Boss: TEAM, THIS IS A MEETING TO MAKE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. WE WILL BE SOON EMBARKING ON A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY GIVEN THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

Dev: WHAT EXACTLY WILL WE BE DOING IN THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY?

Boss: OH, NOTHING. JUST UPGRADING OUR TECHNOLOGIES!

Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is to understand how to take the capabilities that digital offers to fundamentally change the way organization will operate to better serve the customers, to better manage the employee & to drive organization into a more effective & successful organization in the future

Boss: Finally, there's my lovely team waiting for me. I am sure, they must have missed me and my presence terribly in the past two months.

Team: Not sure if I am feeling stifled and suffocated because of this protective gear or someone's presence. Somehow work from home felt more liberating!

Leadership v/s Micromanagement
Micromanagement is not only frustrating for the project team members but also completely undermines their authority. Every relationship demands respect, so it is important to establish appropriate and productive relationships with your team.

Boss: Hey Team! I have got some news to share. I am sure you will rejoice after hearing the news!

Team (thinking): Yippee! Finally, he has put in his papers. Time to celebrate

Boss: I had sent my nomination for, "Thought Leader of the Year" award. And the management has accepted my nomination in the shortlist.

Dev: I hope the management has second thoughts about the decision.

Swami: Maybe "thought leader" as he keeps thinking about how best he can micro-manage us. Hee hee!

Leadership v/s Micromanagement
Micromanagement is the ultimate controlling management style. It is not only frustrating for the project team members but also completely undermines their authority. Every relationship demands respect, so it is important to establish appropriate and productive relationships with your team.

Boss: Hey Dev! There is this new challenging project coming up for you!

Dev: I so know how challenging it could be!

Boss: ...with minimum budget, limited resources and tight deadline. So what do you think??

Dev: FAILURE!!

Boss: Dev, remember one thing in life. Optimism is the key to success! So be positive and success will follow you!

Dev: Ok so then let me put it this way! With minimum budget, limited resources and tight deadline, this project is positively, surely & assuredly going to be a BIG FAILURE

Importance of Leadership Skills in Managing Projects
Unreasonable bosses give demanding deadlines as they may not be in tune with the number of hours it takes to achieve the objectives or they may not bother to find out in advance what's reasonable. Also they may be ignorant about the tools or information you may need to accomplish your assignments.

Dev : I have been noticing that the team  spirit has been on the wane and performance is not up to the mark. Do you think I need improvement in my leadership skills? Boss, I seriously need your advice.

Boss : Dev, you need to practice servant leadership with your team members.

Dev : And what's that?

Boss : Servant leadership focusses on service to others. Servant leaders give up power and deputize others to lead. They lead with team members in mind.

Dev : Yes, I got it!

The next day...

Boss : Dev, what on earth are you doing?

Dev : I am just practicing being a servant leader ...he is a servant first, isn't he? Swami has been working hard on the project so I am helping him the best way I can.

Boss : for god's sake, we spoke about servant leadership and not servile leadership!


Importance of leadership skills in managing projects
Leadership is the decisive factor for improving chances for projects to succeed. Servant leadership focusses primarily on the growth and well being of people to which they belong. The servant leader shares power puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Maya: Boss, I intend to take up this advanced project management certification. So I was keen to know if I could get corporate sponsorship For the same.

Boss: Maya, let me remind you that you are not a Fresher in this profession. You have 20 years of work experience. So why do you need a certification?

Maya: But Boss, I need to advance my project management skills and learn new technologies. This will open up better opportunities within the company and I will get to handle complex projects, effectively and efficiently.

Boss: Oh, in that case why don't you try putting in more hours of work, work over weekends or may be forego your vacation time. You will get noticed and promoted one day for sure.

Dev: How did it go? Did you manage to hit the bull's eye?

Maya: Nope, this bull is quite headstrong. Instead, I ended up hitting the glass ceiling.

PMI's Pulse of the Profession® Relevance of certifications.
72% of PMO leaders feel certification is very relevant for mid-career project managers. Certifications typically require ongoing professional development, allowing project managers to evolve enhance, and grow a variety of skills, including technical, leadership, and digital skills.