Cassidy White

OGL 321 Spring 2020

Final Paper

During this Project Leadership class, I found it interesting to see a combination of my

previous project manager classes and other leadership courses I’ve taken so far. Typically, the

individual classes have focused on exactly what each was about and this class, as it should took it

a step further as it tries to tie the two together. Between the assigned readings, some of the blogs

and class discussions boards I was able to gain additional insights and things that I will take

away to use in my professional life.

In my opinion being a manager (of anything) and a leader are and can be two separate

things as well the approach to each can and should vary. Each of them can also go hand and

hand. As a project manager one has to manage the team, the schedule, the budget and everything

else related to the project, but the PM also has to lead the team(s) to meet the goal of completing

the project successfully. I also believe that if done well and properly, they can even lead the

client to understand the perspective of what needs to be accomplished and how to achieve the

desired results. For me leadership is about the bigger picture and the overall general success of…

well everything. It can be the success of the company, division, project and especially the people

involved in all aspects of these. That is the key, keeping those tied to success successful and

content. In regard to what I personally have gained from this course it would be just that. A

better appreciation of how to combine the two. There were several things mentioned on some of

the discussions that I took note of. In a recent discussion board post in Module 7 by Jacob Pentz

to use scheduled one-on-one meetings to help boost the team morale and productivity and how

he has effectively used this in his past in real-life. This type of sharing or best practices is

something that I personally take stock in. Sharing knowledge with and from others is a
tremendous value if applied. In this case adjusting the style and form of communication should

pay off and be worthwhile. Something else that I personally took to heart was how I was taking a

closer look at time management and the effects it has on the team members. If things were too

stressful with a short timeframe, I would try to adjust the scheduled meetings, extend the

deadline to try to ease the burden and stress of the team. When the curve balls were thrown in

with losing team members to make an effort to lead the new team through adjusted meeting

schedules Also, watching how outsourcing seemed to play a part in the team morale and at times

caused them to be bored. Balancing the tasks of a project manager and the personal connection

of a leader can be a delicate balance, but one that can have great results if done well.

As for my personal experience in being led and leading teams the one thing that has

always been at the core of success and personal satisfaction is communication. There are times

when sensitive and privileged information just cannot be shared in order to reduce risks and not

compromise the overall success of a project or company. However, I have found it very

beneficial to share as much information as possible. I feel the more insight and direction that is

provide the team members are able to recognize the bigger picture and better prepared and

willing to support it. Leaving anyone in the dark and holding too much close off can show

distrust and can very quickly lower the morale of any team.

With that it also helps as a leader to have some personal connection to those involved. A

personal approach for me has proven to be a successful model to follow not only with those you

work with directly, but also those that you may have any professional connection to. I’m not

saying you have to know the details of their personal and family life, but everybody wants to feel

as if they have a connection those they work with. I’ve always seen this as a huge benefit as a

leader and a follower. If you are working with someone for 8-10 hours a day, five days a week it
really helps to know who you are working with. Some genuine interest in others can go a long

way to building trust and loyalty. Personally, some of my best working relationships have come

developed from those that I had a connection beyond work with. You must still maintain an

honest, fair and understanding assessment of their needs and wants, but not still firm in how

things progress. You cannot be a pushover. One must be able to read those around them to really

understand what can or cannot be done. I have to be able to acknowledge that we all have

different paths, have a story to who we are, what’s going on in our life today and how we arrived

where we are. This goes for managers and leaders as well as others I have worked with. I

adapted this style many years ago working with an owner of a restaurant that really took an

interest in me and what I wanted or needed to be successful. With this approach there will be

challenges. As I mentioned you cannot always share everything and that can be a huge challenge,

but somethings are just confidential and need to know only. If too much information is shared it

could derail the project or company and do more harm than good. You have to have a balance

and not get too close while being vested in those around you but know what your team members

can do and how much they can handle. I personally try to focus on people’s strengths when

assigning work or tasks and be mindful of their weaknesses and manage expectations as a leader.

A professional experience I had many years ago was while managing a brand-new kitchen staff

in a fine dining restaurant. I was seen as an outsider and need to temper one of the team members

and refocus his efforts. I did so with an individual meeting and focused in on his particular skill

set and asked him if he would like to spent more time developing it as it was a need for the

overall success of the restaurant and I felt that it would be beneficial to his success in the future. I

wanted to provide this person with an opportunity to succeed, but I was not going to be intimated

either. I found that opening a dialogue to listen and support him and his needs proved to be
successful and bring the rest of the team together. I have since tried to apply this in any other

dealings personal and professional. I’ve learned that in general people want to feel as if they

have a voice and are heard. If you can provide that and have honest communication with them

then things have a way of working out and everyone feels respected as if they are truly a part of

the team and feel vested in the overall success. As for trade-offs or adjustments within the

project it is evitable that something will have to be adjusted. This may be the team members, the

budget, timeline or the end product itself. The key as a leader is to recognize what is most

important to the over successful of all these and the courage to make the decision to make the

adjustments and own it. Leadership can be about making the tough decision that nobody wants to

make and have the courage to face those that are directly affected.

