APM People SIG, Leadership, David Richardson, Thursday 12th Feb 2015

1. The PPM Leadership
Challenge
David Richardson RPP

2. Leadership
Definition
“Leadership is the ability to establish vision and direction, to
influence and align others towards a common purpose, and
to empower and inspire people to achieve success”
APM BoK 6th edition

3. What are we going to cover
 The role of the PPM leader
 Sharing experiences of leading and/or being led
 Different leadership styles
 Emotional Intelligence
 Personal Resilience

4. Where’s the Challenge?
 Diverse stakeholders
 Transient teams
 Inconsistent levels of support/interest
 New and novel products
 New and novel methods
 New customers
 New suppliers
 Diverse/conflicting Political agendas

6. 7 Keys to Project Leadership
1 Be authentic.
2 Lead with vision.
3 Improve and innovate.
4 Empower the team.
5 Get close to your stakeholders.
6 Establish a solid foundation.
7 Work with intent. Susanne Madsen – “Power of Project
leadership”

7. Why
programmes
succeed
Why
programmes
succeed
Experience of
large numbers of
major
programmes
This may
affect other
programmes
BELIEF
Programme
failure
The programme
remembers the business
is usually correct
The programme
remembers the business
is usually correct
Front LineFailure
Business and main
supplier are aligned
Business and main
supplier are aligned
Objectives of
business and
main supplier
allowed to drift
apart
• Failure to recognise what
drives supplier and customer
• Zero-sum game – not win -
win
• Building individual defences,
rather than mutual success
No Alignment
Programme management
with a focus on benefits
delivery
Programme management
with a focus on benefits
delivery
Dependencies
and Risks
are documented
not managed
Tacit assumption of
slippage
Milestones are
too distant to
highlight
slippage
Decision making
process that makes
decisions and sticks
to them
Decision making
process that makes
decisions and sticks
to them
End Goal is clearly defined
and understood
End Goal is clearly defined
and understood
Failure occurs
when money
Runs out
Too few islands
of stability
No
contingency
planning
Leaders Lay the Foundations of Programme Success

8. APM Strategy 2020
Our vision for the profession is
ambitious, challenging and radical. Above
all, it reflects what society expects: A
world in which all projects succeed.

9. But Projects go wrong
 EU figures based on 214 technology projects showed that
only 1-in-8 met time, budget and quality objectives and
23.8% of all projects don’t get finished at all
 A survey by KPMG showed that only 2% of organisations
said that their projects met all of their objectives.
 80% of technology projects cost more than they return
because the benefits are overestimated and the costs
underestimated
www.projectmanagerman.com

10. NAO/Cabinet Office
Common Causes of Project Failure
 Lack of clear link between the project and the organisation’s key strategic priorities
 Lack of clear senior management and Ministerial ownership and leadership.
 Lack of effective engagement with stakeholders.
 Lack of skills and proven approach to project management and risk management.
 Too little attention to breaking development and implementation into manageable steps.
 Evaluation of proposals driven by initial price rather than long-term value for money (especially
securing delivery of business benefits).
 Lack of understanding of and contact with the supply industry at senior levels in the organisation.
 Lack of effective project team integration between clients, the supplier team and the supply
chain.

11. NAO/Cabinet Office agreed list of
common causes of project failure
 Lack of clear link between the project and the organisation’s key strategic priorities
 Lack of clear senior management and Ministerial ownership and leadership.
 Lack of effective engagement with stakeholders.
 Lack of skills and proven approach to project management and risk management.
 Too little attention to breaking development and implementation into manageable steps.
 Evaluation of proposals driven by initial price rather than long-term value for money (especially
securing delivery of business benefits).
 Lack of understanding of and contact with the supply industry at senior levels in the organisation.
 Lack of effective project team integration between clients, the supplier team and the supply
chain.

12. PPM Leadership
To be a successful leader you
need:
– The right level of training and
capabilities
– A network of peers to support you
– Continuous professional development
– To learn from experience
– Confidence in your professional
heuristics
– A set of tools to assist you
– Determination and resilience
To be a successful leader
you must:
Support your colleagues through:
– Capability building and training
– Providing peer support
– Encouraging ongoing learning
– Sharing your experiences
– Help create more Master Builders
– Share your tools and how best to
use them
– Mentoring and coaching

