This course is designed to equip students with the "soft skills" needed for managing projects, including leadership, communications, team organization and development, conflict management, quality management, and negotiating. Using case studies and exercises, students explore vital aspects of project leadership such as the use of participative management to build commitment, leadership styles, organizational cultures and configurations, interpersonal skill development, project staffing, and working with distance-separated teams. Students also learn to establish clear project goals, overcome communication problems, write performance reports, and manage agreement.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, you should be able to

• Describe and apply various leadership styles
• Recognize various organizational structures and operate efficiently within them
• Demonstrate several motivational and influencing skills
• Assess one’s own leadership strengths and weaknesses and create a development plan
• Describe how and why we filter “reality” – in other words, perception
• Demonstrate methods for gaining commitment to projects
• Establish open and honest communications within a project
• Acquire, organize, motivate and reward teams
• Describe and Demonstrate techniques for leading both co-located and virtual teams
• Delegate efficiently
• Manage conflict and negotiate effective agreements

Topics Include

• Project leadership versus project management
• Improving project communications
• Building commitment to the project
• Successfully managing conflict
• Using the Johari Window to assess your interpersonal skills