

1 Be authentic.

2 Lead with vision.

3 Improve and innovate.

4 Empower the team.

5 Get close to your stakeholders.

6 Establish a solid foundation.

7 Work with intent. Susanne Madsen – “Power of Project

leadership”

Why programmes

succeed

Why programmes

succeed

Experience of large numbers of

major programmes

This may affect other programmes

B ELIEF

Programme failure

The programme remembers the business

is usually correct

The programme remembers the business

is usually correct

Front Line Failure

Business and main supplier are aligned Business and main

supplier are aligned

Objectives of business and main supplier

allowed to drift apart

• Failure to recognise what drives supplier and customer

• Zero - sum game – not win - win

• Building individual defences, rather than mutual success

No Alignment

Programme management with a focus on benefits

delivery

Programme management with a focus on benefits

delivery

Dependencies and Risks

are documented not managed

Tacit assumption of slippage

Milestones are too distant to

highlight slippage

Decision making process that makes decisions and sticks

to them

Decision making process that makes decisions and sticks

to them

End Goal is clearly defined and understood

End Goal is clearly defined and understood

Failure occurs when money

Runs out

Too few islands of stability

No contingency

planning

Leaders Lay the Foundations of Programme Success

APM Strategy 2020

Our vision for the profession is

ambitious, challenging and radical. Above

all, it reflects what society expects: A

world in which all projects succeed.

But Projects go wrong

EU figures based on 214 technology projects showed that

only 1-in-8 met time, budget and quality objectives and

23.8% of all projects don’t get finished at all

A survey by KPMG showed that only 2% of organisations

said that their projects met all of their objectives.

80% of technology projects cost more than they return

because the benefits are overestimated and the costs

underestimated

www.projectmanagerman.com

NAO/Cabinet Office

Common Causes of Project Failure

Lack of clear link between the project and the organisation’s key strategic priorities

Lack of clear senior management and Ministerial ownership and leadership.

Lack of effective engagement with stakeholders.

Lack of skills and proven approach to project management and risk management.

Too little attention to breaking development and implementation into manageable steps.

Evaluation of proposals driven by initial price rather than long-term value for money (especially

securing delivery of business benefits).

Lack of understanding of and contact with the supply industry at senior levels in the organisation.

Lack of effective project team integration between clients, the supplier team and the supply

chain.

NAO/Cabinet Office agreed list of

common causes of project failure

Lack of clear link between the project and the organisation’s key strategic priorities

Lack of clear senior management and Ministerial ownership and leadership.

Lack of effective engagement with stakeholders.

Lack of skills and proven approach to project management and risk management.

Too little attention to breaking development and implementation into manageable steps.

Evaluation of proposals driven by initial price rather than long-term value for money (especially

securing delivery of business benefits).

Lack of understanding of and contact with the supply industry at senior levels in the organisation.

Lack of effective project team integration between clients, the supplier team and the supply

chain.

PPM Leadership To be a successful leader you

need:

– The right level of training and

capabilities

– A network of peers to support you

– Continuous professional development

– To learn from experience

– Confidence in your professional

heuristics

– A set of tools to assist you

– Determination and resilience

To be a successful leader

you must:

Support your colleagues through:

– Capability building and training

– Providing peer support

– Encouraging ongoing learning

– Sharing your experiences

– Help create more Master Builders

– Share your tools and how best to

use them

– Mentoring and coaching

So What Does a Project Leader Look Like?

Why Should Others Follow You? Do You:

Promote and uphold the project vision, reinforce positive relationships, build an environment that supports effective team work, raise morale and empower and inspire others to follow throughout the lifecycle of the project?

Determine what leadership style is appropriate for particular situations, individual or group, and adapt your style as appropriate?

Create an environment which encourages high performance and enables team members to reach their full potential?

Gain the trust, confidence and commitment of others and utilise collaboration throughout the lifecycle to ensure continued momentum of the project?

Build and maintain the motivation of the team throughout the project?

Agree SMART performance objectives for the team and individuals which are regularly reviewed and monitored to provide prompt and constructive feedback? and

Identify and address development needs of the team and self?

