How To Fail As A Project Leader

Failure can take many forms. The project could succeed, but you failed as a leader. Both you and the project failed. There are many variations in between. In international projects, there is often more turnover of project leaders due to problems. In many international projects, there is often no alternative but to finish the project—with different leadership.

Here is a list from observations of how some project leaders failed:

The project leader was insensitive to local needs and demands on the staff.

The project leader took the view of corporate and tried to boss the local people around.

The leader assumed that he/she had more authority than he/she really had. Overstepping authority bounds is a frequent cause of failure as a project leader.

Not being sensitive to issues and not dealing with issues on a timely basis. As a result, the issues grow and become more severe over time.

Being inflexible in terms of the project when the scope, needs, and requirements change.

Being inflexible in terms of changes at the local level. This can be due to economic or political factors. Or it can be success where a plant must gear up to do more production.