PMcrunch

Leaders know that great insights often come from the people doing the actual work. Faced with “higher level challenges,” leaders and leadership teams tend to lose touch with those doing the work. Whichever end you find yourself in this dilemma, whether you are on project team, lead a project team, or lead a program, take some time to refresh your thinking and “dismiss the hierarchy’, if only temporarily. It will help to keep motivation alive in yourself, your team, and your organization.

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There has been a tremendous amount of buzz more recently about PMOs, otherwise known as Project Management Offices. Here is what a select group of experts are saying about PMOs today.

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As Project Managers, we are called upon to be leaders much of the time – and really should be thinking about it all of the time. Rather than suggesting that we merely “think outside of the box”, I am suggesting that we “think outside the project”, because, that might be a little more appropriate for the world we as project managers are traveling in. The keys to better leadership performance – and this is a very individual thing – probably lies in our thinking outside of our project.

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The old adage goes like this: “It is much better to tell someone what to do than how to do it”. Violation of this rule is often the cause for less than optimal performance. Here are some reasons why and some ways to handle this common management miscue.

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Building the Work Breakdown Schedule is a lot of good hard project management work. While it is fundamental to the practice of professional project management, often it is soft skills – including plain old determination and leadership – that in the end produce a strong WBS.

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Sometimes – more often than we like – a “circular reference” enters the scene, and it can threaten the success of your project – or even the success or an entire portfolio or organization. As a Project Manager and leader, you need to stop circular references by intervening strongly and showing the way!

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Is it worth it for you to put in all of the work? Consider these 10 benefits , and if they apply to your situation, go for it!

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Leadership and management are not entirely different, but they are different in many ways. Comparing leadership and management is more accurately the comparison of a combination of strong leadership and management skill with a level of management skill where the leadership component is missing. It is a difficult comparison to make explicitly, but examples in real life abound!

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Be aware of how the web can be a great distraction and provide “procrastination support”! Think about, even when you may seem to be “surfing” for something worthwhile.

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There are bosses and managers, heads and supervisors. But the true top man yields the sharpest, most brilliant sword of leadership with outstanding skill and wisdom and approaches even the most minor project as if at war. On the corporate battlefront, the needed leadership skill for a project manager is akin to the required capabilities to be a general leading a battle.

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