Project Leadership Paper

Yasmin Sidhu

OGL 321 - Project Leadership (Fall B Session)

October 26, 2021

 There are many contributing factors to the successful completion of a project. An

organized team, maintaining budget, milestones and even team morale. However, there is one

individual in charge of ensuring that all those factors are overseen to perfection. At least as

humanly close as possible to the word perfect. Project managers are in-charge of maintaining the

soul and the pulse to the project. Any manager is required to maintain team morale and verify

that everyone is doing their job correctly. The role of a project manager is different in the sense

that factors such as budget and key milestones come into play. They are trained to supervise

various parts of the project and their team to guarantee the completion of said project to

expectations of their company standards and values. Not only does there need to be the obvious

end result but, the team morale and company culture should be affected in a positive direction. A

manager doesn’t make one a leader, however, every leader is a manager.

The decisions that a manager makes is going to lead to the success or failure of a project.

Making decisions is the whole job of a project manager, and to make the right ones, it takes

experience and knowledge. The main learning experience is to learn from ones mistakes. Not

often does a project manager get to make them as that reflects poorly on them and the company.

However, within any organization, there is a history of failures to learn from. For example, in our

first Harvard Simulation, we had to find the perfect balance between budget, team morale,

weekly tasks and outsourcing talent. I can confidently say that I did not do as well as I was

expecting to do nor was it as easy as I imagined it to be. I have no prior experience as a project

manager, so it took me a couple times to understand the simulation. Regardless of the attempts, I

wasn’t able to figure out the correct balance between all the different variables.
 Failure boils down to poor decision making. Poor decision making processes often result

in the project heading south and the project managers not realizing the problem before it’s too

late. “Project managers need knowledge to make decisions, but there will never be enough

knowledge to totally prevent failure, and risk and uncertainty are always there to threaten a

project,” (8, Buede and Powell). Half the failure, is the project manager not registering the issue

with enough time to correct it. A risk management plan needs to be in place before the project is

started. That way when certain aspects of the project aren’t going according to plan, the team can

fall back into a plan b of sorts to correct the issue.

Secondly, a gigantic part of failing as a leader is not valuing the initial mission. Within

the plan for the beginning of the project, the leader should set aside time for a meeting with the

purpose of the project. As the team progresses further into the project, it is easy to lose sight of

the “why” behind the project. That is essentially fighting a battle without knowing what the

purpose is. It is the leaders job to keep their team updated on the why and keep reminding them

of that reasoning. That will help team morale. “While forgetting what was the purpose

underlying our project is likely to sap our enthusiasm for continuing to work on it…” (2021,

Bondale). This can do more than just affect the team’s morale. According to Bondale, it can also

encourage scope creep or endanger a project’s validity. There have been many projects in which

the consequences of not reciting the purpose has ultimately led to the mission being

unsuccessful.

Lastly, one thing that leaders have to establish is a balance between building morale

(keeping the energy up) and distributing a false sense of optimism. While we have established

that building morale is vital to success, so is staying grounded. It can be easy to go overboard
with positives while dismissing the unavoidable negatives. “It’s hard to think about negative

risks, much less plan for them, when you think that everything will be fine. Optimism is good—

just not blind optimism,” (2019, Bondale). Risk assessment plays a huge role in success and

actually can be helpful to boost the morale of the team. Risks are scary but they’re unavoidable.

So, if the leader takes the time to map out potential risks for their employees, that is going to

create a sense of confidence within the team. That way everyone can come up with a strategic

plan to avoid potentials risks but also take solace in knowing that if there is a setback, that there

is also a solution.

There have been certain instances in my life where I have had to help lead a team and set

an example. When I used to kick box, I would help my instructor do demonstrations and students

who worked with me would ask for guidance. There is an obvious risk within the sport of boxing

so there isn’t much to assess. There is room for various degrees of injury. A potential broken

bone, concussions and even death. However, in class they would start by teaching correct form.

That would help with your own risk of injury to minimize it. Next, they provided gear and

required mouth guards prior to being able to spar. Thirdly, they taught the proper rules to

sparring. Lastly, there would always be a coach watching for proper guidance and correction

where needed. It was obvious where they (and myself at times) were being a proper leader for

those who were just beginning. When it came to coaching someone, it meant being a friend first

and a person of authority second. I didn’t want them to view me as someone who micro-manages

because the reality is that there are all adults who are fully capable of understanding words.

Being a good leader means being a friend, maintaining the morale and relationships, and being

honest with risks. There is much more that goes into it than those three things, but in my
experience, those are the main things that leaders lose sight of when they become too

comfortable.
 References

Bondale, Kiron (2019, October 21). 12 Real-Life Examples Of Project Risk Management

Strategies. The Digital Project Manager. https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/project-

risk-management-strategies/

Bondale, Kiron (2021, October 17). Keeping “Why?” Front of Mind. Wordpress. https://

kbondale.wordpress.com/tag/risk-management/

Powell, Robert Col. Buede, Dennis. (2009). Project Manager’s Guide to Making Successful

Decisions. Management Concepts, Inc.. Retrieved from

https://app.knovel.com/hotlink/toc/id:kpPMGMSD08/project-manager-s-guide/project-

manager-s-guide