13. So What Does a Project Leader Look Like?

15. Why Should Others Follow You?
Do You:
 Promote and uphold the project vision, reinforce positive relationships, build an
environment that supports effective team work, raise morale and empower and inspire
others to follow throughout the lifecycle of the project?
 Determine what leadership style is appropriate for particular situations, individual or
group, and adapt your style as appropriate?
 Create an environment which encourages high performance and enables team
members to reach their full potential?
 Gain the trust, confidence and commitment of others and utilise collaboration
throughout the lifecycle to ensure continued momentum of the project?
 Build and maintain the motivation of the team throughout the project?
 Agree SMART performance objectives for the team and individuals which are regularly
reviewed and monitored to provide prompt and constructive feedback? and
 Identify and address development needs of the team and self?
APM Competence Framework – BC03 Leadership

16. An Activity!

17. Questions
How did you create an environment which
encouraged high performance and enabled team
members to reach their full potential?
How did you build and maintain the motivation of the
team throughout the project?
How did you identify and address the development
needs of the team and yourself?

18. Activity 1
 What did you do that worked really well?
 What was the outcome?
 What would you do differently?
Discuss for approx. 10 minutes

19. Questions
How did you create an environment which
encouraged high performance and enabled team
members to reach their full potential?
How did you build and maintain the motivation of the
team throughout the project?
How did you identify and address the development
needs of the team and yourself?

20. Feedback

21. Leadership Styles
A Google search will identify a number of styles,
including:
 Transactional Leaders
 Transformational Leaders
 Charismatic Leaders*
 Narcissistic Leaders*
* James MacGregor Burns “Leadership”
http://www.businessballs.com/leadership-theories.htm#leadership-styles

22. Transactional Leaders
Also known as managerial
leadership, focuses on the role of
supervision, organization, and
group performance.
Adapted from Wikipedia

23. Transformational Leaders
The leader taps into his
followers' higher needs and
values, inspires them with
new possibilities that and
raises their desire to achieve
a common purpose
Adapted from Wikipedia

24. Charismatic Leaders
Charismatic leadership demands
more than just a remarkable
personality. The followers must also
project an image of specialness and a
strong belief by followers that this
special person is the one to lead them
in their hour of need.
Adapted from Wikipedia

25. Narcissistic Leaders
Unconsciously driven by
hidden feelings of inadequacy,
to behave in a controlling and
energetic way, which enables
dominance and initiative.
Adapted from Wikipedia

26. Which One Are You?
Probably a bit of all those and a few more?
Which is your preferred style?
Which style do you most value in your
leaders?

27. What can we do to improve?
 Increase our Emotional Intelligence
 Increase our Personal Resilience

28. Emotional Intelligence
The five domains
 Knowing your emotions
 Managing your own emotions
 Motivating yourself
 Recognising and understanding other people's
emotions
 Managing relationships.
Daniel Goleman - 'Emotional Intelligence – why it can matter more than IQ’

29. EI Leadership Competences
Goleman identified the following four EI leadership competencies:
1. Self awareness. This is the ability to recognize your own mood, emotions, and drives,
and the related impact these attributes have on others. Self awareness is signalled by self-
confidence, realistic self-assessment, and a self-depreciating sense of humour.
2. Self management. The ability to control your own disruptive impulses and moods. The
propensity to suspend judgment and to think before acting. Indicators include ability to deal
well with difficulties or criticism, take initiative, demonstrate achievement, act with
transparency (owning and learning from mistakes), and optimism, even in the face of
failure.
3. Social awareness. The ability to understand the emotional make-up of others and to use
this with empathy in developing and retaining talent.
4. Relationship management. Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks.
The ability to find common ground, build rapport, and inspire others. Includes the ability to
lead change,expertise in conflict management, and the ability to develop and lead teams in
a collaborative manner

30. Personal Resilience
What keeps YOU going through the times
when the hard hat, kevlar jacket and toe
‘tectors can’t save you?

31. Personal Resilience
Some Ideas:
- Experience – You have been through days like
this before and survived!
- Your network – You are not alone!! Have you
“mapped” your support network, was it bigger than
you thought? If not how can you start to expand
it?

32. Feedback

33. Talent
spotting and
recruitment
 Need to develop skills
and capability to support
new ways of working
 More apprentices, and graduates
are needed to create a deep well of talent
for organisations and need to continue to
grow capability in PPM leaders
 This will create more opportunities for
PPM Professionals
New Capabilities are
Needed for our PPM
Leaders of the Future

34. A Final Thought
When the best leader's work is done the
people say, 'We did it ourselves.'
Lao Tzu

35. Yin leaders support; Yang leaders
challenge
Yin Leaders
 Listen, support
and coach
 Provide safety and
stability
 Foster confidence
 Empathize
Yang Leaders
 Ask challenging
questions
 Hold people to
account
 Demand
excellence
 Be rational

36. Leaders Lay the Foundations of
Programme Success

39. This presentation was delivered
at an APM event
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