Titanic Lessons in Project Leadership

Book excerpt: In Titanic Lessons in Project Leadership we see how "small" and easily overlooked behavioral and communication issues can aggregate through a project to become seemingly unthinkable errors. It is critical that project managers and leaders have the skills to deal effectively with people issues. You need to be just as comfortable managing conflict and motivating your team as you are with planning your work and conducting a risk analysis. When faced with challenging deadlines and the pressures that go with managing projects, it is easy just to focus on getting the task done. This is most likely at the expense of having those difficult conversations with upset stakeholders and disgruntled customers; the people who ultimately determine whether the project is a success or failure. This book focuses on the people aspects of the Titanic story; the key stakeholders, power dynamics, underlying perceptions, communication, leadership and team interactions. Ranjit Sidhu draws on this tragic tale to focus on the "behind the scenes" aspects of human communication and leadership to guide you in the right direction for making that vital difference to your current projects. Combining contemporary management theory with her own insights and extensive project management experience, Ranjit offers practical guidance and lessons from history that will help you gain a deeper understanding of how leaders and teams can operate at their very best.