Leadership Course – “Leading IT Projects”

In the second session of the "Growing Team Leaders" course, Karl Buderus from Success Solutions presented "Leading IT Projects".

Karl started out stating that "Leading Projects" is different to "Managing Projects". Project management involves activities like planning, budgeting, organising, controlling and problem solving while leadership is about vision, alignment of people, motivation and inspiration. So, where management is a Science, leadership is more of an Art and involves enabling, empowering and supporting the team.

One of the key messages I took away from this session is that Leaders helps people find the answers versus telling them. In most cases, team members know the answers, by assisting them to find the answer, you not only grow their abilities, but empower them solve problems without your involvement.

Similar to the previous session, good communication was highlighted as essential, along with negotiations skills. This time, communication with project sponsors was discussed. Identifying how the key people required to make your project succeed want to be communicated, is essential to your success.

The remainder of the course then focussed on things like governance, organisational alignment and management tools.

So when you are working on something involving high innovation, which can result in high risk, good leadership is essential to succeed. Share the vision, excite the team and ensure key stakeholders are involved, clearing the way for your team to innovate and deliver.