What are hats and traits for effective leadership style

As we understand that, Leadership is termed as an ability to influence others to achieve the desired goals and a good leader is surrounded with several attributes including self-confidence, high intelligence, integrity, sociability and conceptual skills. [Laureate Education, Leadership in organizations - Video file].

i-Learn EA yatoa semina ya Elimu ya fedha (Financial Literacy) kwa wafanyakazi wa CCM.

Wafanyakazi wa Chama Cha Mapinduzi wakifuatilia somo kwa makini.

Evaluating Project Management Softwares

Technology plays a vital role in managing projects. There are different kinds of tools and software that assists project managers throughout all phases of the project management process. Let us discuss a software called Microsoft Project as one of the tool that assist project managers.

Skills required for successful Instructional Design Project Managers

A successful project manager must have a set of skills and qualities to ensure success. In this article, we will explore the various skills and qualities that are critical for a project manager.

Managing Risks in Projects

You would agree that risks are inherent to all projects. However, if risks are identified early and managed throughout the project, you may be able to minimize the impact of these risks on your project’s success and outcomes.In this article we will examine the case of Margaret Jason. An experienced instructional designer who's faced with a task to literally rescue her team, following a recent client reaction.

Dilemmas facing Instructional Design Project Managers

There are several factors that can influence the decisions of a project manager that have little or nothing to do with the project itself. Examples of such factors include structure,culture, or even a political climate in an organization. This article looks at challenges that Justin, a newly appointed project manager faces at the General Sensor Company

How to Manage your Project Schedule as an Instructional Designer

When you are developing your project schedule, you ought to be able to identify the projects start date, required time to complete project activities and tasks, and then calculate and end date based on the estimates you have done.

Effective Communication in Instructional Design - The case of Beth Owens

Effective communication is a key aspect in any instructional design project. Effective communication between project members and stakeholders is essential for a successful project. As an instructional designer and a project manager, you may need to develop intervention strategies to address any communication issues or conflicts that may arise during the course of the project. Case study number 16 about Beth Owen's introduces Beth as a novice Instructional Designer who is to work with Chef Reiner the current program owner, who has strong beliefs in how the program is run.

Let us now look at the challenges that Beth Owens' faces as an Instructional Designer.

I see the main challenge as the conflicting ideological theories between Chef Reiner and Berth, the instructional designer. From the case study, it is very clear that Berth favors the constructivist approach while Chef Reiner prefers more traditional behaviorist approach e.g. in his statement ‘’Kitchens require a distinct chain of authority and rules’’(Ertmer, Quinn, & Glzewski, 2014).

The other challenge is Berth is a novice instructional designer. She has little experience in performing needs analysis and hence her reliance on theoretical ways to apply her preferences. A thorough analysis on needs, students’ opinions and evaluations would provide her with information that she could use to advise Chef Reiner regardless of her beliefs, in that way she will provide solutions objectively. Being bias can be detrimental in making design decisions. Another challenge would be in determining the approach to obtain data (from needs, learner and context analysis) that will help Berth make objective decisions. 

As the Project Manager in this case study, what specific actions should Dean Jacobs have taken to improve the chef’s’s communication with stakeholders (students)?

It is critical to have everyone on board. There are many people who play a role in a project success, such as drivers and supporters. In this case, the Chef is among the drivers and the students are among key stakeholders. I would suggest that Dean Jacobs organize a meeting with the Chef and Beth to:

Make the purpose of the project clear, the roles of every member, his critical role (ensuring that he knows he is playing a critical role) and deliverables. As each is being taken through the deliverables, it should be made clear that the stakeholders’ needs must be addressed. I would recommend that all stakeholders are identified, their expectations and concerns made clear and then together work on how the expectations and concerns are met or addressed. The students’ feedback must be shared respectfully and candidly while assuring the Chef that the projects’ planned results still address the needs of having a quality program in place. I recommend that such feedback be given individually and then formally documented. A specific plan to involve stakeholders throughout the project could be useful where a small group of graduates and existing students take part in a focus group during the project to provide input and insights.

As the Instructional Designer, what should Beth have done differently to ensure that the final training product that was produced truly met the needs of all of the stakeholders (students)?

In depth analysis is key. Understanding the existing program and its challenges, feedback from learners and having an understanding of what is actually being solved or addressed could help Beth enormously. 

Avoiding biasness and being open minded. Designing and developing a program while you have already decided on the method to be used can be tricky. It does not give you an opportunity to listen and view the situation in a holistic way.

