Typical Duties For An International Project Leader

Since there are an infinite number and type of international projects, there is not one detailed list. However, from observing and participating in many projects, you can identify some of the key duties.

Definition of the project. In many international projects, the project leaders are named before the project is really underway. The project leaders would then work to define the project concept elements discussed in the preceding chapter. Remember that the political purpose here is to get consensus on the project at different levels—local and headquarters. Defining the project is a good test of a project leader since you are meeting people for the first time and you are dealing with a situation and project that has not yet been defined in detail. Dealing with ambiguity and politics are important here. Communications is a must.

Project organization. Here you are identifying team members, organizing the project, getting approvals, and kicking off the work. This tests the project leaders’ analytical ability to assess people’s skills and fit with the project. It tests the organizing ability to deal with getting the plan put together and work started.

Dealing with the routine work. This includes the administrative work in the project. Communicating with management is key here. In addition, being able to get behind what people are saying about their work to learn the true status of the project is important. Experience has shown this to be a source of failure in that the project leaders were not able to identify problems early enough so that the problems blew up.

Addressing issues and crises. Almost every international project has many issues and opportunities arise. There are also crises. What is a crisis? A crisis occurs when a group of issues become dominant factors in the project at the same time. For example, several key people leave the team at the same time that management wants to have the schedule of the project moved up.

Doing real work in the project. A project leader in an international project must lead by example. That is, he or she must demonstrate to the team that he/she can get in there and do work on the project with the best of them. That is why the term “project leader” is employed much more than “project manager.”

Administrative coordination. People working on an international team often encounter problems that the average project never faces. While the project leader is not responsible, the leader ends up doing a lot of support and coordination. Here are some things that can occur:

A team member does not have a valid passport.
A team member requires a visa for travel in two days; you have been told by the travel people that it takes three days to get a business visa.
Team members run out of money while traveling. Or they become maxed out on their credit cards.
A team member is on an extended stay in a foreign country. His travel reimbursements are not being processed fast enough.
Civil unrest breaks out in a city and you have to extract some of the team members.
A team member has to get a series of shots and inoculations prior to a trip, but there is not enough time.
A team member becomes ill on a trip.

This sounds like the project leader is playing the role of a mother hen to the team. Well, it is true. Who else is the team member going to turn to for support? Here is also a political lesson learned. If you help your team members in these things, they will be very grateful and give you and the project that extra effort that can make the difference.

A key trait that cross all of these duties is the sensitivity to the people in the project and interfacing to the project team. The project leader must show a great deal of sensitivity because of the following factors. These are important lessons learned for any project leader:

The people on the team typically have many other duties to perform. Their pay and rating is tied to these duties and not to your project.
Many of the people have not worked on a project like yours or even any project. They are unsure of what to do.
Everyone is afraid of making mistakes and screwing up. So many people tend to remain silent and avoid volunteering. Don’t make the mistake of assuming silence to mean understanding.
The culture in the country and organization does not encourage initiative or creativity. Do not assume that people lack creativity. It is your challenge to find ways to open the people’s abilities up. This has been one of our greatest satisfactions in managing international projects. People themselves grow and benefit through the project. That makes all of the travel, hotels, airports, and hard work worthwhile.

Duties evolve over time in a project. At the start, the challenge is to organize the project and get it correctly started. Then the day-to-day management of issues and work goes on. As the project progresses, there will typically be more outside pressures that the project leader must cope with. Here are some of the factors:

People are taken from the project due to being needed elsewhere. Most often, this is for nonproject work such as year-end closing, etc.
Management wants the project sped up and finished. This is normal and should have been expected on day one when the project started.
Project issues tend to recur and combine later in the project so that there tend to be more crises at the back end of the project.

How does managing a small international project differ from managing a large project? One difference is that the larger project tends to last longer. This entails more risk. A second difference is that more people are involved—which means more coordination. A third difference means that there are more potential political problems and more management oversight to cope with. However, when all is said and done, the basic duties are the same.

What is a good mix of time across major activities? Of course, this varies by the project and the time or phase of the project. However, here is a general percentage list that has proven useful as a target:

Dealing with issues and opportunities—40–50%
Communicating with management, team, and others—30–40%
Doing work in the project—10–15%
Administrative work in the project—10–20%

Notice that the emphasis is on the issues and communications. These are much more important than administrative work in an international project. In traditional project management, administrative work can consume up to 70% of the time.