On a weekly basis, I search the Internet for interesting articles about leadership, creativity and projects to share with you. During 2015, I have discovered fantastic posts and articles that I hoped you have enjoyed them as much as I do. As part of the lead up into 2016, here are my top ten favourite blog posts for 2015;

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[av_iconlist_item title=’Project Aria ‘ link=’manually,https://www.project-aria.ca/2015/06/07/leading-with-vision-and-strategy/’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-1phoov’]
2015 was a busy year for Michel Dion from Project Aria. Michel published his great book – Leadership Toolbox for Project Managers and consistently published insightful blog posts about what it means to be a Project Leader. I liked this post about the importance of leading the project with vision and strategy as sometimes Project Managers can loose sight of what the outcomes that are required to be delivered. 
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Colin Ellis’ link=’manually,http://www.colindellis.com/project-culture-equals-success/’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-fw0127′]
Colin Ellis consistently engages us to be better project leaders by putting heart into project delivery (yes I copied this from Colin’s website). I always enjoy reading Colin’s posts challenging us to rethink the normal process approach to project delivery and concentrate instead on the people. .

This post examines the correlation between the culture in your project team and how successful the project is.

One of my favourite quotes of the year came from Colin – ” Your Team – Your Culture” . 
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Liquid Planner / Susanne Madsen ‘ link=’manually,http://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/why-is-organizational-change-so-hard/’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-dx8g3j’]
I often ask myself this question – why is organisational change so hard? My next thought is always – because it is.

Susanne’s posts are always insightful and informative. This post examines the key elements of why organisations resist change and what you can do to make change more effective.
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[av_iconlist_item title=’The Learning People’ link=’manually,http://www.learningpeople.co.uk/blog/project-management-on-tour’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-ce74xr’]
The Learning People developed a serious of blog posts about how project management skills and techniques are used in all types of jobs.

I loved this post about how project management is used on the road with a band. I enjoy live music and I am always interested in the logistics of how the technical crews get the equipment from location to location , set up and disassembled to meet the scheduled dates. This post provided insight into this world.
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Innovative Management Solutions ‘ link=’manually,http://www.ims-web.com/blog/defining-and-managing-project-scope’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-amom4f’]
Innovative Management Solutions have a fantastic blog. They blog about topics that are relevant to Project Managers and the chaos in which they operate in.

It was hard to pick just one article and I selected this post about defining and managing scope. Scope statements are so important in defining the “what” of a project. It can be hard to sometimes to find the balance between sticking to the original scope and meeting the actual business needs of the organisation.
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Fusion Alliance ‘ link=’manually,https://www.fusionalliance.com/digital/yes-virginia-project-managers-are-creative/’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-8qgrmn’]
I believe that Project Managers are very creative people. Given the complexity of some of the situations that are encountered during the execution of a project, you need to be a creative problem solver to deliver. It is for this reason, that I always like to include articles about creativity in the weekly Fresh Friday collection.

This post from Fusion Alliance, the different ways Project Managers use their creativity skills are examined.

Long Live Creativity
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Brett Harned ‘ link=’manually,http://brettharned.com/2015/03/20/it-takes-true-grit-to-be-a-pm/’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-7umi73′]
I selected this post as one of my favourites because:

• You really do need true grit to survive difficult projects
• Why courage is important
• It had an image of a horse – there are so few blog posts with horse images in them

Brett’s post is fantastic and outlines why you need true grit to deliver projects
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Cobalt PM ‘ link=’manually,http://cobaltpm.com/how-will-you-stay-calm-when-everything-is-going-wrong/’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-6empxr’]
Cobalt PM blog posts are always interesting and informative.

In this post, the blog examines how you can stay calm when everything is going wrong. Sometimes everything does go wrong on projects and being calm can be challenging.
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[av_iconlist_item title=’99u’ link=’manually,http://99u.com/articles/51869/insights-from-the-lowline-how-to-embrace-and-thrive-in-a-long-term-project/’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-4fef4f’]
Maintaining the momentum on a long term project and/or a troubled project can be difficult. Projects are rarely sprints rather marathons that require consistency to ensure that the finish is achieved.

I liked this post about how Lowline Project delivers mutli-year projects successfully.
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[av_iconlist_item title=’Project Smart ‘ link=’manually,https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/how-to-build-a-high-performance-project-team.php’ linktarget=’_blank’ linkelement=” icon=’ue809′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-2wvjjj’]
This is a great post about how to build a high performing project team.

The approach discussed in the post is pragmatic and realistic.
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