Leadership and Project Strategy: Driving the Project to Success 78 Think Backwards, Building Team Morale to Surmount Roadblocks The normal course of a project is frontward through time--from idea, through planning, to devel- opment, and finally to implementation. Turning this process inside out to think backwards will do more for the project than just identify roadblocks. It will fire up the Merlin factor and creatively en- ergize the team to foresee and tackle the extraordinary and unplanned. It provides the leadership force necessary to bring a threatened project through. Don't Give Answers but Do Force the Team to Change Course for the Project, if Needed Despite the tactics above, it may become necessary to change course and restructure the project, due to external forces or critical resource shortages. Doing this effectively requires a project man- ager to shift roles, stop answering questions, and begin asking and dramatizing the changes nee- ded. Truly active leadership will allow the project team to revolutionize its project and get moving toward successful implementation. Conclusion The purpose of this chapter has been to discuss some important issues in getting a project to a successful conclusion. Leading is most often considered an action-oriented skill, but applying lead- ership strategies can often require some careful reflection. Taking time to reflect, both as project manager and as a team, is an important and ongoing challenge for project managers because, while taking time from direct work on the task, it may ensure the eventual success of the project. This chapter developed a picture of the special purpose of leadership strategies for projects, and adapted