Project Management

A New Year, A New Kind of Leadership

From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.

About this Blog

RSS

View Posts By:

Cameron McGaughy
Lynda Bourne
Kevin Korterud
Conrado Morlan
Peter Tarhanidis
Mario Trentim
Jen Skrabak
David Wakeman
Wanda Curlee
Christian Bisson
Ramiro Rodrigues
Soma Bhattacharya
Emily Luijbregts
Sree Rao
Yasmina Khelifi
Marat Oyvetsky
Lenka Pincot
Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
cyndee miller

Past Contributors:

Rex Holmlin
Vivek Prakash
Dan Goldfischer
Linda Agyapong
Jim De Piante
Siti Hajar Abdul Hamid
Bernadine Douglas
Michael Hatfield
Deanna Landers
Kelley Hunsberger
Taralyn Frasqueri-Molina
Alfonso Bucero Torres
Marian Haus
Shobhna Raghupathy
Peter Taylor
Joanna Newman
Saira Karim
Jess Tayel
Lung-Hung Chou
Rebecca Braglio
Roberto Toledo
Geoff Mattie

Recent Posts

Project 2030: Skills We Need to Cultivate Now

The Technical Program Manager: How to Stay Relevant in 2025

5 Things Your Operational Plan Should Do

5 New Project Guardrails for Adaptive Leaders

The Leader's Voice: Respect It, Protect It, and Use It Properly!

Categories

2020, Adult Development, Agile, Agile, Agile, agile, Agile management, Agile management, Agile;Community;Talent management, Artificial Intelligence, Backlog, Basics, Benefits Realization, Best Practices, BIM, business acumen, Business Analysis, Business Analysis, Business Case, Business Intelligence, Business Transformation, Calculating Project Value, Canvas, Career Development, Career Development, Career Help, Career Help, Career Help, Career Help, Careers, Careers, Careers, Careers, Categories: Career Help, Change Management, Cloud Computing, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration, Communication, Communication, Communication, Communication, Communications Management, Complexity, Conflict, Conflict Management, Consulting, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Continuous Learning, Cost Management, COVID-19, Crises, Crisis Management, critical success factors, Cultural Awareness, Culture, Decision Making, Design Thinking, Digital Project Management, Digital Transformation, digital transformation, Digitalisation, Disruption, Diversity, Diversity, Documentation, Earned Value Management, Education, EEWH, Enterprise Risk Management, Escalation management, Estimating, Ethics, execution, Expectations Management, Facilitation, feasibility studies, Future, Future of Project Management, Generational PM, Governance, Government, green building, Growth, Horizontal Development, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Aspects of PM, Human Resources, Inclusion, Information Technology, Innovation, Intelligent Building, International, International Development, Internet of Things (IOT), Internet of Things (IoT), IOT, Knowledge, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, Leadership, lean construction, LEED, Lessons Learned, Lessons learned;Retrospective, Managing for Stakeholders, managing stakeholders as clients, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Mentoring, Methodology, Metrics, Micromanagement, Microsoft Project PPM, Motivation, Negotiation, Neuroscience, neuroscience, New Practitioners, Nontraditional Project Management, OKR, Online Learning, opportunity, Organizational Culture, Organizational Project Management, Pandemic, People management, Planing, planning, PM & the Economy, PM History, PM Think About It, PMBOK Guide, PMI, PMI EMEA 2018, PMI EMEA Congress 2017, PMI EMEA Congress 2019, PMI Global Conference 2017, PMI Global Conference 2018, PMI Global Conference 2019, PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2011 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2011 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2012 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2012 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2013 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America, PMI Global Congress 2014 - EMEA, PMI Global Congress 2014 - North America, PMI GLobal Congress EMEA 2018, PMI PMO Symposium 2012, PMI PMO Symposium 2013, PMI PMO Symposium 2015, PMI PMO Symposium 2016, PMI PMO Symposium 2017, PMI PMO Symposium 2018, PMI Pulse of the Profession, PMO, PMO, pmo, PMO Project Management Office, portfolio, Portfolio Management, Portfolio Management, portfolio management, presentations, Priorities, Probability, Problem Structuring Methods, Process, Procurement Management, profess, Program Management, project, Project Delivery, Project Dependencies, Project Failure, project failure, Project Leadership, Project Management, project management, project management office, Project Planning, project planning, Project Requirements, Project Success, Ransomware, Reflections on the PM Life, Remote, Remote Work, Requirements Management, Research Conference 2010, Researching the Value of Project Management, Resiliency, Risk Management, Risk Management, Risk management, risk management, ROI, Roundtable, Salary Survey, Schedule Management, Scheduling, Scope Management, Scrum, search, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, SelfLeadership, Servant Leadership, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Knowledge, Social Responsibility, Sponsorship, Stakeholder Management, Stakeholder Management, stakeholder management, Strategy, Strategy, swot, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management, Talent Management Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Communication, Taskforce, Teams, Teams in Agile, Teams in Agile, teamwork, Tech, Technical Debt, Technology, TED Talks, The Project Economy, Timeline, Tools, tools, Transformation, transformation, Transition, Trust, Value, Vertical Development, Volunteering, Volunteering #Leadership #SelfLeadership, Volunteering Sharing Knowledge Leadership SelfLeadership Collaboration Trust, VUCA, Women in PM, Women in Project Management

