Leadership and Direction - Essay Example

How do questions help to ensure that a project is successful? The success of a project is highly dependent on the efforts of the team members assigned to the project. Walter Shewhart developed a system to visualize the steps required for a project. The system he developed is called PDCA cycle. The acronyms of the PDCA cycle stand for plan, do, check, and act (Clark, 2010). The use of questions can help ensure that a project moves forward smoothly. By asking questions the team leader and the members of the team are able to determine what has been done so far and what needs to be done to move the project forward.

It is equally important to find answers to the questions been made. These answers will provide the members of the team with added information that can be used in the decision making process. When performing brainstorming sessions that lead to lots of questions being asked one of the team members should serve the role of secretary to take notes about the topics been discussed in the meeting. The secretary should also record the entire meeting in order to document the meeting and the questions that were discussed during brainstorming.

What type of questions must be asked and answered to ensure the project is appropriate for the organization (or the team for that matter)? There are different types of questions that must be asked to ensure a project is appropriate for the organization. Some of the first questions that must be discussed are regarding the content and scope of the project. Is the project aligned with the organization’s mission and goals? A second very important concern is the finances of the project. Does the company have sufficient funds to undertake the project?

The company must ask itself whether the firm has sufficient human resources available for the project. The firm must also ask itself if there is a need for the recruitment of new personnel for the project. During the planning phase two questions that must be asked are:What are all the ingredients necessary for its successful execution? What are all the possible forces or events that could hinder or destroy it? (Clark, 2010).How does a leader know if all the right questions have been asked? The leader will know if the right questions were asked for the project based on the collective input of the entire team staff.

Once the team concludes its brainstorming and question asking the leader must document the data and ask for a second opinion from other managers of the company including the general manger, controller, marketing president, COO, and CFO, and CEO of the firm. These members of the executive management team have vast knowledge about how to run a team project efficiently. Their input will validate whether the project manager performed his job adequately in regards to gathering the information necessary to proceed with the project.

The project manager should discuss the meeting he or she had with the executive management team with the rest of the team member to reassure them that the project is moving forward in the right path. References Clark, D. (2010). Leadership & Direction. Retrieved November 28, 2011 from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leaddir.html