Читать книгу Project Management For Dummies - Stanley E. Portny - Страница 18

We’ve reorganized the 12 principles into logical groupings to illustrate how they can come together to help you run your project to achieve optimal results. The first of these groupings includes stewardship and leadership, two principles directed at none other than yourself, the project manager.

It is undeniable that your project cannot possibly be successful without an engaged and committed team, involved stakeholders, and sufficient time and resources to perform the agreed-upon scope. However, even the most well-oiled, finely-tuned, and expensive race car cannot drive itself around the track (not legally, at least). Like the race car, your project requires a diligent, respectful, and caring steward at the helm to lead your team over the finish line.

Additional characteristics of a good steward include integrity, trustworthiness, and compliance. Compliance typically refers to external factors, such as with environmental regulations, societal norms, or the policies, procedures, and standards of relevant industry professional groups (like PMI for project management). Stewardship requires an appreciation of the trust that you earn and work diligently to maintain, throughout your project and in general. Implicit in this trust is your duty to be transparent with your stakeholders through timely, honest, and accurate communication.

The most effective leaders share a number of common characteristics and behaviors, including:

 Finding ways to motivate and empower others to want to perform at a high level

 Allowing team members to operate without worrying that someone is always looking over their shoulder (Chapter 12 offers tips for how to deal with micromanagers)

 Motivating others to perform tasks that have been assigned to them (see Chapter 16 for how to motivate and keep your team engaged)

 Helping to line up the tools that each resource needs to effectively accomplish their tasks

 Establishing a team dynamic that fosters collaboration and respect without fear of failure or shame

The challenge is not only to embody these characteristics and behaviors, but to do so consistently, day-to-day, throughout the life of the project.

We initially asserted that the principles of stewardship and leadership are directed at you, the project manager. Ideally, these principles should be possessed and demonstrated by all members of your team. In reality, you can only control how you conduct yourself as a steward and a leader, but you can influence others as you lead by example.