Project Leadership

Project Leadership
Individual Personal Learning Portfolio
Contents
Portfolio Entry 1-...................................................................................................................................2
Portfolio Entry 2-...................................................................................................................................3
Portfolio Entry 3-...................................................................................................................................4
Portfolio Entry 4....................................................................................................................................6
Portfolio Entry 5....................................................................................................................................8
Reference-.............................................................................................................................................9

Portfolio Entry 1
I have always been someone who believes that anything is possible one only needs the proper
encouragement and knowledge to make it happen. Thus I can proudly opine that mine is a
leadership that follows the path of coaching leadership (Western, 2019). On the first day of
this project our senior head had briefed our team on everything that there is about the project
that we were about to take part in. We were then asked to unanimously vote for someone to
be the team lead for the project. Having had previous experience in projects like this and also
having a Belbin test score of 55 I was voted as the team lead. On day one we reached the
project site very late after a hectic journey and thus everyone was tired. They also had their
morals down for we had missed one day of our concerned time frame. Thus I took it upon
myself to gather everyone around and discuss the plans for the day after. Since working on
that day was out of question we all sat down for some refreshments and discuss what the
different way in which this project can be approached (Farh, C. I., & Chen, 2018). Many
approaches were put forward, some were good and could be taken forward to completion
while there were some that were too farfetched to be carried out. One of my sub ordinates had
a plan that disregarded all the information that we have been provided both from the
organization that was our employee at and also the client who had approached our concerned
organisation about the project. I felt that this was a grave mistake and intended to correct him
on it. After the meeting was wrapped up I asked the team member who had put forward that
disastrous idea to stay behind. I explained to him why his plan was a bad idea (Cable, S., &
Graham, 2018). He did not believe me and opined that it was wrong of him and the team to
vote me in as the team lead. I kept my cool and explained to him in no uncertain terms that
his plan on its own merit was good and could be applied in future projects (Steinke, 2019).
But applying it to the one we were currently working on will be wrong on many grounds.
Firstly we were advised by our organisation to do it a certain way and also because we had
the information that the client had provided us with all the information about their preference
for the project. Thus it will be unethical for us to ignore such commands and work on what
we prefer (Ljungblom & Lennerfors, 2018). My sub-ordinate was not too happy with my
decision and insisted that his way was the correct way to get the work done. Next day when
we started working I had delegated the work by dividing the entire team into groups of three.
I had planned to see the progress of the work when we were going to meet for lunch mid-day.

I had fixed this time frame for two reasons, first it kept people of their toes and no one will
get chance to laze about and second cause group projects like this help bring the team
together and build loyalty (Noguera, Guerrero-Roldán, Masó,2018). Two hours into the
project I found out that my team member had followed his own idea on the project and
suffered a major setback. He along with the two other members on his group had come to
report it to me, but instead of admonishing him I went to see how their project can be saved
and turned into the client’s vision for I believed in learning from one’s mistakes help them be
better later in life (Marson, 2019). With the help of my team we finally finished the project
not only on time but also got compliments for a job well done. Later the team mate who had
made the mistake thanked me for being a good leader. He said that he was thankful that I did
not report him and helped him understand his mistake. He said that I had not only gained his
respect but also his loyalty (Western, 2018). And even though I thought I am a follower of
coaching leadership his words made me feel that I may have a few points of charming
leadership in me as well (Hermann, 2005).
Portfolio Entry 2-
Even though I had the responsibility of a project that ranged in the price bracket of seven
figures, but my power was not as much as being this project’s head would suggest. The
sixteen people involved in this project including me were all reporting to our supervisor in
the organisation. My power was limited to the people reporting to me on site (Huang, 2015).
The rest of the people had their work delegated to them by me and I was in charge of making
sure everything went ahead smoothly according to the plan, be it in case of keeping the work
environment correct to following all the ideas and suggestions given to us by both the
organisation and the client were fulfilled to the t (Duffy, 2016). When I had first divided the
team into partners of three and delegated the work for I saw that this way the teams will be
equally divided and I would be able to oversee the entire thing (Johnson, Adkins & Pepper,
2018). And if need be I will be able to help the concerned team needing help with ease. The
entire project was supposed to be completed in two weeks but we had wasted the first whole
day for we had to attend a meeting in the organisation where the introductory process was
done for the team. And then the weather took a turn for the worse and it ended up being a
hectic journey. Had I been in command of more power I would have arranged for the
introductory ceremony the previous day, instead of the day of the project (Corman, 2018).
Another that needs to be mentioned is that the team mate who refused to give up on his idea

was someone I think needs to be mentioned about. He had strong opinions and had the client
not given us proper orders to make the project stand completely on those said ideas then his
ideas would have been a good fit for the project. I remember mentioning this point to him as
well for I believe in making things clear is the best way to deal with a situation. I had myself
faced a boss who was someone who could not take any criticism constructive or otherwise
(Milosevic, Maric & Loncar, 2019). And had promised myself that when I will be a team
leader I will make it a point to make my team know when they were right and when they
were wrong so that they can learn from their mistakes and make better decisions in the future
(McCutcheon, 2019). Thus when my team came to me with the problem that was a result of a
big blunder done by the said team mate who executed his idea on the project even after I had
strictly told him not to do so I had to step in and solve the problem. For if the mistake had not
been corrected when it was not only the superiors in our organisation would have found out
about it but also the client, this would have very bad for us and the organization (Germain,
2018). For not only did we stand a chance to lose our jobs but also the company that we
worked in would have lost its reputation as well. Thus the only solution was to find a solution
and work as a team. I should mention here that one of the other members who had seen my
action against this conflict later told me that she too intends to a project manager who will
sort all the situations with ease and save the day. When finally the project went off without
any glitch I had informed our managers of the kind of brilliant ideas that my team mate had
suggested but not the part of them trying to execute the same. The superiors had appreciated
his talent and he was later promoted to the ideation team. Needless to say till date my original
team is very loyal to me and we all have been supportive of the each other. But if need be we
even pointed out the other’s faults as that is what a good team member does (Kurtulmuş,
2019).
Portfolio Entry 3-
I should mention this primarily my leadership technique is that of a coaching leadership but
some of my team mates have mentioned a point to me that I find essentially curious. They are
of the opinion that my style is more charming leadership than coaching. As I found it in the
project that I headed that many times my polite nature is taken advantage of. I need to be not
only more assertive but also strict with my team members (David & Cîmpean, 2018). As a
project leader I cannot have people questioning my authority and trying to execute their ideas