Date

linkedin twitter facebook Request to reuse this  

Categories: Leadership


by Dave Wakeman

Well, we’re about to turn the page on 2020. And while I’m hopeful that 2021 will be much less disruptive, I did want to share a few lessons I hope we take with us into the new year:

Mental health deserves our attention: This year, I’ve heard more discussion than ever before about the need to monitor mental wellbeing and encourage people to put their mental health first. 

I get that the modern economy seems designed to wring every productive second out of us. So it takes a conscious effort to turn off and tune out. Only then can you recover and be able to push forward and work on new projects. 

Recharging doesn’t have to be a complex thing. One of the most powerful forms of rejuvenation I’ve heard from many people this year is mindfulness. 

Processes have power: We’ve seen a vaccine for the coronavirus come together faster than any effort like it before. What got us there? Science and processes. Both are help fueling innovation, progress and effectiveness. 

I don’t have to tell you in the project management community about the power of processes, but we should all be hopeful that the world at large understands how important processes are now. 

True leadership matters more than ever: We’ve see how bad leaders can cause a great deal of damage, especially when they aren’t forthcoming with information, lead with lies and disinformation, or just give up. 

But this year has also shown us how important good leadership is to teams, countries or any organization. Now more than ever we need leaders to help pull us together and we need to step up as project professionals when this doesn’t happen. 

What leadership lessons learned will you be taking into 2021? 

Happy holidays. Stay safe! 

 


Posted by David Wakeman on: December 29, 2020 10:44 AM | Permalink

Comments (8)

Please login or join to subscribe to this item
avatar
Scott Anderton Superintendent | DR Horton Richmond Hill, Ga, United States
Very good points. Let's not forget the importance of patience. The confusion, disorder, and uncertainty of 2020 has definitely reinforced the need to be patient and understanding with everyone; employees and customers alike. The climate was filled with fear and misunderstanding and many people where and continue to be premature in judgement and actions. As a leader it's important that we take the time to sit back evaluate and attempt to understand as much as possible prior to making any decisions that might effect our teams. 2020 been a perfect example of this.

avatar
Mohammad Riyadh Alam Sr. Project Manager| Med Group Yalova, Türkiye
Good article, thanks

avatar
Kwiyuh Michael Wepngong
Community Champion
Financial Management Specialist | US Peace Corps Yaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Dave, you said it correctly , True leadership matters more than ever: We’ve see how bad leaders can cause a great deal of damage, especially when they aren’t forthcoming with information, lead with lies and disinformation, or just give up. ...

avatar
Eduin Fernando Valdes Alvarado Project Manager| F y F Fabricamos Futuro Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia
Thanks for sharing, very interesting.

avatar
Duangjit Jetchavalit Cost Engineer| THAI NIPPON STEEL ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION CORP., LTD. Bangkok, 10, Thailand
Thanks David. People health is not all about Covid, but it is overall health. And mental health has become important that need us to pay attention to. A good leadership should have empathy, being able to put himself into someone’s shoes especially in a difficult year of 2020-2021.

avatar
Luis Branco CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear David
Interesting your reflection
Thanks for sharing
I am convinced that processes and science have made an important contribution to the creation of the vaccine.
But ... the "real spring" was the purpose.
In my opinion, it is the vision that contributes to the evolution of humanity

avatar
Muhammad Nishad Bayan Project Manager| ConvoSync Technical Solutions Kerala, India
Interesting and good informative!

avatar
Stephen Robin Project Analyst Trainee| Ministry of Works and Transport Arima, Ari, Trinidad and Tobago
Informative. The attention to mental health crisis spilled over in this current pandemic along with the demand of following due processes in something that impacted the whole world. The pandemic really revealed the true leaders from the talkers.

Please Login/Register to leave a comment.

ADVERTISEMENTS

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

- Woody Allen

ADVERTISEMENT

Sponsors