Study Hall- Module 2 Leadership

• These notes cover various project management scenarios and the appropriate actions for a project manager to take in each situation.

Misalignment between technical and business teams

• Facilitate a structured discussion to evaluate trade-offs and align priorities in a cross-functional project.
• This addresses disputes over prioritization delaying execution where engineers desire fully optimized solutions, but business leaders want faster delivery with minimal investment.

Resistant project team

• Introduce oversight gradually demonstrating its benefits to a highly independent project team resistant to new leadership oversight.
• The team argues they have delivered results without intervention, the leadership is concerned that a lack of structure may create long-term risks.

Struggling mid-level manager

• Coach the manager on leadership strategies and team engagement when a mid-level manager is struggling to gain influence over a newly assigned team.
• The team perceives them as lacking leadership experience and morale is declining despite their technical expertise.

Leadership transition

• Ensure transparency and communicate how leadership changes impact team goals in a leadership transition.
• Address uncertainty across multiple teams, where employees are hesitant to adopt changes until they understand the new leader's vision, and productivity has started to decline.

Senior specialist resisting delegation

• Encourage knowledge sharing and structured delegation to a high-performing senior specialist resisting delegation, arguing that critical tasks require their direct involvement which makes other team members feel underutilized and disengaged as a result.

Conflicting leadership directive

• Address concerns while aligning new directives with past agreements.
• A new leadership directive contradicts previous team agreements, causing some employees to feel demotivated and argue that leadership is disregarding past commitments.

Change of project sponsor

• Confirm priorities with the new sponsor while reinforcing project continuity when a longtime project sponsor is stepping down, and their replacement has different priorities.
• The project team is unsure if the original goals remain valid.

Hesitant leadership team

• Create a structured innovation process that mitigates risk to address a leadership team that is hesitant to support innovation due to previous failures, where employees are reluctant to suggest ideas fearing that efforts will be rejected.

Struggling team lead

• Provide targeted coaching to improve the team lead's conflict resolution skills.
• Manage conflict which leads to increased friction and miscommunication among employees, with some team members avoiding discussions altogether, impacting productivity.

Disconnected employees

• Translate strategic goals into actionable objectives for teams After a leadership retreat has led to new strategic goals.
• Employees feel disconnected from the decision-making process and some teams believe the goals do not align with day-to-day realities.

Unrealistic timeline

• Present a risk-based assessment of feasibility and alternative scheduling options when a senior executive has publicly committed to an aggressive timeline that the project team believes is unrealistic.
• Team members have raised concerns, but leadership has made no adjustments and some employees fear backlash if they challenge the directive.

Different leadership values

• Confirm with the new sponsor whether strategic priorities have shifted when a long-term project sponsor is stepping down, and their replacement has significantly different leadership values.
• The team is uncertain whether to continue executing as originally planned or adjust to the new sponsor's vision.

Middle manager resistance

• Engage middle managers to address concerns and define realistic adoption strategies when an organization is launching a major transformation initiative, but middle managers resist change, arguing that the new structure will increase their workload.
• Senior leadership expects teams to adopt the changes immediately, but compliance has been slow.

Strategic Shift

• Develop a transition plan that minimizes disruption while supporting strategic goals after a high-level strategic shift has been announced.
• This requires teams to reallocate resources immediately and some managers are hesitant to move employees away from existing projects, while others argue that delaying reallocation will create operational inefficiencies.

International Expansion

• Assess both models and propose a hybrid structure that balances autonomy and control when a company is expanding into new international markets, requiring changes to leadership structures.
• Some leaders argue that regional autonomy is critical, while others believe a centralized leadership model will ensure consistency.

Rigid process controls

• Propose adjustments that maintain efficiency while allowing room for innovation.
• A leadership directive to improve efficiency has led to rigid process controls, which teams argue reduce flexibility and slow innovation, some employees are frustrated but feel leadership is unlikely to change course.

Power struggles

• Facilitate structured prioritization discussions and ensure alignment on shared goals to address a cross-functional initiative suffering from power struggles between department heads.
• Each believes their priorities should take precedence, leading to competing directives and delays in decision-making.

Hesitant Investment

• Present a structured risk-benefit analysis to inform leadership's decision to remedy a company's leadership team that is hesitant to invest in emerging technology, fearing that adoption will be disruptive and high-risk.
• Teams that rely on innovation argue that delaying adoption could harm competitiveness.

Authoritarian Leadership

• Provide feedback on leadership dynamics while reinforcing the need for autonomy.
• A department head has assigned a senior leader to oversee a project, but their leadership style is highly authoritarian and team members feel micromanaged, leading to lower engagement and diminished trust.

Lack of Communication

• Rebuild trust by facilitating structured collaboration efforts and resolving past tensions.
• A project is dependent on cross-functional collaboration, but some teams are avoiding direct engagement due to previous leadership conflicts and this lack of communication is creating inefficiencies.

Divided Project Team

• Clarify leadership's rationale and address concerns while reinforcing expected outcomes to resolve a project team that is divided over a leadership decision to implement a major process change.
• Some team members see the change as necessary, while others believe it will disrupt workflows, and leadership expects the change to be adopted, but resistance is increasing.

Lowered Morale

• Balance accountability with employee engagement by defining how performance is measured to handle a leadership initiative to increase team accountability that has lowered morale because employees feel they are being unfairly scrutinized.
• While performance tracking has improved, some employees have expressed frustration.

Regional Leadership

• Develop a hybrid approach that allows flexibility while maintaining corporate alignment.
• A company is expanding into new markets, but regional leadership teams are concerned about adopting corporate-level strategies that may not align with local conditions, leadership expects standardization, but resistance remains strong.

Struggling Project Leader

• Help the leader establish credibility through structured decision-making.
• A newly promoted project leader is struggling to gain authority because they were previously a peer to many team members, some employees continue to challenge their decisions, creating confusion about leadership roles.

Overly Ambitious

• Outline project risks clearly while proposing mitigations to reduce exposure.
• A senior executive has made a public commitment about project outcomes that the team believes is overly ambitious, leadership is aware of concerns but is unwilling to adjust expectations.

Conflicting Directives

• Align leadership directives by establishing a single point of decision-making to resolve a project team experiencing rising conflict because different leaders have provided conflicting directives.
• Employees are uncertain about which priorities to follow, creating delays in execution.

Cultural Transformation

• Facilitate a phased approach that aligns leadership goals with employee readiness to address a new executive that has introduced a vision for cultural transformation.
• Long-standing employees are reluctant to adopt the changes, some teams believe the transformation is too sudden, while leadership is pushing for immediate implementation.

Leadership Restructuring

• Clarify reporting structures and ensure alignment on decision-making processes.
• A company is undergoing leadership restructuring, creating uncertainty about roles and reporting lines, employees are confused about decision-making authority, leading to delays in approvals.

Leadership Stability

• Communicate confidence while being transparent about steps taken to ensure stability.
• A high-value client has expressed concerns about leadership stability, citing frequent organizational changes as a risk to project continuity.

Ethical concerns

• Create a safe space for ethical discussions while ensuring leadership accountability because a project team has raised ethical concerns about leadership decisions that appear to favor business goals over employee well-being.
• Some employees hesitate to speak out, fearing professional consequences.

This project management guide provides solutions to common issues that arise during projects. It offers guidance on how to handle misalignment between technical and business teams, resistance from project teams, and struggling mid-level managers. Learn how to resolve disputes, introduce oversight, and coach managers for effective leadership.