Running head: PM LEADERSHIP REFLECTION 1

Project Leadership Reflection

My Nguyen

OGL 321: Project Leadership, Strategy, and Scope

Instructor: Rob Wisehart

April 30, 2020

Project Leadership Reflection

Project management and project leadership have been known to be interchangeable but

are uniquely different in many ways. To put simply, project management prioritizes delivering

products on time, finishing a project within budget, and meeting product specifications. They

stick to a schedule and focus on getting the job done. Project leaders also do their best to manage

a project, but they are more people-centric than project-centric. They look at the motivational

needs of the team and look for ways to encourage productivity and efficiency. Project managers

are more rigid in how they proceed with a project while project leaders adapt their leadership

style accordingly. In understanding my own project leadership style, I first evaluated my project

management skills.

Using “How Good Are Your Project Management Skills?” from Mind Tools, I found that

my project management skills are decent, but I have room for improvement. Using the Harvard

Business Publishing Simulations, I’ve gained experience in team management and am more

confident about maintaining the productivity of my team. Specifically, I’ve gained experience in

problem solving, risk management, and maintaining team morale. I do know that I need more

growth in schedule, cost, and scope management. In my opinion, this sense of awareness is

necessary for leadership growth. The simulations have helped build my confidence in decision

making and prioritization. Project leaders can see the big picture of a project and do their best to

manage their teams toward achieving short-term goals. Although meeting objectives is a high

priority, I believe that skills that I’ve gained in project leadership with result in long-term

successes. I’ve grown in my ability to balance out short-term goals with long-term successes.
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In improving my project leadership skills, I’ve given more attention to risk and team

management. I am more confident in my planning skills and my ability to lead a team toward

meeting objectives. Also, I am now more aware of the human aspects within project

management. My personal approach to project leadership is to promote a positive working

environment and give attention to the needs of my team. I will not deprive my team of time and

resources in order to simply meet customer demands. I hold myself accountable to my team, the

customers, and the management team. However, I do not believe in practicing unethical

behaviors in order to manage cost effectively or disregarding my team’s stress level just to

deliver a higher quality product. I believe in coaching people toward success and problem

solving as a team. Where trade-offs are inevitable, I would give more attention to maintaining

morale and productivity rather than stick rigidly to the initial budget. However, my biggest

challenge is in balancing out team morale and sponsor objectives in order to deliver success

outcomes in multiple areas.

Although the Harvard simulations have provided a limited area of experience, the project

leadership skills that I’ve learned can be applied in multiple areas of my life, especially my

workplace. Whether I go into project management or not, I can apply team management skills in

my current line of work and many other future career options. As a leader, I will work on

understanding the motivational needs of my team members and adjust my leadership style in

order to find new ways to achieve goals. The understanding of the importance of planning and

prioritization is applicable to our daily life and many workplace situations. In the future, I plan

on using general and project leadership skills for possible careers in human resources and/or

operational management. My effectiveness in these fields will depend on my ability to

understand workplace behaviors and bring together different personalities or skills in order to
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deliver more efficient outcomes. In my opinion, the awareness of the motivational needs of

others can prove to be useful for any leadership role.

Even with the obvious fact that simulations differ from the real world, we can always

connect project leadership skills with general leadership. That being the fact, it is up to us as

future leaders to see the value in certain lessons and apply our leadership skills effectively when

the moment of truth arises. Although there are different types of leadership styles and approaches

out there, the same values and ethical behaviors can be found. Effective decision-making,

problem-solving, and communication skills are some of similarities that can be found. I’ve found

the same advice for these areas in multiple different blogs and different articles on leadership.

Among all else, I believe that effective leadership values integrity, honesty, transparency, and

accountability. The decisions that a leader makes will evidently affect the entire team so I believe

that leaders need to hold themselves accountable to their teams and any other stakeholders that

would be affected by their actions. Although I believe that everyone has their own area of

expertise and recognize that everyone in a team plays a part in success, the leader of any team is

ultimately responsible for whether an outcome was successful or a failure.

