Leading Global Project Teams

'Leading Global Projects' builds on the foundation of project management skills and clearly connects project management to the strategic objectives and leadership needs of an organization. The authors draw from examples of project leadership in numerous countries and regions, as well as a variety of corporate and organizational contexts.

Based on the authors' personal experience and research, "Leading Global Project Teams" looks at effective global team leadership from a holistic perspective, showing that globalization strategy and global execution must be tightly aligned with many working as a collective, collaborative team that happens to be separated by distance, time, culture, and organizational position.

This book is a must-read for anyone responsible for projects and initiatives that span functional and geographical divides. Authors Moran and Youngdahl bring extensive experience and learning from industry practice to present a clear and straightforward treatment of the leadership skills and knowledge required to lead projects that are global in nature. They have written the first book of its kind to address the three essential skills of global project leaders - strategic project management, project leadership, and cross-cultural leadership. The authors argue that global project leadership is an essential skill in our project-based world and that we are all either intentional or accidental project leaders. Intentional project leaders pursue formal project management education and even certification whereas accidental project leaders find themselves leading global project and initiatives as a result of a special assignment or promotion. Moran and Youndahl have found that the vast majority of global projects leaders fall into the accidental category and have written the book to be accessible to those who have not necessarily pursued formal project management education. Experienced intentional project managers can skip the single chapter on project management fundamentals to move to the more advanced chapters addressing topics such as influencing without formal authority across functional and geographical boundaries and leading global projects at the edge of crisis. • The only book that combines themes of strategic project management, project leadership and cross-cultural leadership • Rich with examples and stories to illustrate key skills and knowledge required to lead global projects

Ongoing research shows that whilst 90 per cent of large companies are conducting global projects to take advantage of distributed skills, around-the-clock operations and virtual team environments, less than one third of them have effective, established practices to help project managers and team members working over a distance. As a consequence, most organisations struggle to reach the required levels of quality and effectiveness from these projects because their methods and practices are not adapted to a global multi-cultural environment, where most communication is in writing and asynchronous. Global Project Management describes how to adapt your organisation and your projects to thrive in this environment. The book goes beyond the recommendations on collaborative tools, to suggest the development of best practices on cross-cultural team management and global communication, recommend organisational changes and project structures, and propose alternatives for the implementation of the new practices and methods. The text is filled with real-life examples and techniques and illustrates how to apply the recommendations as part of the successful management of any global project.

The second decade of the 21st century has brought unprecedented challenges to traditional workplaces. The global pandemic has forced the advance of working from home and telework. Individuals with little or no background or training in e-leadership, virtual project management, or virtual team management suddenly found themselves in the environment of virtual work. Leading Virtual Project Teams, Second Edition addresses the challenges that today’s virtual project management environment poses to traditional methods of leadership and communication. Leadership for successful virtual team management is different from that for traditional, collocated project team management. Explaining appropriate e-leadership styles for virtual project teams and the transition toward new leadership styles, the book is filled with communication techniques for leading virtual project teams. It helps project managers develop e-leadership competencies needed to successfully deliver projects in today’s organizations. The second edition also examines: Virtual meeting techniques Inclusive language Managing virtual relationships Why virtual work is now more important The work-at-home environment By recognizing how virtual teams are different from traditional teams, those managing virtual projects may be able to offer benefits to their organization by providing positive, successful leadership and exceptional communications, resulting in better project deliverables and products. This book provides an approach that explores all facets of e-leadership—from how traditional leadership theories and models can be applied by 21st century leaders to providing methods by which the virtual project manager can enhance virtual project communications to meet the needs of our modern global business world. It features project management checklists and templates and includes business cases, best practices, and tools and techniques for virtual project management communications.

Clear, proven solutions for virtual project management challenges Projects Without Boundaries offers project managers a clear framework for bringing both project management practices and project team leadership principles to the virtual space. Written by a team of authors with years of experience managing nationally and internationally distributed teams, this book provides a suite of best practices, checklists, and actionable strategies for managing a project and building a high-performing team in a virtual and multicultural environment. Real-world examples illustrate the application of the concepts discussed, and the Virtual Project Readiness Assessment facilitates both team evaluation and transformation planning for virtual project management improvement. Each chapter focuses on the critical challenges encountered while managing virtual projects and details proven solutions that improve a virtual organization, boost project performance, and facilitate positive outcomes. Globalization and technological advances have merged to create dynamic, productive teams that work together from around the globe; this opportunity can bring great difficulty for project managers, who must negotiate hurdles that do not exist on traditional projects. This book provides ready-made solutions specific to distributed and multicultural teams, to help you achieve the full potential of the global talent pool. Overcome common challenges of virtual projects with distributed teams Navigate complex team dynamics to ensure effective collaboration Work seamlessly across borders, time zones, and cultures Determine optimal virtual communication and collaboration tools Apply traditional project management practices in a virtual setting A team fails or thrives on the strength of its management. Fitting the group's needs, expectations, personalities, and skills into a cohesive whole is seldom simple — and distance adds an additional layer of complexity. Projects Without Boundaries provides expert guidance on keeping it together, with proven practices, tools, and virtual team leadership strategies.

Engineering businesses today run through projects. Projects are successful when we have effective project leadership, which builds effective teams and teams. All these attributes increase the performance of the organization and enable it to achieve competitive advantage. Project management is the need of today’s businesses for acquiring business development and attaining business performance in local as well as in global markets as business performance is driven by competitive advantage, which is possible through successful project management. Development of new products and other competitive products and services is done through the implementation of projects. Projects are deployed for process improvements, which further add to the profitability and growth of the business. This book discusses the aspects of project management processes, project leadership, and team building in context to project management together, which improves business performance.