Strategic Project Leadership

Course Code: PLM T 5011

Course Credit Points: 5 Ects
Learning outcomes/Course Objectives

At the completion of this course, the student will be able to:
o Connect the elements of strategic leadership: vision, strategy,
leadership
o Use and practice strategic analysis and action models
o Craft a strategy that provides a sense of direction and builds
ownership
o Create strategic actions to effectively execute strategic initiatives
o Identify and harness individual strengths to enhance leadership
o Craft an effective strategy for building leadership capacity in
projects
o Develop an action plan (strategy execution) for deepening projects
success
Unit One: The Concept of Strategic Project Leadership
 Unit objective

At the end of this unit students able to  Reader

Define the Focus of Strategic

Leadership  Hughes, R. L., & Katherine C.
What Makes Strategic Leadership B. (2005). Becoming a
Different? strategic Leader: You’re Role
Where Strategic Leadership Falters in your Organization’s
The Work of the Strategic Leader: Enduring Success. San
Defining and driving Strategy as a Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Learning Process
What is stratgic Leadership
 Strategic Leadership Is Your Responsibility: it
Response to:
 Pace of change: CEOs are turning  Growing ambiguity: More and more

over faster, new products are being problems confronting organizations

are ill-defined and resistant to routine
developed faster, new competitors are
solutions.
springing up faster, more and more
regulatory requirements are being  Increasing complexity: The problems
introduced—change keeps coming. people face today seem more complex
than ever before. At the very least, the
 Increasing uncertainty: Long-term amount of information people must
sift through to do their work grows
forecasting and planning has become
daily, and more diverse perspectives
increasingly difficult and risky, if not are brought to bear on issues than ever
impossible. before.
Strategic Leadership-consider organizational view that organizational strategy
is a learning process that includes five elements:
1. Assessing where we are: This relates to  Making the journey: This involves
collecting information about and making translating the strategy into action by
sense of the organization’s competitive identifying and implementing tactics.
environment.
 Checking our progress: This is the
2. Understanding who we are and where we continuing assessment of the
want to go: This refers to the organization’s effectiveness, leading
organization’s aspirations, including its then to a reassessment at the
vision, mission, and core values. organization’s new level of
performance, which it has achieved
3. Learning how to get there: This is the through the other elements. This starts
formulation of strategy, including the learning process all over again.
determination of priorities.
What makes a project leader different from a
project manager.
Project leader In fact, a project leader could
and manager
aren’t always very well be a project manager
distinct roles —handling the technical day-
to-day duties of moving the
project forward while also
leading, inspiring, and
motivating the team to do their
best work.
Why a project leader isn’t a project lead or a
product manager
Project  Project Lead is an individual on the team who is
responsible for specific aspects or modules of a
Lead project (such as a feature or some functionality).

 This is especially important when a project is

spread out across multiple teams or
departments

 For example, a project lead will take on

responsibility for another team’s contribution to
a project, whether it’s submitting the necessary
budgets or mocking up samples.
 Why a project leader isn’t a project lead or a
product manager
 Product Manager is known “as the CEO of their products.”

 They’re responsible for generating the vision behind certain

products, analyzing relevant market research and costing out
projections, and then executing the strategy required to get them
Product past the finish line and into consumers’ hands.

Manager  The product is, in other words, their baby, from start to end.

 On the other hand, as we said before, a project leader differentiates

themselves by focusing on the people, processes, and work
environment related to the overall project rather than the technical
aspects of what’s being built, or one more narrow aspect of the
process.
The 7 essential project leadership skills
 The 7 essential project leadership skills
Leadership skills are often harder to define as they’re
about people, not products and processes.

As Astronaut Chris Hadfield has noted:

“Ultimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts.

It's about keeping your team focused on a goal and
motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the
stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is
about laying the groundwork for others' success, and then
standing back and letting them shine.”
The 7 essential project leadership skills
 Project leaders are the captain of their team. This
doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the best player.
 But that they know how to set-up their team and
1. Team each individual member for success.
managemen  While project leaders always need to keep their
t eyes on the prize when it comes to the smooth
completion of any given project, they’re also
responsible for the daily mechanisms of team
harmony.
 In other words, this means making sure the
whole team stays focused and works smoothly
together towards a shared vision.
 The 7 essential project leadership skills
 Nothing slows down a project like conflict. But it’s a pipedream to
think your team will spend all day happily working together. Instead,
conflict resolution is at the core of being a good leader.
2. Conflict  It’s essential to maintain open channels of communication, ensure
resolution that individuals can work productively together and feel greater
than the sum of their parts.

