Effective project management is a function of many things ; each salient and quintessential on its own and critical to achieving set objectives and corporate goals.
A close examination of the life of , the wisest man who ever lived , Solomon, will throw more light on this leadership perspective.
On becoming King , the first assignment Solomon embarked on was restoring worship and providing a conducive environment for same to thrive .For this to happen he conceived a vision ;to build a permanent physical place of worship . It was going to be a building project. To achieve this feat, Solomon did a few things and these he shared with us in 1 Kings 5.
First he got into a treaty (alliance ) with Hiram(you will see this in verse 12) . In the present context , we would call this ‘Leveraging’ .What he lacked in human resource he depended on Hiram to supply and gave Hiram food resources in barter.
Secondly , he knew how to harness his vast human resources by conscripting them into service (you will see this in verse 13).Its one thing to have human capital but harnessing them is a different thing altogether . Like someone once said “leader, use your people power!” Know how to conscript people into adequate and useful positions of service; one that fits their characters and personalities. This principle is predicated on Theory Y of leadership which states that people do not like to take responsibilities by themselves and so they need to be conscripted into predetermined roles for performance to happen. People are not likely to willingly volunteer themselves without a strong ‘whats in it for me’ except God had done a quick work in them.
Thirdly , he scheduled his human resources into duty shifts (don’t miss this in verse 14).This is one thing that will ensure that people are not allowed to laze . Failure to manage people into duty roasters and deliberate measurable schedules makes failure to achieve corporate goals inevitable .Isn’t it so sad that ordinary ants seem to have more sense of responsibilities than humans even when no one is watching .Try that with humans and you will be sorry. Those little guys don’t even need a line of authority over them . If you think am kidding read Pro 6:6-11. My second son ,Tom, just shared it with me from his morning devotion today. It really jolted me tell you!
Fourthly, establish a supervisory system over the duty posts for assessment.(that is in verse 16). Except ,of course, if you are leading ants, fail to put this system in place in project management and again you will be sorry.
Fifthly, this looks like the previous point but differs in that this clearly stipulates not just a need for supervision system but lines of authority(Seen it yet in verse 17?). It must be very clear and unambiguous who in the chain reports to who? For instance, among same level managers who is first among equals. This is sacrosanct to adequate report system which ensures stability in corporate governance; reports know where to go and responsibilities are vested in a certain office and person(s).
Sixthly, aside duty shifts, supervision and even defined line of duty, a very well stated document enumerating clearly all the people’s job description needs to be provided.
With this principles of project management in proper place, nothing could go wrong with vision accomplishment.
