Leadership Principles for Project Success by Thomas Juli (2010). I just noticed I read this book some time ago. I remember I chose it because I saw a lot of good reviews about it but I did’t write my own personal assessment and I think it deserves one because it is a good book on leadership.
Here I am just going to mention a very few sentences with the key points to keep in mind. The five principles of leadership are:
- Build vision
- Collaboration
- Performance
- Learning
- Results
Now let’s just briefly describe what are these things. A vision sets the overall picture of a project. Project objectives provide specific, concrete direction, and set boundaries. Project objectives need to be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time boxed.
Nurture collaboration. Teamwork does not just happen. It evolves. Be a role model to others. Make sure team members understand the motivation and vision, objectives, scope and timeline of a particular project; define roles and responsibilities.
Promote performance. Be a role model, empower your team, focus on solutions and results rather than problems.
Cultivate learning. Keeps a status report or executive summary with achieved milestones, upcoming milestones and activities, top issues and risks, backward and forward looking. Review sessions: what is going on well, what to improve to secure success and how to do so. Learn on a daily basis. Encourage team members to have a pet project.
Ensure results. The team delivers, not the leader. Delivering results throughout the project ensures the delivering of final results. Interim results to reveal if we are on the right track, morale booster, break down tasks into small components.