Textual: Project managers highlight the importance of a holistic approach to balance competing demands and align strategies for sustainable progress

Structural: Empowering different parts of the organization to share responsibility fosters resilience and adaptability, supporting leadership in complexity

“It is important to involve all stakeholders, so that everyone has a common view on it. This is what we do, this is what we should contribute in this context.” (Participant 9)

“I think you have to find these common values ​​or common ground to stand on so that that's where you can build, so that will be like what lies outside the common there. There it will be like much more long-term. That's not where you solve the problems today.” (Participant 8)

Textual: Project managers talk about the importance of a culture that is always characterized by learning, openness and dialogue. They believe that continuous collaboration is the most important way to build trust and leverage shared knowledge

Structural: Working across departments and frequently sharing knowledge improves the ability to manage interdependencies and develops leadership that encourages learning

“So I develop this collaboration model with customers, suppliers and our users internally. And I would say that it is AO not only for their learning, but also for our learning in the project. Because we are not there for ourselves. We are there for them. So we learn a lot through these dialog meetings.” (Participant 10)

“Cocreation between actors is important. It is important that different actors understand their own role and the needs of other actors. To understand the whole. There is a collaboration between learning there. There is a need for collaboration in learning between different actors.” (Participant 3)

Textual: Project managers emphasize that the most effective leadership is one which is agile, while still being able to integrate the technical and human aspects. According to them, an adaptive mindset is necessary when dealing with different contexts that keep changing

Structural: It is the responsibility of leaders to communicate a clear vision, they have to be ahead of the decision-making curve and at the same time be people-oriented which will facilitate the learning process and help in dealing with complexity

“Building relationships, creating security, opening up discussions, asking a lot of questions so that they feel comfortable in their approach and thus they can make suggestions and learn.” (Participant 4)

“Almost every day, amid my leadership role, I am amazed and constantly reflect on how I influence people. It might be the tone of the voice, the energy level. Also, the way I organize, lead, invent and communicate my leadership.” (Participant 10)

“Being the example, reflecting consistently, changing and taking the initiative whether they are simple or difficult, but if they are difficult, it becomes more essential to learn while doing.” (Participant 7)

Textual: Project leaders talk a lot about reflexivity as a core value, where learning from both successes and failures is what shapes the leadership practice

Structural: Project leaders point out that leaders have to use systematic feedback mechanisms, e.g. PDCA cycles, to make sure that learning is deeply embedded and that it is applied in departments or teams within the organization

“We sit down together, do joint exercises and see what works and what does not work, we make a plan … The equivalent of PDCA. We have been working with different levels towards suppliers, especially in the area of learning and development.” (Participant 4)

“Systematize working methods and things like that, develop processes and routine descriptions and document them so that learning stays in the organization.” (Participant 3)