 Add each project manager as a “watcher” on key issues. This way

they get visibility into dependent tasks and know there are valid
reasons why they’re being held up.

 In project management theory, this is called confronting (or more

generally, problem-solving, integrating, collaborating, or win-win).
 The 7 essential project leadership skills
 A project leader knows that people aren’t tasks. At their core, project leaders are
what’s called servant leaders.

 This is a leadership philosophy in which the main goal is to serve the individual’s
3. Servant needs rather than just the interests of the company.
leadership
 This doesn’t mean that you can forget about hitting deadlines and milestones.
Instead, think of it as the same quality that makes a great scrum master.

 You’re not only helping guide the group as a whole but also making adjustments
based on the feedback you get from each member of your team.

 In a project leader role, don’t think of yourself as just a teacher; you’re also a
student, and you can learn a lot from every member of your team.
 The 7 essential project leadership skills
 Nearly every project hits what’s called the “messy middle”. This is where the
clarity and energy that was there from the start suddenly disappears and your
team feels like every day is a slog towards nowhere.

 This can happen for a number of reasons. Maybe early feedback on their work
isn’t what was expected. Or a stakeholder came in wanting to change the
scope. Or maybe they’re simply losing steam from long hours and high
4. expectations.
Motivation
 Whatever the case, a good team leader will be able to read the signs of
discouragement—and even burnout—and implement strategies to make sure
that people stay both inspired and on track.

 This is more than just a pat on the back or a “good job!” You need to be aware
of the psychology of motivation and how to keep your team focused and
inspired.
 The 7 essential project leadership skills
 It includes persuading team members to collaborate in a way they’re
not accustomed to, negotiating with different project
stakeholders on timelines and expectations, and removing any
5. Communication ambiguity about what’s expected from each team member.

 In addition to keeping your team members productive and feeling

appreciated, you’ll likely have to engage with both stakeholders and
clients, updating them on progress, managing their expectations, and
communicating their feedback to your team.

 But more than just transferring knowledge and information, a project

leader is differentiated by their ability to be seen as objective,
transparent, trustworthy, focused, and confident.
 The 7 essential project leadership skills
As a project leader, your team should look to you
moments of uncertainty. And while you can
6. Proposing and
shepherding certainly help identify and propose changes, your
changes true leadership skills come through helping your
team through these turbulent times.

This means communicating new workflows or

processes and making sure your team has access
to the knowledge they need.
 The 7 essential project leadership skills
 Lastly, a great project leader doesn’t just address problems; they create
solutions.
7. Creating  A good project leader will be able to spot trouble—and, ideally,
solutions potential trouble—and then present and implement solutions that
satisfy their team and any relevant stakeholders. You need to be seen as
a solution person who’s always looking for the positives rather than
drowning in the negatives of unexpected issues.

 art of this is maintaining a positive attitude and focusing on what can

be done rather than whatever is going wrong.

 Take the time to look beyond the surface of an issue and discover why it
happened in the first place. Remember, project leaders are servant
leaders. Underneath it all, your responsibility is to the team and the
individuals that make it up
5 ways to show you’re a project leader
1. Demonstrate your interest and ability in managing
human resources and team dynamics
2. Set clear expectations for yourself and your team,
and then make sure they’re met
3. Contribute to resolving—not creating—conflicts
4. Act as a cheerleader for every team member,
ensuring that they’re both recognized and rewarded
for accomplishments
5. Take ownership over every aspect of the team’s
progress, demonstrating that the buck stops with
you and that you’re up to the task
 Project Leadership Matrix

Do you know what kind of leader you are? Or,

better yet, do you know what kind of leader you
want to be?
 The Project Leadership Matrix

 There are a lot of articles on how

 The leadership matrix
to be a better project leader. But
breaks down leadership
first you need to know what kind
into four quadrants:
of leader you already are.

 Susanne introduced the Project  Reactive people-leadership

Leadership Matrix, which is a  Reactive task management
fantastic tool you can use  Proactive people-leadership

anytime to help keep you focused  Proactive task management

on your ideal leadership

approach.
The Project Leadership Matrix
 The right side is where those with a people-management focus land. These are leaders who inspire and
engage their teams and provide them with a great deal of autonomy.

