Leadership is the single most important factor in the success of an organization, team and project.

As the leader of a project, business unit or an entire company, you have the need and right to know at any time what’s going on with that project. This is because you carry some degree of ultimate responsibility for the success of the project: its progress, quality, timeliness and ultimate completion. This is also true because a leader can be seen as one who serves, a supportive resource that is in a powerful position to be of help in any of the five areas of need a project has:

Summarizing from my own business, personal and academic experience), the few key elements of a successful project are:

1. A clear, written project plan that is understood by every member of the project team - the trip-tick (road map) for the project "trip".
2. Clear expectations (often written) as to how and how well results will be achieved. These are initially imparted by the project leader and later modified with input/ideas from the rest of the project team.
3. Regular, face-to-face meetings to see how things are going. Stuff changes. These meetings are to update and inform the entire project team as to the progress of the project and new needs that always arise. Initiation of these meetings is the project leader's responsibility at first. With a team that has been working together for awhile, other project members will feel comfortable calling meetings when in need.
4. Meaningful measures of progress and success. These measures are taken, recorded and reported regularly.
5. The ability of the project leader to work as a resource for the rest of the team and the project, intervening when necessary and stepping back when necessary to achieve the desired results. Depending on the leader’s personality, this is perhaps the most difficult to deliver, knowing when to be assertive, when to accommodate, when to avoid, when to seek quick compromise and when to seek full collaboration.

Tips for doing Number 3:

1. Communicate the need for a meeting and the desired outcome of that meeting, what you want to get as a result of it. Reference the parts of the original project plan you want to focus on and which of the five areas above (people factors, material factors, etc.) you want to address.
2. Ask the project team members to prepare for the meeting. While this may feel to you like you are being demanding, this gives them many positive things: time to think, a chance to have input into the meeting, validation for their part in things.
3. First address what is working well, even if in summary form. This lays a positive basis for working on the tougher issues.
4. Use the Initiating worksheet to discuss problem areas/disconnects.
5. Use of a process observer in the meeting will help formalize feedback to you as to how well you and the team did in addressing the problem.

GUIDELINES FOR PROJECT MEETINGS

Here are some ideas on how to approach project meetings.

1. Review what you have done to date, what went well and is in place.
2. Review and define what specific tasks are not yet done. List them out on the white board for all to see.
3. Allow some time for discussion about how well the project is going to date. As project leader(s), set the tone by discussing any shortfallings on your part that are under expectation. Ask project participants for their perceptions on their performance.
4. Identify any additional resources needed, who and what are missing from an optimal project.
5. Define who is assigned to what task.
6. Define the deadlines for each task. Sometimes using a range can be helpful - earliest and latest desired.
7. Commit to a follow-up meeting to continue to support each other through the project.