Running head: Leadership Actions

Assessment 2-Leadership Actions BUS/518 Project Management Leadership February 6, 2011 Introduction Several stages are involved in managing a project, which are initiating, planning, executing, and closing. Each phase has a unique and intricate process that requires several actions and perceptive in order for the project to be successful. The beginning of a project-the initiation phase, is the most important because it sets the tone for the project as well as establishes the direction of the other phase. Initiating a Project The initiating phase of the project requires the attention of higher level management to lead the efforts. During all stages, according to the book Project Leadership by Kloppenborg, Shriberg, and Venkatraman, there are seven major categories of project leadership that has to take: project priorities, project details, project integration, human resources, human relations, project promotion, and last but not least, project commitment. Each category is different every section of the different project phase. For initiation, we have to address each category. To commence the project properly leadership has to align the project with all of the organizations involved missions and/or goals. Most of the time, projects are contracted out and there needs to be a complete and thorough meeting of the minds.

Leadership Actions

If one organizations or departments goals or missions do not merger well with any other organization or departments goals, conflict will eventually surface which could result in catastrophic failure for any project. In a lot of cases the that the priorities in the initiation category requires the assigned leadership to assess potential risk. The easiest way to do this is to review any notes from previous projects of the magnitude and if none are available, formulate a cross functional team to assist and suggest potential teammates for the project. This meeting should not be one that only determines problems but it should also include a conversation about what amount of lost and risk is tolerated. After assess and accepting the risk it is time to justify the project and present explicit project details. I personally do not believe that this is a step that holds as much weight as the rest. A lot of the times there is only one project and one way. Justifying is easy but selection may not be- you may have only one choice, with maybe the ability to adjust some of the aspects of the project. Now that the plans for the project are spelled out and clear it is time to select the individuals that will make this project come alive. Moreover, development takes place and the dynamics of the group will take form. Do to the temporary nature of projects it is important to have constant communication with top level management. Finally, project commitment becomes necessary so that the phase can begin with as little dysfunctions as possible. My Personal Leadership Situation I previously served as president of my childrens parent association, and I have to say that I have some strengths that benefited me in my position, but to reach the full needs of the position I was missing a few qualities. After taking the Ned Herrmann

Leadership Actions

Model Test, I discovered that I have two dominate traits. A and B; more A than B however; I see them both in me. An a personality relays heavy on facts and a b is cautious and demands order. As a person with these personalities, I had a difficult time understanding peoples emotion. As the president I had to deal with many facets of people. I personally loved fundraising and organization events e.g. party planning. However, dealing with people complaining when they never contributed anything just, for lack of better words, worked my nerves. Some of the situations were serious, one time a child care provide feed a baby the wrong bottle and the bottle that she feed the baby was breast milk. I was impartial to anyone that did not attempt to breastfeed, so when the lady arrived to complain about the incident. I had to quickly shut her down. It was outside of our duties to deal with situations that serious. But in the back of my mind I felt like the breast milk did her child more good than harm. She would conveniently forget that she didnt properly label her bottles and she just gave her baby to a new provider and walked out. That was probably too much information but I have to say that I hard time caring. I believed my body language spoke that for me. She then went on to try and solicit emotion support from the crowd; however I dismissed them and continue to talk about the upcoming event the book fair. The annual fair was something that we did to raise money to sponsor Provider Appreciation Week. In order to maximize our profits, I decided to kick it up a notch. We represented three daycares and normally the book fair would only take place at one center. We did all three. This took a lot of planning and to my amazement it went as planned. A little better than planned. According to the Ned Herrmman Model, this is what I am best at.

Leadership Actions

Recalling the initiating phase, the priorities were established however; getting all of the centers and the directors to go along with this was painful. I was able to come out of my personality and appeal to their more human side. Interestingly enough for me, they wanted to have an event and they felt as though we could help so once this hurdle was crossed and we accomplished the goal of sharing a common mission. In the process of planning, justifying the expansion was crazy. On top of the fact that was the lone commando, so I decided to do it. I attempted to get help, and I begged my friends to assist. Luckily, I found two people for one center and a volunteer another so it went well. They liked me and they know that money was going to go to good use. Also, when the book fair arrived and it was set up; it was beautiful and because of the beauty and the fact that it was educational made it an easy sale. I believe to that I love books so selling the books was easy. My experience homeschooling really has opened me up to new authors so it was easy talking about there work. We also had home school volunteers and shoppers. I believe that the other steps were moved around a little and because the project was for a five day period (people loved it so much we extended it) it was hard to effectively address all of the issues. I was able to get people to commit to the project but I believe that because of the support of the directors (upper management), it turned into a high visibility opportunity and people wanted to be a part of it. I discovered my passion of fundraising and book selling; and in relation to my personality it all fit. My tenure as the president was hard because tons of other issues did affect me; but I have learned from them. Conclusion

Leadership Actions

The project initiation phase is one of the most critical steps to the project. The foundation of anything can determine the success of a project and although something may work the first time, that doesnt mean that it will stand the test of time. From my own personal experience I understand how easy it is to over look steps, but when it was over, I planned to give my successor the scope on what not to do next time.

Leadership Actions References

Kloppenborg, T., Shriberg, A., & Venkatraman, J. (2003). Project leadership. Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, Inc. Lewis, J. (2003). Project leadership. Boston: McGraw-Hill.