 On the left side, there’s leadership through task management, a more authoritative, directive method. The
top of the matrix represents the proactive leader who focuses on the project’s strategic mission.

 The bottom half of the matrix represents people who are more reactive and deal with the immediate issues
as they arise in a project.

 While we’re all different and there’s likely none of us who fall squarely in one corner, the most effective
project leaders fall within a mix of quadrants three and four.

 Being pro-active while both authoritative and engaging, is clearly better than playing catch up and reacting
to the crisis of the day.

 Where do you think you land on this matrix? And what strategies can you put in place to help guide you
into being a more proactive project leader?
Stratgic Project Leadership
Why is Project Management Weak?
 Traditional approach to project  There are several reasons why the
management is insufficient in classic approach is insufficient.
dealing with today's dynamic
business requirements.  First, the conventional approach to
project management is based on a
 In fact, the truth is that even if predictable, fixed, relatively simple,
and certain model. Furthermore, it is
you do everything by the book
often decoupled from the dynamic
and precisely follow all the formal
changes in markets, technology, or
guidelines of project business environments. The reality
management, your project may is that most projects today are
still fail! The questions are: unpredictable, changing, and
involve a great deal of uncertainty
 Why? What is missing? and complexity.
Why is Project Management Weak?
 Second, the current guidelines  Finally, although almost all project
treat all projects as the same, launches are motivated by a
and use a “one size fits all” business need or opportunity, the
current project management
approach. In reality, however,
approach is not designed to deal
there are significant formally with business needs,
differences among projects focusing instead on operational
and “one size cannot not fit efficiency and on meeting a
all.” To succeed in a project, project's time, budget, and
you must recognize the requirement objectives (commonly
differences that exist among called “the triple constraint”).
projects and adapt your style However, achieving the triple
constraint is insufficient and is only
to the specific project
one aspect in a project's success.
characteristics.
The Science and Art of Project Management

 The traditional tools of project

management provide a universal
formal part of the profession—the
“mechanics” or the “science.” They
are practiced around the world and
promoted by professional
associations—the most prominent
being Project Management Institute
(PMI)—and by dozens of consulting
groups offering training and
applications based on the classic
concepts. The science part includes
well-known and important
techniques, such as WBS, PERT,
Gantt, CPM, and Earned Value, to
name a few.
Over the last two decades, known research team's work has
focused on the non-traditional aspects of project
management. Scholars have studied over 600 projects
around the world and have looked for the reasons why
projects succeed or fail. scholars have developed numerous
frameworks and principles that could help organizations and
managers formalize some of the art parts and turn them into
science, and we have tested these frameworks on dozens of
organizations, with great levels of success and acceptance.
Scholars have also developed tools to apply these principles
in real organizations. Based on this experience, here we
present an integrated strategic approach to project
management called Strategic Project Leadership (SPL). The
following sections describe this approach and its principles.
 What is Strategic Project Leadership
 SPL is an integrated approach to project  SPL is based on a simple but powerful principle:

management, which was built on the

 Instead of seeing project managers as
foundations of traditional project management
and adds several new formal components to the responsible for “getting the job done,” (i.e.,
completing the project on time and budget and
conventional approach—“turning some of the meeting requirements), SPL sees project
art into science.” managers as leaders, or better said, “mini CEOs.”

 The main objective of SPL to focus projects on  They should become responsible, not only for

business results by creating value, competitive getting the job done, but also for achieving the
advantage, and winning in the marketplace. expected business results, and inspiring and
motivating the project team.

 SPL combines the strategic, business-related  They are also expected to adapt their style to
aspects of projects, the operational needs of the right context and manage the project in a
getting the job done, and the leadership aspects dynamic and flexible way.
of inspiring and leading the project team.
 THE TWO NEW LEVELS ADDED BY SPL