Understand her role and that of others within the team such as the Chef. While the chef is experienced in delivering the program and seem intimidating, Beth should have confidence, demonstrate her expertise knowledge to provide support, options and constructive feedback. She should also be able to communicate well. In this case I would say communication should be formal based on communication plan.

Reference

Ertmer, P., Quinn, J. (Eds.) & Glazewski, K. (2014). The ID casebook: Case studies in instructional design (4^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Portny, S. E., Kramer, B. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., & Shafer, S. M. (2007). Project management. Chichester, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.

How to engage stakeholders in instructional design projects

Introduction

In an ID project, there are different kinds of stakeholders. A project manager must have the ability to manage and deal with different people (Murphy, 1994).

When referring to my team, I always compare a project team to a band. An instructional design project cannot be implemented successfully without the whole band being fully engaged. Well informed, engaged stakeholders can provide the project with insights, views, share guidance and opinions that are vital to the instructional design project. A critical part of the engagement is having them understand what the project is all about, the benefits, their roles, how they can support the project and how the project would support them.

At my workplace the key stakeholders are the members of the executive team that includes the chief of Human Resources (the budget owner), respective Chiefs who requests for specific programs to be developed for the business and staff development, the banks staff, my line manager, marketing and communication team, senior managers, subject matter experts, IT team and the other two learning and development managers ( virtual learning is a key driver to deliver training programs, a virtual learning manager hence works as a link between the other two learning and development manager) . All these stakeholders have interest in the outcomes of the Instructional Design projects. It is important to identify your stakeholders and obtain their buy in early on in the project to ensure success of an ID project.  TechRepublic (http://www.techrepublic.com/) shares a simple form that identifies the stakeholders, their roles in the project, importance and impact etc.

Source http://www.techrepublic.com/

Three examples of the types of people in an organization who could cause re-work or otherwise negatively impact an ID project.

Responding to this question is like attending a therapy session of a situation I am currently in. Before I start lamenting on the situation, it’s important to know that just because someone disagrees with us, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are difficult. That being cleared, I must say, some people thrive on being difficult and find every way to demonstrate their competence in the field e.g.  differing opinions to the extent that no one can move ahead, disengaged SME who chooses not to respond to emails, never send contents and documents on time (or submit wrong versions) and try to avoid you at the canteen, the bossy ones who wants you to change a memo to an e-learning course ---the list is ongoing (welcome to my world).

Allow me to share three personalities that in my view can cause re-work.

Personality	Features	Strategies on how to deal with them	When to engage during the project process
Sherman tanks	·         The want everybody to agree with their view point, they literally get angry, can be abusive, attacking, intimidating and confrontational when you disagree with them. They often cause the project not to proceed especially if they are the sponsors.	·         Give them an opportunity to air their thoughts. ·         Communicate your views, plans and targets in a non-confrontational manner ·         Explain consequences of continuing e.g. disagreeing ·         Escalate to get more assistance and inform that you will be seeking assistance.	Initial phase of the project
Know-it-all-experts	These are in their own league. They are very productive, they share details, facts and knowledge. They are accurate and good planners ---and that’s when things get tough: - they believe their input should suffice, they can hardly wait for others thoughts and often make decisions that could hurt the entire project. E.g. Can we add this item to the project, and another item? Introducing budget, time and resources issues.	I usually node and show that I am listening to them. I try to avoid confrontations at any time. I acknowledge their experience and expertise while asking for more details (letting them be the experts) and communicate what exactly I want/need.	Implementation and initial stage
Indecisive	They can’t just make decisions, they delay things because they do not want to upset or hurt other people. Sometimes these people are perfectionists and want to have high standards regardless of the timelines etc.	Provide information, clarity, structure, engagement at every little step to help them make an informed decision. Share policies and procedures to reassure decisions are aligned. I also bank on my ability to develop trust and good work relationships so they get comfortable in making decisions.	Initial stage

What I have seen working best is having the emotional intelligence to deal with different personality types, listening, understanding and collaboration – i.e. ‘’seek first to understand then to be understood’’ – Stephen Covey’s habits of highly effectively people as mentioned in the project management minimalist (pg. 48)

Reference

Murphy, C. (1994). Utilizing project management techniques in the design of instructional materials. Performance & Instruction, 33(3), 9–11.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Project management concerns: ‘Scope creep’ [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Elliott, L. (2007, June 08). Use these two forms to analyze your stakeholders - Page 1027920. Retrieved January 18, 2017, fromhttp://www.techrepublic.com/article/use-these-two-forms-to-analyze-your-stakeholders/1027920/

Portny, S. E., Kramer, B. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., & Shafer, S. M. (2007). Project management. Chichester, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.