Informed leadership, when managing complex projects, is the glue that binds the different elements of a complicated project together.

The project manager needs to display excellent situational leadership skills.  He or she must be able to flex across the whole spectrum of styles from autocratic direction to subtle facilitation.  The role needs access to coherent and reliable information about the program including the interfaces between work packages, resources, key dates, etc.  This is provided by a program support office that also maintains a financial model of the undertaking and administers the change process.  This office is also responsible for communications across the program and with stakeholders outside it.

In principle, the more complex a program is, the more centralised the planning, analysis and communication work needs to be.

Click on the following links to find out more about managing each of these degrees of complexity:

Informed leadership    Straight forward    Complicated    Volatile    Edge of chaos