Leadership Challenges and Strategies for Project Leaders: Lessons from Apple's First Generation iPhone Launch

This presentation discusses the key leadership challenges faced by project leaders and methods of handling them at different stages, with suitable recommendations for overcoming such challenges. It uses the scenario of Apple launching the first generation iPhone in 2007 as an example.

INTRODUCTION
 It is the leader that shows
a vision to others working
with or for them and is
designated as the
individual that leads or
commands a group,
country or a business
organization

CONTD…
 One such example of a great
leader was Jonathan Ive, the
designer behind iMac and
iPod and also influenced the
initial design iPhone due to
which Apple the first
generation iPhone in the
United States of America in
June, 2007.

CONTD…
 This presentation talks through the key leadership
challenges faced by a project leader along with methods
of handling the challenges at different stages and
suitable recommendations of overcoming such
challenges in accordance with the given scenario of
Apple launching the first generation iPhone in 2007.

KEY LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES
 Resistance to change
 Varied skill sets
 Designing and planning the
entire project

CONTD…
 Inspiring others
 Ensuring effective
communication

PHASES OF PROJECT’S LIFECYCLE
 Initiation
 Planning
 Execution
 Monitoring
 Closure

WAYS OF TACKLING CHALLENGES
ENCOUNTERED BY LEADERS
 Improper execution and the existing
issues in the four stages of life cycle of
a project can result in huge financial
loss. For example, it has been seen that
a majority of the project is
unsuccessful due to the breakdown of
communication throughout the four
stages.

CONTD…
 Issue: Lack of adequate
resources in terms of both
financial and human
 Method of handling: Having a
clear idea of the business idea
that is strong enough to persuade
others.
 Break up the goal in small steps
and present it in front of the
stakeholders.

CONTD…
 Issue: Poorly defined goals
 Method of handling: Developing
SMART goals using planning software.
 Issue: Setting unrealistic deadline:
 Method of handling: Setting short-
term goals for the employees

CONTD…
 Issue: Ineffective communication
 Method of handling: conducting
meetings at regular intervals.
 Issue: Unequal and insufficient skills
 Method of handling: Documenting the
core set of skills for the individual team
members.

CONTD…
 Issue: Waste of resources, time
and opportunities
 Method of handling: Creating
tasks and organizing workflows
followed by briefing and
explaining the team members
along with ensuring effective
communication

CONTD…
 Issue: Lack of consistency
 Method of handling: keeping regular follow-
ups,
 Issue: Loss of team functionality, loss of
interest in administrative tasks and
documentation and fear of no work in the
future.
 Methods of handling: Lessoning the learned
documentation, releasing the resources.

SUITABLE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
OVERCOMING THE ENCOUNTERED ISSUES
 Strong vision and planning to
persuade others
 Developing SMART objectives
 Ensuring effective
communication

CONTD…
 Analyzing the strengths and
weakness of the employees
 Training the employees with
insufficient skills
 Creating short-term goals

CONCLUSION
 The success and failure of a project
lies largely on the shoulder of the
project leader. It is the vision of the
leader that addresses the business
opportunity in the market that can
provide an opportunity for the
company to earn huge in the future.

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