Project Roles

In international projects, the project manager has various consulting roles to fulfill. Subject matter expert with process competence, interim manager, and coach cover the most important functions. The demands placed by companies on external project managers and consultants are high. Both roles require a high level of professional, personal, and social competence. Leadership and process competence are required.

„Self-organization is an important prerequisite for teams working flexibly and solution oriented. Constructive communication, transparency, reflection, and participation are essentials for self-organized work and efficient teamwork and must be supported throughout the entire project duration with appropriate methods.“

The right methodological approach

At the outset, it's important to not only align the project team technically but also integrate them into the organizational structure on a personal level. When choosing methods for team building, Günther Strauss ensures to promote self-organized work, enable efficient teamwork, and adhere to the principles of a learning organization. A learning organization is influenced by many components, with trust being an important foundation to facilitate collegial consultation and constructive feedback.

Effective project management

Through the flexible and targeted use of appropriate methods, Günther Strauss as a project manager makes a significant contribution to team-based reflective learning. Continuous decision-making is required in the project process. To ensure that these decisions can be made quickly and competently, it's advisable to delegate them where the required information is readily available. This eliminates the hierarchical principle and allows the project manager and the team more decision-making freedom. For diagnosing situations, Günther Strauss works with analysis tools such as shared feedback, the Kata principle, or the RACI matrix. 

Günther Strauss about methods and more:

„In the use of methods in international projects, the attitude and values ​​of the project manager are especially important. As a PM, I serve as an important role model and bear responsibility for the team and project success. That's why I consciously focus on actively executing and communicating the necessary role changes between subject matter expert with process competence, interim manager, and particularly the coach." 

Other methods used: Kanban Board, IPMA, Agile Project management, Transactional analyses, Lessons Learned.