Project Team Leadership: Building Commitment Through Superior Communication

Achieve more project successes through stronger leadership, clearer communication, and more effective negotiation skills.

Leading a project team presents a unique set of demands. You must balance the needs of individual team members with the needs of the project itself, which is not a simple task. Effective project leadership requires both the soft skills of communication and motivation and the concrete execution capabilities of project management.

This workshop teaches you the project leadership skills that drive team commitment and create a more predictable, productive project environment.

Who Should Attend:

Mid- to senior-level project and program managers and directors.

How You Will Benefit:

• Build high-performance teams capable of seeing projects through to successful completion
• Keep the team aligned and moving forward through consensus-building and constructive conflict resolution
• Minimize communication breakdowns and misaligned expectations
• Prevent team breakdowns by providing timely, constructive feedback
• Achieve better project outcomes through open, honest, and clear communication
• Put the right people on the right projects to optimize time, budget, and resources

What You Will Cover:

• Core communication skills for the project environment
• Team dynamics: what makes project teams distinctively different from other work groups
• Conflict management and the behaviors that characterize successful teams
• How to delegate effectively and run meetings that produce decisions
• Communication during project implementation and closure, including appreciation, crisis management, and performance reporting
• Negotiating agreements: a project manager's sources of power and influence
• Building commitment and creating consistent project successes

Course Outline:

Learning Objectives

• Build a high-performing team and generate the commitment needed to meet deadlines
• Communicate more effectively in the project environment, including giving and receiving constructive feedback
• Delegate more successfully in your project manager role
• Facilitate productive meetings, including presenting an options paper to move stakeholders toward decisions
• Manage communication effectively throughout the full project lifecycle
• Resolve conflicts to keep the team committed and on track
• Negotiate more effectively by understanding and applying diverse influencing styles

Leading in Today's Project Environment

• Understand the evolving nature of project management and how its application has changed
• Analyze project failures at a deeper level of understanding
• Define project success, high commitment, and superior communication in your specific context
• Identify the key leadership skills required of a project manager and assess your personal style

The Ins and Outs of Communication Skills

• Use varied communication techniques to reach project stakeholders and team members with clarity and conciseness
• Give and receive constructive feedback even during moments of frustration or disappointment
• Understand that identical words can carry different meanings for different people
• Identify the various ways a project team communicates and reduce barriers to effective exchange

Understanding Team Dynamics

• Identify the characteristics of high-performing, spirited teams
• Assess your team's current development phase using the Team Spirit model
• Understand the role conflict plays in team dynamics and your personal conflict style
• Mediate disputes between team members and identify actions to improve team behaviors

Communication During Project Definition and Planning

• Identify your key stakeholders and gather their requirements, wants, and concerns
• Communicate effectively with the team and stakeholders during the definition and planning phases
• Understand the three levels of project communication
• Practice letting go of the work and delegating more successfully

Communication During Project Implementation and Closure

• Report status clearly to both team members and stakeholders while minimizing miscommunication
• Run effective team meetings and gather meaningful feedback from participants
• Understand when and how to use consensus with project teams
• Re-plan a project in crisis and present options to stakeholders in a decision-friendly format

Negotiating Agreements

• Identify and apply the key skills, strategies, and tactics needed to manage the negotiation process
• Understand a project manager's sources of power and assess your ability to influence others
• Organize a negotiation using the five stages of the negotiation process

Wrap-Up: Effective Project Leadership

• Understand the team dynamics that effective project managers work to build
• Select and implement practical tips for creating positive team dynamics immediately
• Return to your work with a clear set of ideas to apply from this course