QUESTION ONE [45]

Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow: No time to Lose: How Project Professional can raise their Leadership Game Project, programme and portfolio managers need be as well-versed in leadership skills as they are in technical skills, and not just classic leadership skills like communication, problem solving and team building. Additionally, more and more project leaders are expected to have strong strategic and business management skills to keep initiatives on track, delivering value. The first step to making progress on leadership goals is simple: make it a priority, says Grant Moore, senior programme manager, Dark Fibre Africa, in Cape Town. Day-today project demands could easily consume project managers entire focus as Grants organisation. To help his team of project managers, service delivery managers and coordinators carve out time for building leadership skills, he encourages them to set developmental goals and identify courses (classes and workshops) that can get them there. However, leadership development must also come from field training. The focus on the business landscape might seem like a departure from how project leadership was viewed previously, but Marc Burlereaux, business unit manager, ITSS, Geneva sees it as an evolution. Project managers today must have the skill set to understand the business benefits and the organisational strategy, but skills like communication, empathy and problem solving are all still integral to project leadership, he says. Sometimes, the biggest impediments to being a strategic leader are ones own bad habits. Adapted from Gido J, Clements JP, Baker R, Harinarain N and Eresia-Eke C (2022) Successful Project Management in South Africa 2nd edition Cengage Questions:

1.1 Project, programme and portfolio managers need be as well-versed in leadership skills as they are in technical skills, .. Do you agree with this statement? Motivate your answer. (10)

1.2 .. not just classic leadership skills like communication, problem solving and team building. .. skills like communication, empathy and problem solving are all still integral to project leadership. 2 With regard to the above statements, critically discuss the skills required to be an effective project leader. (20)

1.3 .. classic leadership skills like communication, problem solving and team building. In terms of the reference to team building, explain the role of team cohesiveness in team building and discuss the steps involved in the development of the cohesiveness of a project team.