In my current profession I’ve been in this role for almost 15 years and I started back to

school about 4 years ago (taking the slow and steady path) and in every class I can say that I

continue to evolve and grow. Not only in my career but as a person as well. As for day to day for

work there’s one thing that really stood out to me in regard to client expectations especially

around timing. “Stop schedule risk now—train your stakeholders well” (Kim Heldman, Project

Manager’s Spotlight on Risk Management, p.109). It seems no matter how many times, in how

many different ways you tell a customer a timeline they still push for faster. If anything in my

professional experience and running through the scenarios is that the timing isn’t always as

important as it’s made out to be. Most clients care about having the job or project done properly

and as close to the budget as possible. I’ve learned to adjust scheduling over the years and this

class just supports and enhances the process that I’ve used. The key to all this is still

communication and making sure that everyone is aware of the changes and almost as importantly
is why. If you are able to provide a reasonable and valid reason for the adjustments most

customers/ clients are understanding and this class has seemed to support that.

Part II

After several weeks in the Harvard Project Management Simulation I’m not sure I would

come close to being an expert, but there’s a few things that I’m sure that I wished I had advice on

prior to using it. Hopefully my personal experience will help others as this is what I found doing

the simulations.

 In managing the project levers my biggest advice is don’t over adjust. If you start to get

behind or off-track make small, minor adjustments to realign the team and get back on

track. Too many big knee jerk reactions seemed to do more damage than good and made

it harder for the team to catch up. I hate to admit this, but it was a few weeks in before I

realized the taps across the top of the Analyze area offered different looks at what was

going on. Although I still don’t understand how the Dashboard can show a difference of

say 13 tasks completed for a week and then the Project Overview shows 20 tasks

completed for the week. Seems that no matter what these never matched up. I really

started using the Team Process tab to keep an eye on the team’s schedule, morale and

stress. I regret not knowing this was there earlier. It’s great at keeping an eye on the team

morale, stress and hours worked per week. It also breaks down how the hours are spent

on what activities. Lastly, don’t let the final rating score of xxx/ 1000 get to you. The

only way possible to reach that 1,000 is if you are under budget and ahead of schedule for

the most part and maybe deliver higher on a Target Scope in the beginning. What you are
 really being judged on is more like xxx/700-725 for most models. I’ll take a score of

628/700 anytime but using 628/700 is unrealistic. It’s like a class that offers extra credit,

but the extra credit doesn’t really count to your score/ grade, but it adjusts the baseline as

well. In my opinion this just isn’t fair and is inaccurate to what you were actually able to

accomplish based on the goals that were set. Scope: 300/300, Schedule: 97/100,

Resources: 156/200, Team Process: 74/100 = 627/700, not 627/1000. Bonus points are on

thing, but don’t adjust the scale of measurement based on bonus points. Students

shouldn’t get down on themselves if they only get a 627 out of 1000 as some may see this

as a D or even an F in some classes. I would suggest they look at the scores with a

different perspective, not the overall one they share. Focus more on the breakdown of the

scores and how well you did.

 There were a couple of trends that I found during every scenario I ran through. No matter

what team size or skill level they were ALL “frustrated” the second week no matter what.

We were even ahead on scheduled tasks and yet still “frustrated”! It was annoying at first

and after the third week I just laughed it off. Another trend is that no matter how close

you may be to either finishing a week early or even on time the teams could never get all

the tasks completed. Too many times for me to keep track of I had 1-3 tasks to complete

in the last week and of’ course the team is “bored”. They could complete 20 tasks the

week before but couldn’t do say 15tasks to close out early or even on time” Many times I

felt it was rigged to be honest. I even tried it a few times tonight and the same thing

occurred for both examples. Also, too much outsourcing is great for the budget, but the

higher skilled teams seem to get bored easier.

 To be honest, I’m not sure what the ask is here as it relates to the Harvard simulations,

but as for real-world projects and it could extend to these as well, casual relationships

exist everywhere in every job we do. My approach to these is to be honest, courtesy and

respectful to all those involved. You don’t know them well and may never know them

well, but you still may have to spend lots of time with them over a period of time and

everyone needs to make the best of it. Also, I learned a long time ago in my line work

calling on foodservice accounts, it’s possible that today’s dish washer could be

tomorrow’s foodservice director and they remember how people treat them.