SPL is adding two new

levels to traditional project
management:
 dynamic adaptation a
 strategic leadership.
The Three Levels of SPL
Dynamic Adaptation
First, we suggest that organizations adopt a
multi-dimensional framework for planning
and assessing project success, instead of the
traditional “triple constraint.”
 Efficiency
 Such a framework will become part of the  Impact on the
initial plan; it will first set the expectations in
Customer
advance and later be used as a benchmark
project execution to monitor if the project is  Impact on the Team
still going to achieve these expectations.  Business Results
 Preparing for the
 The framework for project success should
include at least five dimensions Future
 Second, managers and executives of projects must learn to expect
change and even embrace it. They must accept the reality that all their
projects will undergo changes and should treat these changes as the
norm, rather than the exception. Planning should be viewed as an on-
going process, as new information is obtained. Re-planning should
become common, not exceptional, and teams should adopt a flexible
style for decision making and use a “rolling wave of planning”
(Shenhar and Dvir, 2007), or an “agile project management style,” in
which not everything can be planned in advance. Changes and
adjustments should be added later, as more information is collected
and the project moves on. Teams should also see this approach as an
opportunity to adjust and redirect the project toward maximizing the
end results and achieving higher revenues.
Finally, organizations should accept the reality that “one size
does not fit all projects” (Shenhar, 2001), and learn to use a
framework that will help them distinguish between different
project types and adapt a project management style for each
project. Project managers should learn to adapt to different
levels of market, technology, and environmental
uncertainties; different levels of complexity; or different
constraints and limitations and they must also adjust the
project to the unique business environment and industry.
 The Diamond Model (Shenhar and Dvir, 1996; Shenhar and Dvir, 2007)
offers a framework for analyzing a project's specific context and
selecting the right style; it includes the following four dimensions, and
each dimension is divided into four different project types:
 Novelty – How new is the product to your market and users?
 Derivative, Platform, New-to-the-Market, New-to-the-World/Breakthrough
 Technology – How much new technology is used?
 Low-Tech, Medium-Tech, High-Tech, Super High-Tech
 Complexity – How complex is the product or the project organization?
 Material/Component, Assembly/Subsystem, System, Array/System of
Systems
 Pace – How critical is your time frame?
 Regular, Fast/Competitive, Time-Critical, Blitz
 A unique Project Diamond describes each project context, and the
specific project diamond determines what the appropriate style is for
this particular project. The Project Diamond can also help analyze
project difficulties and put a troubled project back on track. As an
example, we cite the recent problems in Boeing's development of its
787 Dreamliner program. The program suffered extensive delays,
because the company did not expect the difficulties it encountered
with the new technology of composite materials and the complexity of
its wide network of suppliers to which it delegated an unprecedented
amount of design and development work. The Diamond Analysis used
for this program showed that the program was managed as a
Medium-Tech System project, whereas the required approach should
have been a High-Tech, Array (see Exhibit 4).
Strategic Leadership

