Top 7 Leadership Tools and Methods for Team and Project Leaders | Video

There is a wealth of great leadership tools and ideas that you can apply to your professional practice. Let’s look at seven of them.

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Seven Leadership Tools for Project Managers

1. Get people to Honor Commitments

We all have a conscience: let’s call it Jiminy Cricket. One of the biggest problems leaders have, at all levels, is people letting you down by not delivering on their commitments. So, let’s see how “the Jiminy Cricket effect“ can help you.

More in How to Influence in Any Situation [Brilliant Influence]

2. Maintain Motivation with Milestones

Project managers think of milestones as a valuable planning and monitoring tool. Project leaders use them also as a powerful tool to motivate too. Impending milestones give a great sense of urgency and pressure. Missed milestones – if you are unfortunate – create an opportunity to rally to the new deadline, and milestones met offer the chance to recognize and celebrate achievement. 

3. Communicate Setbacks Effectively

Setbacks are a part of life, and a challenge for leaders. It is easy to lead when everything goes well, so we measure leaders by how they handle adversity. The first skill to learn is how to communicate the setback.

In communicating, honesty is not the best policy…

… it is the only policy.

So, start by setting out clearly and objectively, how things are. Then paint a picture of how you believe things can be. The challenge is to bridge the gap, so lay out how you plan to do this. Then call people to action with a clear next step, and close by making the link between their actions and the enticing future ahead.

4. Get Comfortable with Resistance

Mike’s first rule of change:

“Resistance is inevitable”

So why is it that so many leaders fear resistance and look upon it as destructive? In truth, it is simply a part of the process – and understanding it will make it easier and more comfortable to deal with.

My “Onion Model” sets out six levels of resistance: you can read more about it on my website, in Brilliant Project Leader, and in the Handling Resistance Pocketbook.

More in Brilliant Project Leader or in the Handling Resistance Pocketbook

5. Understand Patterns of Conflict

Conflict and psychological game-playing are a constant part of our lives and a wise leader needs to be able to be able to analyze the patterns and break the cycle.

One of my favorite tools for analyzing unhelpful interactions between people: “the Drama Triangle“. Use this to recognize three roles that habitually recur in conflict and manipulation situations: “the persecutor“, who feels good by making you feel bad; “the victim“, who feels good by loading the responsibility for their troubles on you; and “the rescuer“, who feels good by offering you way out of your discomfort.

6. Teams Need a Name

Part of giving a team a sense of identity is giving it a name. Brilliant Project Leader contains guidance on choosing project names.

More in Brilliant Project Leader

7. When things go Wrong: SCOPE the Problem 

Knee-jerk reactions are rarely resourceful. But you don’t have time for unfocused thinking. So use the SCOPE process to handle a tricky situation:

• Stop: Take a deep breath and a mental pause. Maybe stop for longer if you need to.
• Clarify: What do you really know about the situation? What do you need to know? Gather data.
• Options: More options = more choice = more control. But having generated options, assess them and make a decision.
• Proceed: With a decision made; proceed with determination and vigor. Commit as though no alternative exists.
• Evaluate: Continually evaluate progress – if you aren’t getting the results you need, then Stop, Clarify and look at new Options. 

More in Powerhouse: Turbo Boost Your effectiveness and Start Making a Serious Impact

Recommended Videos

Carefully curated video recommendations for you:

• The Function of Leadership… | Bite Sized Project Management Thought from Ralph Nader
• Project Team Leadership: 5 Tips for Leading Your Project Team | Video
• Five Project Leadership Tips: Be a Better Project Leader | Video
• Leadership Models Project Managers Need to Know | Video

And three videos that answer the question, ‘What is…

• Situational Leadership? Getting the Best from People, Day-to-Day
• Servant Leadership? Project Leadership at its Best
• Transformational Leadership? Beyond Day-to-Day Leadership

What Kit does a Project Manager Need?

I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list. I added my own. 

Check out the Kit a Project Manager needs

Note that the links are affiliated.

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For more of our videos in themed collections, join our Free Academy of Project Management.