Leadership - the project professionals secret weapon Wednesday 24 April 2024 APM East of England Network Presented by: Chris MacLeod Keep up to date with the APM East of England Network: https://www.apm.org.uk/community/east-of-england-network/ Content description: “I’m a Project Manager”. That’s often what we tell family, friends and peers when asked what we do. But is it really a fair description? It may well be our role title, but it probably doesn’t convey a lot of what we actually do. This presentation and discussion is about going beyond the frameworks, processes and stereotypes associated with project management and exploring the leadership roles we all in fact perform. “I provide leadership focused on delivering projects and change for organisations”

1. Leadership -
The project
professional’s secret
weapon
Chris MacLeod
Leadership Coach and Project Consultant

2. Chris MacLeod
15+ years change and project delivery
20+ years public sector
10+ years in IT / digital
Accredited leadership coach

3. For discussion today…
Project professionals:
 Going beyond delivery frameworks,
processes and templates
 Our role in leading people and how this
impacts the likelihood of success
 What makes a great project leader
 Leadership challenges we can face in
project management
Outcomes:
 Greater insight into the leadership qualities
possessed by project professionals
 Increased confidence in explaining your
leadership experience and abilities and their
relevance to the project environment
 Shared understanding and appreciation of the
leadership challenges we each face
 Tools and techniques to exploit leadership
opportunities and effectively deal with
leadership challenges

4. We get asked these questions, but those we
work with know that a project professional
is going to be adept at things like:
• Planning
• Identifying the right approach
• Tailoring a methodology
• Managing risk
• Keeping people informed
• Monitoring progress
• etc
Frameworks, processes and templates
You any good
with a RAID log?
Can you knock
us up a delivery
plan?
Is this going to
be a “Prince 2”
project?
Who’s keeping
track of all this?
Ever been asked…
It would also be useful to find out…
How do you deliver those things?
What’s your approach to…?
How do you engage people when…?
How do you go about solving problems?

5. Perhaps we don’t help ourselves

6. What do you
do?
I’m a Project
Manager
I’m a PM
I’m a Project
professional
I’m just a
Project
Manager
I’m a Project
Co-ordinator
I’m a Delivery
Manager
What is this saying?

7. What could we say
instead?

8. “Leadership is a set of behaviors used to
help people align their collective
direction, to execute strategic plans, and
to continually renew an organisation.”
McKinsey
“A leader is not defined by the title you
hold in a company but how you inspire and
motivate those around you.”
Forbes
“…the practice of
positive influence”
Leadership.com
“…the art of inspiring and guiding
individuals towards a shared objective.”
The Knowledge Academy
“…understanding people's
motivations and leveraging them to
achieve a common goal.”
CIPD
What is leadership?

9. Leadership in the project profession
Frameworks, processes and
templates
Leadership
We deploy a lot of skills that
are traditionally looked for in
leadership roles
We’re also well practiced at it
And we’re used to deploying a
range of those skills at the
same time
Creating a vision
Motivating and inspiring people
Matrix management
Performance management
Negotiation
Resource deployment
Prioritisation

10. Our secret weapon
The single best
transferable skill
we have?

11. Leadership impacting success
Imagine if we ‘just’ followed the
manual.
Applying frameworks, processes
and templates with wanton
abandon
Our ability to lead
enables our projects to
be successful
But we don’t.
In fact, we…
…have the difficult
conversations
…engage with the
stakeholders no-one
else wants to engage
with
…keep things on
track, even in the face
of adversity
…find ways to
motivate those
around us to perform
well and deliver great
things
…manage complex
dependencies
…identify common
goals, build consensus
and buy-in

12. What makes a great project leader?

13. Great project leadership
Source: HBR: Essential qualities of successful leaders
How relevant are these leadership
qualities in a project environment?
Authenticity
Curiosity
Analytical prowess
Adaptability
Creativity
Comfort with ambiguity
Resilience
Empathy
How about…
Humility
Fairness
Trustworthiness
Confidence
Risk taking

14. Leadership challenges in projects
What leadership challenges
have you faced in projects?
Case studies
• ‘Regular’ project
• ‘Turnaround’ project
• ‘Death march’ project
• ‘Short’ project
• ‘Long’ project
• Lack of buy-in
• Difficult stakeholders
• Dis-engaged sponsor
• Ineffective team
• Scope change
• Multiple organisations
• Differing expectations
• Ambiguity
• Lack of ownership
• Culture

15. What do you
do?
I’m a Project
Manager
I’m a PM
I’m a Project
professional
I’m just a
Project
Manager
I’m a Project
Co-ordinator
I’m a Delivery
Manager
How will you answer that question now?

16. Insatiable appetite
to learn more?!
Chris MacLeod
chris@stornvagen.com
07795 842 624
Project consultancy
Leadership coaching
Website and blogs: Stornvagen
Free guide: Supercharging your impact as a leader