LEADERSHIP SKILLS FOR THE PROJECT PROFESSIONAL

Leadership Skills for the Project Professional is a two day, instructor-facilitated, learning course designed to develop the leadership attributes of the project/program management practitioner.  The basic premise of the course is to facilitate the migration from a manager to a leader in the project or program environment. 

 Because the project/program manager serves as the primary liaison between organizational leadership (i.e., upper management) and the project team, he/she must possess and employ the soft skills (“artistic” vs. scientific) required to lead a team.  In this course, participants will be introduced to common leadership principles that must be applied in the project environment.  After an introduction to the better practices for each learning unit, course attendees will apply these principles via relevant individual and team exercises. The course will cover the following project leadership aspects:

 

•     Characteristics of Manager vs. Leader	•     Roles and Responsibilities Clarity
•     Leading Virtual / Matrix Teams	•     Situational Leadership
•     Delegation	•     Communications Leadership
•     Conflict Management and Resolution	•     Coaching and Mentoring
•     Strategic Planning and Change	•     Motivation and Inspiration

Course Objectives

This course is designed to enhance the people management (“softer”) skills of project team leaders and managers.  The combination of lecture and hands on exercises will enable these key leaders to:

•     Understand the critical differences between management and leadership attributes and when to best apply each

•     Lead through better application of communication management tools and techniques

•     Improve how they deal with team member conflict

•     Better understand negotiation strategies and when to employ them during a project

•     Gain insight into change leadership tactics and approaches

•     Provide better methods for determining how and when to delegate appropriate work for team members

Course Outline

I.                    Introduction

A.      Exercise: Icebreaker in Leadership (Nuclear Holocaust)

B.      Course Introduction

1.       Participant Introductions

2.       Course Logistics

3.       Goals and Roadmap

 

II.                  Foundations of Leadership

A.      Definition of Leadership

B.      Management vs. Leadership

1.       Comparison and Contrast

2.       Exercise: Self-Assessment of Management and Leadership Attributes

C.      Vision and Purpose Alignment

1.       Individual Exercise: Personal Vision and Mission Statement

2.       Team Exercise: “Visioneering” (Vision, Mission, and Values for Case Study)

D.     Stakeholder Assessment

1.       Stakeholder Identification

2.       Roles and Responsibilities Definition

3.       Team Exercise: Stakeholder Assessment (Case Study)

 

III.               Communications Leadership

A.      Definition of Communications

B.      Challenges in Project Communications

C.      Basic Communications Model

D.     Levels of Understanding (DIICE)

E.      Leading by Example

F.       Exercises in Communications

1.       Individual Exercise:  Meeting Management

2.       Team Exercise: The Power of Words (Case Study)

 

IV.               Conflict Management and Negotiation

A.      View Towards Conflict

B.      Primary Causes for Conflict

C.      Dealing with Difficult People

D.     Dealing with People Performance Issues

E.      Team Exercise:  Difficult People (Case Study)

F.       Negotiations for the Project Leader

G.     Negotiation Strategies

H.     Team Exercise:  Negotiation Strategies (Case Study)

 

V.                  Change Leadership

A.      Definitions and Sources of Change

B.      Change Model and Equation

C.      Agents of Changes

D.     Factors of Sustainable Change

E.      Assessing Change Readiness

F.       Leading Major Change

G.     Dealing with Resistance

H.     The Change Window

I.        Individual Exercise:  Change Readiness Assessment

 

VI.               Delegation and Inspiration

A.      Basics of Delegation

B.      Learning Styles

C.      Situational Leadership and Delegation

D.     Steps for Successful Delegation

E.      Inspiration vs. Motivation

F.       Team Member Styles

G.     Powers of the Project Leader

H.     Fostering a Motivating Environment

I.        Individual Exercise:  Team Member Styles

 

VII.             Self-Development for the Project/Team Leader

A.      Taking Inventory

B.      7 Habits and the Project/Team Leader

C.      Individual Assessment:  Management and Leadership Development Action Plan

 

VIII.          Summary and Review

All Tanden LLC instructors are certified Project Management Professionals (PMP)^® with many years of hands-on project leadership experience in a multitude of industries.

Tanden LLC is a Project Management Institute (PMI) Global Registered Education Provider (R.E.P).

 PMP is a registered mark of The Project Management Institute, Inc.