The Strategic Leadership part came out of our strategic

management studies, which were supported by grants from
National Science Foundation (NSF), Project Management
Institute (PMI), and NASA. They are summarized in several
articles and in a PMI research monogram (Shenhar, Dvir,
Milosevic, &, Thamhain, 2007). This level includes two new
formal steps in the planning and execution of projects—
strategy and spirit.
roject Strategy – Adding The Missing Lin
k
 Typically, project execution starts after a project plan has been
created (PMI, 2008). The plan normally includes the project scope,
deliveries, milestones, resources, and activities for execution. Most
projects are initiated as part of the company's business strategy
and they need to support this strategy; yet, the traditional books
and training are not guiding teams on how to do it. As we've
found, in order to translate the company strategy into what needs
to be done on the project to support this strategy, we need to add
a formal project strategy document between the top-level business
strategy and the project plan, in other words: adding the missing
link. But what exactly is project strategy and what does it involve?
 In today's environment, any project outcome—a product, process, or
service—is likely to face competition. Thus, for each product,
process, or service one should ask, how will it stand out? How will it
succeed in the face of competition, and what will be its competitive
advantage? Project management, therefore, cannot just be about
meeting time and budget goals; rather, it should be about creating
competitive advantage and value. A good project strategy document
will define how to create the best competitive advantage for
winning in the market place; the project strategy is the project's
unique way of making sure this happens. This way should involve
the project's approach, direction, and a path that are planned in
order to win over the competition (Mintzberg et. al, 1998).
 We define project strategy  Business Background
as: the project perspective,  Business Objective
position, and guidelines on
 Strategic Concept
what to do and how to do it, to
achieve the highest  Product Definition
competitive advantage and the  Competitive
best value from the project
Advantage/Value
outcome (Shenhar et. al., 2005;
Shenhar & Patanakul, 2010). A  Success/Failure Criteria
typical project strategy  Project Definition
document will include the  Strategic Focus
following components:
Project Spirit – Inspiring the Project Team
 The second component that strategic project leaders must address formally is
project spirit. Great leaders know how to define and nurture a vision that
energizes and brings out the best in people. Visionary leaders are often
transforming and inspiring their people to achieve outstanding results and
overcome enormous difficulties. But great leaders must not only exist at the
national level; they can be found everywhere and in particular, in projects.
Project managers should train themselves to become inspiring leaders and see
this as a regular part of their job. By building a formal project spirit, project
managers should be able to translate company and business visions into great
and exciting products and build a project environment that is based on energy,
excitement, and enthusiasm, which will lead to successfully achieving the
project's goal and creating the competitive advantage and value. We define the
project spirit as: “The collective attitudes, emotions, and behavioral norms that
are focused on the project's expected outcome and achievements” (Aronson,
Shenhar, & Reilly, 2010).
 he first step in creating spirit is articulating an appropriate and
exciting product vision. Visions can often be summarized by a short
motto or slogan, which will be derived from the strategy and
articulate the state of affairs after the project is completed. Well-
defined product visions will excite the team, create meaning, and
unleash the energy in people but they will also excite upper
management and eventually influence the customer. All and all, the
following four elements can help build a successful project spirit:
 Vision – Building inspiration, excitement, and motivation
 Values – Directing and guiding the right behavior
 Symbols - Distinguishing the project's uniqueness
 ocial Activity – Taking care of the fun and creating the team bond
Summary - Implementing Strategic Project
Leadership
mplementing SPL requires a new integrated approach
concept, new framework for planning, and a collection of
implementing principles as summarized below.
The Integrated Approach Concept – The Four Aspects
Strategic Project leadership® involves moving out of the
current “get the job done” approach. Although operational
excellence is important, it must be accompanied by
additional conceptual understanding. We suggest that
project managers and teams learn to integrate four aspects
during their work (Exhibit 5):
 The SPL Integrated Approach
 Operational Excellence – Meeting
the project's efficiency goals of Operational
time and budget Excellence
 Dynamic Adaptation – Adjusting
the project to changes and Inspire Dynam
context d ic
 Strategic Focus – Focusing the Leader Adapta
ship tion
project on business results and
competitive advantage/value
 Inspired Leadership – Inspiration
Strategic Focus
and motivating the project's team.
The Planning Framework – The Five Hierarchical
Plans
 o guide the project's planning, SPL  Strategy – Building a unique project

defines a hierarchy of five parts of a strategy to support the company's

strategy and creating competitive
strategic project plan: strategy,
advantage
spirit, organization, processes, and  Spirit – Creating a unique vision and a
tools (Exhibit 6). A project plan is normative behavior environment that
designed to support the company's focus on the creation of competitive
business strategy, but is unique to advantage
the project's specific business goals.  Organization – Adopting the organization
Some of these plans will clearly to the unique goals and strategy of the
include traditional components project
such as scope, WBS, CPM, and so  Processes – Building the project's
forth, but they would be parts of a traditional and strategic processes of
planning and monitoring
larger framework of planning that  Tools – Using traditional tools together
starts with strategy, and continues with new tools and documents that
with the rest of the plans: support the business-focused strategy
Exhibit 6: The Five Levels of SPL Planning
The Twelve Strategic Project
Leadership® Principles for Implementation
The following twelve principles summarize the rules that will
help organizations and project managers implement the SPL
approach and follow it through project execution. Although
we did not discuss all principles in detail in this paper, the list
provides a complete picture of what SPL implementation
requires:
 1. Focus project management on business results; turn project managers into leaders, and make them
responsible for the business results
 2. Select your project (and program) portfolio based on different types of business objectives
 3. Define a strategic charter for your project; obtain top management support upfront and throughout
 4. Define why, (for) what, and how you are going to do the project
 5. Set the expectations in advance, including the business results; define multiple success dimensions for
different stakeholders
 6. Define your project strategy, including the planned competitive advantage/value and strategic focus
 7. Define your project’s vision, and create the right spirit that will excite the team and support the creation of
competitive advantage
 8. Define your project organization and processes, and build a plan for project execution and monitoring, to
ensure operational excellence, strategic focus, and inspiring leadership
 9. Expect change—build hierarchical and dynamic plans; be ready to revise your plans as you move forward,
obtain more information and remove uncertainty
 10. Identify your project uniqueness and adapt your project management style, based on the “diamond”
dimensions and other project characteristics
 11. Conduct strategic project reviews, in which you reexamine the needs, the strategy, and the expectations, in
addition to reviewing execution status and progress
 12. Create an on-going learning organization within your project.