Inspirational Quote: Niccolo Machiavelli
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” Niccolo Machiavelli
Prioritizing, Planning, and Executing
Growth Activity #3: Develop a Project
With a project in mind, fill out as much of the SMEAC form as you can. What are you learning about your project from filling out this form?
Sample Project
There are many ways to plan and lead a project. There are formal methodologies and a number of tools (ranging from free to very costly) to help organize and lead a project. Project management is an advanced discipline. The nature of projects and project leadership can be complicated. For example, projects such as moving a data center, building …
Project Planning Tips
Planning a project can be complicated. The three techniques that we use, which can be built into almost any project management system, are: (a) Reverse Planning, (b) Estimating Time, and (c) Simple Use of Buffers. Reverse Planning The common method of identifying project tasks is to begin at the start of the project and think about the …
SMEAC
SMEAC is an acronym that stands for Situation, Mission, Execution, Administration and Logistics, and Command and Signal. SMEAC is known as the 5-paragraph order and is the basis for how the United States Marine Corps communicates a mission, a project, or even a smaller task. The value of SMEAC to the Marine Corps is that …
Case: Effective Project Managers Get Real Work Done
by Gordon Whitehead, Founder of Leaders247 I served as the VP of IT Operations for a successful healthcare company in Portland, Oregon many years ago. I remember one of the first problems we tried to solve was the issue of delivering projects. I suggested to the CIO that we should hire a project manager and …
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Inspirational Quote: William Dean Howells
“Good work in the wrong direction fills me with despair, and my heart sinks lower the better the work is.” William Dean Howells
Growth Activity #2: Be Strategic
Leaders at all levels must know how to lead from a tactical perspective and a strategic perspective. Consider the key points you’ve learned about strategy in this last section. Answer the following questions and upload your responses in the assignment box. What have you learned from the concept of Strategic Planning that you can act …
Why Strategy Execution Fails
Having a great strategy is only part of the leader’s strategic responsibility. The other part is being able to execute the strategy. We draw five important lessons from a Harvard Business Review article by Donald Sull, Rebecca Homkes, and Charles Sull entitled Why Strategy Execution Unravels-and What to Do About It. They list five myths about …
SWOT
This is a classic MBA-type of technique. Sometimes it is overused and frequently it is incorrectly used. The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is of no value if it is done in isolation and not integrated into the process of developing strategic action or plans. Strengths: List 3-5 internal strengths of your organization. Weaknesses: List 3-5 …