astra domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/studyfoxx/public_html/proactivetraining.com.au/news/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6121We must never underestimate the impact of good leadership on the speed of a project. In fact, we must not underestimate the extraordinary difference between good leadership and exceptional leadership. This one decision is setting the foundation for the rest of the project.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A good leader truly sets the pace for the speed of the pack. A bad leader is worse in that they don’t just set a slow pace, they limit the pace of the pack. Bad leaders often have teams that are trying to go faster, but the leader pushes them backward. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I have seen many situations where high-priority projects were assigned to project leaders who were not ready for the complexity and importance they were assigned. They were often good team members; however, they had no experience or training leading people and leading projects. The results were like giving a bicycle to someone who has never seen one and then expecting them to immediately compete in a high-stakes road race.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To make a good decision, the sponsors should consider the following aspects when considering their project leader:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 1.<\/span><\/strong> What is the priority of this project compared to other projects?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 2.<\/span><\/strong> What is the context of this project? Is it in a new customer domain? A new technical domain? An area where the organization already has vast experience?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n 3.<\/span><\/strong> Who are the candidates and their experiences that your organization can draw from? Note that I did not say, “Who is available?” If this is truly a top priority project, you should pick whoever the best person for this project is. You then can make tradeoffs to deal with the problems you just created.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Executives are not always able to put their best leaders on the most important projects. However, if this is a conscious decision, they can take the appropriate actions to ensure mentorship is in place for the less-experienced leaders. Less-experienced leaders should get the lower-priority projects to prepare for the more important projects.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n After the sponsors select the project leader, the project leader has the responsibility to take the next steps of the guidance system. The project leader must organize for speed.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n A Leadership Team for Speed<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n There is great pressure to start important projects in a hurry. But it’s even more important to get a good start on critical projects rather than begin in a frenzied, undisciplined rush. This sets the foundation for the project leader to start the project with the guidance system for speed fully enabled.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This chapter details the steps that ensure the planning event detailed in the next chapter have the team jumping off the project line with the confidence and plans for full success. This list of preparation steps may seem daunting to those who have not done them in the past. For small projects, these preparation steps typically take less than a week. For a multi-year, very large project, accomplishing these steps took about four weeks.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n If you are leading a project with more than a dozen people, it’s a wise idea to establish a project leadership team. I recommend the leadership team comprise a sub-team leader and the most experienced team member. For every six to 12 people on your project, add another leadership team member. This person is responsible for the following key activities:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The people on the team are often not your choice. However, I suggest you do work to ensure you have the people who best fit the project need and priority. The best leaders work to put the right people with the right skills in the position to be successful. You are the leader. The fastest way to speed is not to have the biggest group of people; it is relentlessly making sure the most skilled, most focused people are in the right place at the right time. Negotiate to have your people have dedicated time to pursue your clear priorities.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Even if you have the same team of people you had before, you may be undertaking new projects frequently. New projects sometimes have new attributes. They may even move from the quadrant of “get it done” to “gamble wisely.” This type of work calls for a different approach. It may lead you to re-evaluate who belongs on the leadership team.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Enable the right people to put in maximum effort, thinking, and action toward the center goal of the target, speed to value. Thus, you want the people working on this project to be consistently thinking about the smartest, fastest methods to score a bull’s-eye of speed and value. To do this, the project leader must define what winning means and set project priorities to enable this.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Define Winning<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To have appropriate urgency and speed on a project, it is critical to start with a clear definition of what winning means. The idea behind creating a leadership team is to get a common mindset and ground rules of how the project will run. I encourage the primary leader of the leadership team to lead discussions with the rest of the team about the mindset. I encourage them to come up with a definition of the project’s success.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The following is an example definition of success one of the leadership teams I worked with developed. This represents the mindset they gelled on. They used these key bullet points to help guide them in their decisions, especially contentious ones:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The best leadership teams I’ve coached also established ground rules to ensure they worked well together. Establishing just a few simple guidelines for the leadership team can establish a culture for the whole project. They are usually simple and to the point. Here is an example set:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Generally, the lists are short and to the point, like the one above. Also, they are usually fairly obvious and make some think they do not need to be written down. But remember, there is a reason handwashing signs are placed in hospitals and restaurants. The obvious is too often forgotten.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n
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