Project managers often face tough times when they need to pull the strings that may make others uncomfortable. Those mainly include conducting project reviews for balancing the triple constraints, facilitating the reviews of the deliverables for quality or compliance, and providing constructive criticism to the team members for corrective or preventive actions.

Everyone likes to hear or deliver good news, however good project managers are expected to be the experts at relaying when things don’t go as planned, typically coupled with a pro-active solution.

The following are the most successful approaches good project managers often practice.

Let’s first level set on Organizational Change Management (OCM). It is not Change Control which relates to changes to business, system or other technical requirements.  OCM is the act of anticipating, preparing, managing, monitoring, measuring and supporting stakeholders through a transition. Regardless if that transition is large or small, technical, process, or organizationally driven.

People don’t fear change. We bring change to our lives all the time. We change jobs, get married, have children, move etc. People fear and reject change that doesn’t provide value to them or that they perceive as not valuable. As Project Managers, who by nature are inflicting change on an organization, you need to be prepared for your role in change management.

I submit to you that without realizing it, as an experienced Project Manager and/or PMP, you possess more knowledge than you realize to prepare you for your role in change management.

Introduction:

This month’s blog entry explores the complex relationship between project success and project leadership.  Risk of failure is potentially higher for IT projects than commonly acknowledged and, by all accounts, it would appear that success hinges less on strict adherence to methodology than on leadership.  Leadership, of course, assumes manifold forms, but in the context of this discussion I narrow it down to its core:  the moral/ethical responsibility of project managers to "tell it like it is," so that appropriate decision-makers can make effective decisions in a timely manner.

This is the third and final part of the Project Management Leadership series, the first of which was published on 8/18.  Here we make the link between success, leadership, and ethics explicit.  Ethics in project management elude rigid definition,but realism (rather than optimism) is critical to every organization's ability to think critically and to maximize the opportunities for effective and timely decisions at every organizational level.

Introduction:

This month’s blog entry explores the complex relationship between project success and project leadership.  Risk of failure is potentially higher for IT projects than commonly acknowledged and, by all accounts, it would appear that success hinges less on strict adherence to methodology than on leadership.  Leadership, of course, assumes manifold forms, but in the context of this discussion I narrow it down to its core:  the moral/ethical responsibility of project managers to "tell it like it is," so that appropriate decision-makers can make effective decisions in a timely manner.

This is the second of three parts, the first of which was published on 8/18.  Here we shine the spotlight on ethics in the context of project success.  Ethics in project management elude rigid definition, particularly as the PM discipline has evolved to encompass truly global projects, but even so, project management success is not synonymous with project success.

Introduction: 

This month’s blog entry explores the complex relationship between project success and project leadership.  Risk of failure is potentially higher for IT projects than commonly acknowledged and, by all accounts, it would appear that success hinges less on strict adherence to methodology than on leadership.  Leadership, of course, assumes manifold forms, but in the context of this discussion I narrow it down to its core:  the moral/ethical responsibility of project managers to "tell it like it is," so that appropriate decision-makers can make effective decisions in a timely manner. 

This entry will be published in 3 parts:

• Part 1 will discusses some of the long-term trends in project management, that have been recorded over the last 15 years.  Given the ever-growing emphasis on rigorous management of IT projects, the interpretation of these findings continues being debated, but the conclusions are unambiguous.
• Part 2 will shine the spotlight on ethics in the context of project success.  Ethics in project management elude rigid definition, particularly as the PM discipline has evolved to encompass truly global projects, but even so, project management success is not synonymous with project success. 
• Part 3 will make the link between success, leadership, and ethics explicit.

I’m curious what experience others have had in this regard.  Are there other aspects of leadership that play a pivotal role in your projects?  Are ethics a primary driver of decision-making in your organization… or an ancillary consideration?  What effect have these played on the successful delivery of your projects? 

Please feel free to comment below.