Project Leadership: Why Good Ideas Don’t Always Become Great Results
Imagine a company that has just completed an employee engagement survey. The results are in, and leadership has identified several opportunities for improvement. Employees want better communication between departments, more recognition for their work, and greater clarity around expectations.
The leadership team agrees these are important priorities. They establish three project teams, assign a leader to each, and ask them to develop solutions over the next six months.
Everyone leaves the meeting energized.
Three months later, progress has slowed.
One project leader is struggling to get other departments to participate. Another has taken on most of the work personally because team members aren’t following through. The third has a great idea but can’t get the necessary decisions made.
The CEO begins asking why the projects aren’t moving forward.
The project leaders are frustrated. After all, they already have full-time jobs, and now they’re responsible for leading initiatives involving people who don’t report to them.
The organization had a plan for the projects. What it didn’t have was a plan for developing the people leading them.
This is a familiar situation in our work at Human Potential Advisors.
Much of Culture Change Is Actually Project Work
When organizations engage us to improve their culture, the conversation often begins with broad objectives.
They want to strengthen communication, improve employee engagement, develop managers, or create greater accountability.
But changing an organization’s culture requires more than identifying what needs to improve. Someone has to translate those priorities into actions.
For example, improving communication between departments may involve creating new meeting structures, clarifying decision-making responsibilities, and establishing shared processes.
Each of those efforts is a project.
They require planning, coordination, communication, and follow-through. They also require someone who can bring people together around a common objective.
We often find that the individuals assigned to lead these initiatives are talented, committed employees who have never received formal training in project leadership.
They know their jobs. They understand the organization. They care about making improvements.
But leading a project requires a different set of skills.
Project Management and Project Leadership Are Not the Same Thing
Traditional project management focuses on the mechanics of getting work done: establishing timelines, managing resources, tracking milestones, and delivering results.
Those skills are important, but they don’t address every challenge a project leader encounters.
Consider the employee who has been asked to lead a cross-departmental initiative.
- She may have a detailed project plan, but what happens when another department doesn’t make the project a priority?
- How does she address a team member who consistently misses deadlines?
- What happens when two stakeholders disagree about the direction of the project?
- How does she gain commitment from people who don’t report to her?
These situations require leadership skills.
Project leaders must understand how to:
- Influence others
- Communicate expectations
- Navigate disagreements
- Delegate responsibilities
- Maintain accountability
They also need to recognize when a project is experiencing a technical problem and when it is experiencing a people problem.
The distinction matters because the solutions are often very different.
Leading People Who Don’t Report to You
One of the greatest challenges in project leadership is the responsibility to deliver results without having direct authority over everyone involved.
A project leader may need support from finance, operations, human resources, and senior leadership. Each department has its own priorities, and everyone is balancing multiple responsibilities.
The project leader has to find ways to gain cooperation while respecting those competing demands.
This requires an understanding of relationships, communication, and influence.
It also requires the confidence to have difficult conversations.
Too often, project leaders compensate for a lack of cooperation by doing more of the work themselves. Eventually, they become overwhelmed, and the project suffers.
Learning how to establish ownership, delegate effectively, and hold people accountable can make a significant difference.
Why Organizations Should Invest in Project Leadership Classes
Organizations frequently invest in developing their supervisors and managers. Yet many of their most important initiatives are led by employees who don’t hold formal management positions.
These may be emerging leaders, project coordinators, department representatives, or individual contributors who have been asked to lead an initiative. They need development, too.
At Human Potential Advisors, we see an opportunity to equip these individuals with practical skills that help them lead projects more effectively.
Project leadership development should address both the structure of the work and the people involved. Participants need to understand how to establish objectives, identify stakeholders, communicate progress, manage competing priorities, and create accountability.
They also need opportunities to practice handling the situations that commonly cause projects to stall.
Our approach is grounded in the challenges organizations are actually experiencing, particularly when projects involve culture, employee engagement, organizational change, and collaboration across departments.
Before You Assign the Next Project
Think about the initiatives currently underway in your organization.
- Who is leading them?
- What experience do those individuals have?
- Have they been equipped to manage the work and lead the people involved?
- Have they simply been given responsibility for an outcome and expected to figure out the rest?
A well-developed strategy is important. So is a clear project plan. But neither eliminates the need for capable leadership throughout implementation.
We spend considerable time deciding what our organizations need to accomplish. We should give equal consideration to developing the people responsible for making it happen.
At Human Potential Advisors, we believe project leadership is an important part of building organizational capacity. When employees learn how to lead initiatives effectively, they become better equipped to contribute beyond their individual roles.
Take the L.E.A.D. is designed to give people managers and project leaders practical leadership tools they can put to work immediately.
Ready to strengthen your leadership skills? Register for Take the L.E.A.D. today!
If you are looking for something different, HPA offers lots of ways to grow as a leader. Let us know how we can help. Contact us today!