Going forward, I would offer advice in planning for risks, balancing out project

objectives, and promoting an awareness of interlinking elements for those that are attempting the

Harvard Project Management Simulation. Effective project leadership and success outcomes

depend heavily on planning before, during, and after a project is over. Planning for contingencies

may seem pointless, but a cautious mentally is necessary to minimize the impact of unexpected

events. Planning involves seeing the big picture and figuring out how to success bring a vision to

life. Planning is rooted in all phases of project management. However, project leadership
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involves planning strategies to increase effectiveness of meetings, coaching, and problem-

solving.

The second advice focuses on meeting project objectives because the effectiveness on a

project leader depends on prioritization and delivering outcomes that can be deemed as

successful by people other than the client. Project managers are placed in difficult positions in

which the must meet management expectations, but they also must prevent tension from arising.

Many times, it will be difficult to meet all the targets objectives and maintain high team morale.

Project leaders need to prioritize certain aspects in order to produce the results they desire. Some

project managers may prioritize meeting all objectives even at the cost of overly stressing out

their team. Some project leaders may maintain morale and productivity, but not deliver product

on time or within management’s budget. Understanding the reason and impact of certain trade-

offs will help in reaching certain objectives. However, it will be difficult to achieve all targeted

objectives and maintain morale. Therefore, the best thing is to push for growth in project

leadership and try to understand one’s own leadership style.

Lastly, when setting the parameters going into a project, it is best to understand the

impact of each element. The idea is similar to understanding product specification in order to

deliver good quality products. We need to truly understand the roles of each element within each

objective. This is part of the planning process because this allows us to plan for how each

element will affect the entire project process. In managing my projects, I need to look at the

project overview, understand the team process, and make effective decisions. Aside from

thorough planning before attempting a project, we must also see how the elements are

interlinked. For example, time allocation is important for the schedule, but the staying on

schedule requires a high level of productivity. Productivity will eventually affect the project
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scope, schedule, and budget. How productivity a team is depends significantly on their morale

and the team members skill level. For example, if basic level team members are hired for a

complex scope, they will require more coaching and may easily become frustrated. Coaching

would require an adjustment of time allocation from task completion. In many ways, an element

may seem simple to understand but can prove to be complex due to the interconnections of the

elements.

Project management is not an easy job and being a leader in this particular field requires

more than just technical skills. It requires critical thinking, a certain level of flexibility, and an

ability to perform well under pressure. Most of the time, there will be top-down tension for the

team and project leaders must find ways to keep the team motivated. A project leader must

compartmentalize goals and expectations and make good decisions in order to draw out success

outcomes. There will always be risks present in any project and project leaders must remain

composed in order to put out fires. Project leaders must also be visionaries that can inspire

people to work towards a common goal. They must look at the human aspects that play a role in

order to motivate people, but the job make require them to look at certain individuals and make

hard decisions. Nevertheless, top-bottom visibility and transparency must be maintained in order

to create a culture of trust and collaboration. In my own leadership style, I emphasis

responsibility, confidence, and a willingness to work with others to resolve issues. This plays a

part in how I handle unexpected events within a project and how I will hold myself accountable

for my decisions throughout a project journey. Confidence in my ability and my team’s ability

will make a difference in any project under my leadership.

Summary

Leaders need to have vision and the ability to clearly communicate their visions to their

team members. Communication is important to keep the path toward success clear and leaders

must keep communication channels as well as information open to all. Accountability and

responsibility are also important. Although leaders can delegate tasks to their team members,

they are ultimately responsible for the entire team and the ending results. In project management

specifically, project leaders are responsible for initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and

controlling quality, and bringing the projects to a successful conclusion. Good project leaders

identify risk before, during, and after a project is over. After identifying issues, project leaders

should move to prevent and manage risk to dismiss or minimize the impacts of certain risks.

Awareness is useful in many ways because it permits us to take preventative measures and

identify differences and similarities. It allows us to identify the difference between terms like

project management and project leadership. Mostly, it allows for personal growth through self-

awareness.