APM Competence Framework – BC03 Leadership

An Activity!

Questions

How did you create an environment which

encouraged high performance and enabled team

members to reach their full potential?

How did you build and maintain the motivation of the

team throughout the project?

How did you identify and address the development

needs of the team and yourself?

Activity 1

What did you do that worked really well?

What was the outcome?

What would you do differently?

Discuss for approx. 10 minutes

Questions

How did you create an environment which

encouraged high performance and enabled team

members to reach their full potential?

How did you build and maintain the motivation of the

team throughout the project?

How did you identify and address the development

needs of the team and yourself?

Feedback

Leadership Styles

A Google search will identify a number of styles,

including:

Transactional Leaders

Transformational Leaders

Charismatic Leaders*

Narcissistic Leaders*

* James MacGregor Burns “Leadership”

http://www.businessballs.com/leadership-theories.htm#leadership-styles

Transactional Leaders

Also known as managerial leadership, focuses on the role of supervision, organization, and group performance.

Adapted from Wikipedia

Transformational Leaders

The leader taps into his

followers' higher needs and

values, inspires them with

new possibilities that and

raises their desire to achieve

a common purpose

Adapted from Wikipedia

Charismatic Leaders

Charismatic leadership demands more than just a remarkable personality. The followers must also project an image of specialness and a strong belief by followers that this special person is the one to lead them in their hour of need.

Adapted from Wikipedia

Narcissistic Leaders

Unconsciously driven by

hidden feelings of inadequacy,

to behave in a controlling and

energetic way, which enables

dominance and initiative.

Adapted from Wikipedia

Which One Are You?

Probably a bit of all those and a few more?

Which is your preferred style?

Which style do you most value in your leaders?

What can we do to improve?

Increase our Emotional Intelligence

Increase our Personal Resilience

Emotional Intelligence

The five domains

Knowing your emotions

Managing your own emotions

Motivating yourself

Recognising and understanding other people's emotions

Managing relationships. Daniel Goleman - 'Emotional Intelligence – why it can matter more than IQ’

EI Leadership Competences Goleman identified the following four EI leadership competencies:

1. Self awareness. This is the ability to recognize your own mood, emotions, and drives,

and the related impact these attributes have on others. Self awareness is signalled by self-

confidence, realistic self-assessment, and a self-depreciating sense of humour.

2. Self management. The ability to control your own disruptive impulses and moods. The

propensity to suspend judgment and to think before acting. Indicators include ability to deal

well with difficulties or criticism, take initiative, demonstrate achievement, act with

transparency (owning and learning from mistakes), and optimism, even in the face of

failure.

3. Social awareness. The ability to understand the emotional make-up of others and to use

this with empathy in developing and retaining talent.

4. Relationship management. Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks.

The ability to find common ground, build rapport, and inspire others. Includes the ability to

lead change,expertise in conflict management, and the ability to develop and lead teams in

a collaborative manner

Personal Resilience

What keeps YOU going through the times

when the hard hat, kevlar jacket and toe

‘tectors can’t save you?

Personal Resilience

Some Ideas:

- Experience – You have been through days like

this before and survived!

- Your network – You are not alone!! Have you

“mapped” your support network, was it bigger than

you thought? If not how can you start to expand

it?

Feedback

Talent

spotting and

recruitment

Need to develop skills and capability to support new ways of working

More apprentices, and graduates are needed to create a deep well of talent for organisations and need to continue to grow capability in PPM leaders

This will create more opportunities for PPM Professionals

New Capabilities are

Needed for our PPM

Leaders of the Future

A Final Thought

When the best leader's work is done the

people say, 'We did it ourselves.'

Lao Tzu

Yin leaders support; Yang leaders

challenge

Yin Leaders

Listen, support

and coach

Provide safety and

stability

Foster confidence

Empathize

Yang Leaders

Ask challenging

questions

Hold people to

account

Demand

excellence

Be rational

Leaders Lay the Foundations of

Programme Success

This presentation was delivered

at an APM event

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