Project Leadership

Organised by Public Service Events
The Barbican
19th May

On 19th May Mel talked to delegates at the Project Leadership event organised by Public Service Events at The Barbican in London.

The event focused on building and improving teams. Melanie was in good company as the line up of speakers included Chris Edwards, Professor in Management Information, Systems Cranfield School of Management and Dr Janet Smart, Director BT Centre, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Mel’s session on interpersonal skills was – as ever – full to bursting.

“Leadership skills are incredibly important for delivering large scale change,” she said. “For example, we’re working with Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) at both Board level and Clinical Board level to deliver the requirements resulting from the Darzi recommendations and the impact of World Class Commissioning. These initiatives necessitate large scale changes to working practices in the NHS, and the resulting increases in the types of service and the location in which services are offered. It’s vital that the leaders of these programmes can communicate effectively with their teams and have clear strategies for where they are taking their organisations.”

Mel explained that while there’s plenty of advice available on leadership in an organizational context, programme and project managers face a unique set of issues. Within a project environment, leadership means influencing, persuading and controlling resources that have multiple reporting lines and varying levels of commitment to the projects.

“Because projects operate in a short term management structure which introduces change, the leaders of those projects face a unique set of circumstances because they introduce the unknown quantity. This can create fear and reluctance to change among both their team members and the wider organisation,” she said.