Leading Global Projects

270 Pages·2008·1.21 MB·English

by  Robert T. Moran

Leading Global Projects
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Leading Global Projects
For Professional and Accidental
Project Leaders
First edition
Robert T. Moran and
William E. Youngdahl
AMSTERDAM•BOSTON•HEIDELBERG•LONDON•NEW YORK •OXFORD
PARIS•SAN DIEGO •SAN FRANCISCO •SINGAPORE•SYDNEY•TOKYO
Butterworth Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier
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First edition 2008
Copyright © 2008, Robert T. Moran and William E. Youngdahl. Published by Elsevier Inc.
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08 09 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword ix
Acknowledgements xiii
Dedication xv
About the Authors xvii
Prologue xix
1 Leading Global Projects 1
Accidental Project Managers 4
Global Project Leadership Imperative 6
Getting Strategic About Global Projects 7
The Cultural Context of Project Leadership 9
What is “Culture” 10
A “Cultural” Mistake 14
Denial 14
Two Typical Leaders of Global Projects 16
Culture is Learned 17
Culture is Complex 19
Understanding and Communication 25
Example One: Mr. Sim’s Invitation 26
Example Two: Avianca Crash 27
The “Hard” Soft Skills of Project Leadership 28
Conclusion 29
Global Project Leadership Realities 30
2 What Every Project Leader Needs to Know About Project Management
Fundamentals 31
The Strategy Connection 33
Financial Value 35
Customer Value 35
Tactical Value 36
vi Contents
Organizational Value 36
Compliance Value 36
Strategic Value 37
Competing for Scarce Resources in a Multi-Project World 37
Get the Assumptions and Constraints on the Table 45
The Project Plan 46
Scope Management 47
Risk Management 49
Project Time Management 53
Estimating How Long Something Will Take 54
The Critical Path 55
Managing the Project Budget 57
Summary 59
Project Management Fundamentals 61
3 The Project Story 63
Aspiration and Facts 65
The What–Why Dance 66
Project Value Elevator Speech 67
Visions from on High 69
Creating the Project Vision Statement 71
Rapid Project Visioning Exercise 75
The Project Snapshot 80
The Project Exit Story 82
Learning from Project Stories 84
The Power of Stories 87
Project Story Imperatives 88
4 Cross-Cultural and Cross-Functional Project Leadership Skills 89
A Newspaper Column 93
Cultural Filters 94
Stereotypes 95
Global Leaders as Learners 97
Mini-Case One: Responding to an e-mail? 98
An e-mail from a New Boss 98
Mini-Case One: Responding to an e-mail – Alternative 99
Mini-Case Two: German/Japanese Direct Negotiations 99
Mini Case Two: German/Japanese Direct Negotiations – Alternative 100
Lesson 101
Mini-Case Three: Giving/Receiving Feedback on Project Teams 101
Mini-Case Three: Giving/Receiving Feedback on Project Teams –
Alternative 102
Contents vii
Mini-Case Four: A Common Vision Across Functions 102
Mini-Case Four: A Common Vision Across Functions – Alternative 103
Mini-Case Five: A Hurt Medical Director 104
Mini-Case Five: A Hurt Medical Director – Alternative 105
A Framework 105
A Great Project Leadership Story 108
Framing the Problem 110
Leaders Handling Two Swords at the Same Time 112
The English Language as the Language of Business 113
Examples of Humor 115
Summary Check List 115
5 Infl uencing and Negotiating 119
Seeking Alignment Through Infl uence 122
Developing an Infl uencing Strategy 129
Infl uencing Exercise 135
Reading Nonverbal Signals 137
Negotiating in Global Projects 139
A Framework for Global Negotiations 141
Infl uencing Without Authority and Turning Confl icts into
Cooperation 146
What is Confl ict? 148
Conclusion 150
Infl uencing Imperatives 150
6 What Project Team Members Need from Us 153
The Case of the Brazilian Caddie 154
Global Project Teams: A Primer 161
Stages of Team Development 162
Research on Project Synergy 167
Leading Global Projects Quiz 169
A Framework for Identifying What Blocks Motivation and
Performance 171
Dealing with “Interesting” People 177
Persistence and Optimism 178
What Virtual Project Team Members Need 179
Summary 181
What Team Members Need from Us – Imperatives 181
7 Leading Projects at the Edge of Chaos 183
Understanding Chaos 187
Complexity and Uncertainty 192
viii Contents
Early Warning Signs 194
Expressed Confusion About the Strategy That the Project is Fulfi lling 195
Real or Perceived Confusion About the Project Scope 196
Project Team Members Focusing on Work Unrelated to the Project 196
Isolated Virtual Team Members 197
Stuck in the Glue of a Fuzzy Front End 197
The Perfect Storm 198
Clarity-Seeking Project Leadership 201
Identify and Communicate Project Scope and the Link Between
Scope and Strategy 201
Carve Long-Duration Projects and Tasks into Value-Producing
Chunks 202
Ask the Critical Three Questions Frequently, Daily if Possible 203
Simplify 204
Leverage Diversity to Achieve Project Breakthroughs 205
Perform Project Team Tune-Ups on a Regular Basis 205
Engage in Lateral Thinking to Minimize Assumptions and Explore
Butterfl y Effects 206
Structure Your Project by Project Type 207
Conclusion 208
Edge of Chaos Realities 209
8 Shaking Up the Project Team 211
The Change Process 217
Change Implementation Insights 218
Change Imperatives 223
9 Leadership/Culture/Project Management: Capturing the Learnings 225
Methods of Learning 226
Action Learning 227
Learning Logs 232
Conclusion 234
Capturing the Learning Imperatives 234
10 Mindstretching Question, Summary, and Epilogue 235
Mindstretching Question 236
Summary 239
Epilogue 242
A Short List of Highly Recommended Books 243
Index 245
Foreword
T he global business environments in which organizations operate
have become increasingly complex and uncertain. Work has shifted
from functional to project-based, from local to global. Leaders
within global organizations must adapt to changing environments
while orchestrating the efforts of people from diverse functional
and country cultures. The rules are changing and in many cases the
pace of the environmental and organizational changes eclipses indi-
vidual leaders’ abilities to adapt their own knowledge and skills to
the new realities.
Organizations have responded to these new realities by reduc-
ing organizational layers to speed the efforts of newly empow-
ered decision makers. They have applied matrix management to
allow for more cross-functional collaboration and complex proj-
ect work. Web-based technologies have enabled more and richer
communication among geographically distributed team members.
Theoretically these changes should create greater effi ciencies and
increased fl exibility. However, many organizations have not fully
aligned these changes with the new skills and knowledge required of
those leading others through the new realities of our project-based
world. We are asking both new and experienced leaders to translate
corporate strategy into results, but many of the realities of how to
bridge from strategy to results have changed. When we accept the
truth that virtually all work is project work, and much of this work
is global, the implications for developing leadership talent suggest
new and important paths.