Project Planning and Strategic Leadership

In today’s ever-evolving business environment, it is important for organizations to be able to foresee the value of their work. Being said, project planning and management have become one of the most effective approaches in delivering valuable outcomes. However, many projects significantly overrun the project schedule and budget, and as a consequence, fail to achieve the organization’s financial and strategic objectives. This is due mainly to the failure of many project managers to successfully apply the tools and techniques of modern project planning, monitoring, control, and progress reporting on their projects. 
 

The role of leadership in project planning and management is a key element in an organization, as it influences the thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of others. It visualizes what is to be achieved within the required time frame. Strategic leadership capability ensures that organizations have a corporate culture that values collaboration and trust as a foundation for improved performance. Real strategic leadership requires that managers and leaders at all levels create the mindsets and behaviors that are needed to transform the organization from its existing paradigm to the new strategic paradigm that the vision sets forth.

• Develop & follow a strategic roadmap through a clear vision & statement of strategic intent
• Identify the competencies and capabilities of strategically agile and effective organizations
• Recognize your own strategic leadership style and the styles of others.
• Gain a comprehensive understanding of the use of either adaptive or predictive approaches, depending upon the project environment
• Work within effective project governance structures to control the appropriate involvement of senior management when needed to ensure project success
• Avoid waste (and potential failure) by controlling the expectations and understanding of key stakeholders (customer, sponsor, team) in regard to project objectives and required outcomes
• Enhance key baseline plans that can be used to control project progress
• Control project execution by using standard monitoring and change management practices.