The Leadership Void

"What creates trust, in the end, is the leader's manifest respect for the followers" - Jim O'Toole, Leadership Change.

I read that quote this morning and after thinking about it I realized that in many of the places I have worked there has been a consistent lack of respect shown to the followers by the leaders, which ultimately results in a Leadership Void. A Leadership Void exists when the goals of the leaders aren't embraced by the followers. Respect, or lack of it plays a big part in helping to create this void.

So what do you do when you are in an environment with a Leadership Void. My advice is to start modeling the behaviors of tried and true leaders.

Some Leadership principles I have come to believe are:

Be consistent in what you say and do. Inconsistency shows a lack of focus. Being inconsistent will undermine your credibility with others.

As a leader you will need to provide focus, constancy of purpose, and clear direction to your team. The problem with many leaders isn't a lack of personality or charisma, it is a lack of focus and follow-through.

When leading remember "beware of no man more than thyself" - Thomas Fuller. Ask for feedback from others. Remember the higher the leader is in an organization the more blind spots he or she will experience.

A good leader is a master of the big picture and is knowledgeable of the details. A leader that isn't willing to get involved in the details is just plain lazy and won't have the respect of the team they are leading.

Be careful about negative assumptions. Leaders that are high achievers know their behavior tells the truth about their assumptions.

Leaders ensure that their followers know where they fit into the big picture.

Leaders who underestimate the intellect of others tend to overestimate their own.

Other things that are always displayed by a leader are the ability to:

Create and nurture a vision

Laugh!

Leave their ego at the door

Think before acting (not quick to criticize)

Be a risk taker

State and meet commitments

Be a role model

Be a risk taker

Have a can do attitude

Encourage success

and finally...

BE VISIBLE (IMPORTANT)

1. Walk around and talk to people (this doesn't happen much where I work)
2. Schedule monthly one-on-one interviews
3. Conduct regular formal group surveys and do something with the data
4. Pick areas where Quality is lacking and form teams to fix the problem

What do you think. I welcome your comments.

Project Management Goals for 2006

Setting Personal Goals for 2006

Since the new year has begun, it is time to look at my goals from last year and make some changes. Last year's goals (listed in previous posting) have for the most part been carried over into this year, with some revisions. While goal setting is important, measuring progress towards achieving the goals is imperative. Some measures can only be gathered by asking others for feedback. I vow to solicit feedback from my peers and incorporate their comments into my behavior.

Be an effective listener

Plan each project with the end (deliverables) in mind

Conduct more face-to-face conversations

Lead by example

Evaluate criticism from others and use it to be a better project manager

Know that failures will occur and plan (or replan) accordingly

Be positive, enthusiastic, and supportive of others

Project Management Strategies

We all need a strategy to succeed in life. In the project management world there are many different opinions regarding how to successfully manage a project. One of the most important things we need to do in project management is manage the expectations and relationships with our stakeholders. Some things to keep in mind to help us manage our stakeholders are:

Assess the culture (Is it supportive, what is the balance of power, what are the stakeholder attitudes)

Identify the goals of the stakeholders and sponsor (Are the goals realistic, attainable, communicated)

Assess our own capabilities and limitations (Are you politically savvy, respected, a good negotiator)

Define the problem (Define goals, risks, relationships)

Develop solutions (Create action plan, determine the right solution for the right time)

Test and refine the solutions (New learnings must be incorporated, replan, retool, rethink)

Final thoughts for 2005

As the year comes to a close, I thought it would be a good time to review my professinal goals for 2005, which I posted here at the beginning of the year. They were:

1. Be a better listener
2. Apply the principles of Earned Value to more of my projects
3. Begin each project with the end (deliverables) in mind
4. Rely less on e-mail and more on face-to-face conversations
5. Be a better Project Leader
6. Accept the fact that criticism from others is part of the project life cycle
7. Be willing to accept failures and use them as learning experiences
8. Believe that most people on your project team are doing the best they can do
9. Be positive, enthusiastic, and supportive of others

I made good progress towards achieving some of the goals, but I need to work harder on some of the others. The only true measurement of my performance comes from my peers, management, and project stakeholders.

Looking back over 2005 I would sum up the year by saying it was at times frustrating, rewarding, confusing, challenging, but overall worth the time and effort. We probably all can agree that being a good project manager is difficult, however good is not enough. We must be great project managers is we are to be successful. The culture we work in will greatly impact just how good or great we will be, however we are ultimately the ones that determine our own success.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Dr. Kerzner's 16 Points to PM Maturity

Have you heard of Dr. Kerzner? If not, you must be new to project management. One of my Project Management books is written by Dr. Kerzner - Project Management - A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling. If you don't have this book in your library, get it. If you are new to project management you will find his book to be an invaluable reference. You can purchase a copy of his book from Amazon.com by clicking the link above.

One of the things I find valuable that Dr. Kerzner created is his "16 Points to Project Management Maturity". They are listed below and discussed in the book mentioned above.

1. Adopt a project management methodology and use it consistently

2. Implement a philosophy that drives the company toward project management maturity and communicate to everyone

3. Commit to developing effective plans at the beginning of each project

4. Minimize scope changes by committing to realistic objectives

5. Recognize that cost and schedule management are inseparable

6. Select the right person as project manager

7. Provide executives with project sponsor information, not project management information

8. Strenghten involvement and support of line management

9. Focus on deliverable rather than resources

10. Cultivate effective communication, cooperation, and trust to achieve rapid project management maturity

11. Share recognition for project success with the entire project team and line management

12. Eliminate non-productive meetings

13. Focus on identifying and solving problems early, quickly, and cost effectively

14. Measure progress periodically

15. Use project management software as a tool - not as a subsitute for effective planning or interpersonal skills

16. Institute an all-employee training program with periodic updates based upon documented lessons learned

Until next time...

Stephen F. Seay, PMP

Paradoxes of Project Management

In Tom Peter's book "Liberation Management", (Peters, Tom. Liberation Management. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1992) he talks about the paradoxes of project management. In the book Tom outlines a few things we need to keep in mind when managing our projects.

Total Ego versus No Ego - On the one hand, project managers must be consumed by the project before them. On the other hand, they must have almost no ego. They deal with many outsiders and insiders whom they can hardly command. This means the project manager must take a smaller share of the credit for accomplishments and give a larger share of the credit to other participants.

Autocrat versus Delegator - When the chips are down, the project manager must issue orders fast. At the same time, the project managers must turn ownership over to the contributors.

Leader versus Manager - Effective project managers must match their passion for inspiring others with a passion for the grubby nuts and bolts of doing the job.

Oral versus Written Communication - Communicating orally and on the run comes easily to effective project managers. But, the must also be masters of the detailed plan and the daily checklist.

Complexity versus Simplicity - Nothing is more complex than dealing with a sophisticated, multi-organization project. The effective project manager must juggle, sometimes for years, hundreds of balls of differing and ever-changing shapes, sizes, and colors. On the other hand, the project manager must be adept at keeping it simple.

Big versus Small - Project managers must appreciate forests and trees equally. They must be able to see the relationship of the small to the big and the big to the small, and do so at every moment simultaneously.

Patience versus impatience - Smart, independent leaders spend lots of time on relationship building and networking. This is a s important as pushing project participants for action.

As long-time readers of this blog know, I value the insight of Tom Peters. I believe he hit the nail right on the head in regard to a Project Manager's behavior when managing projects.

Until next time...

Lessons Learned?

Capturing lessons learned at the end of a project is important. My problem has always been how do I archive the learnings for use in the future? Post implementation meetings are good for capturing lessons learned, but outside of the team members that attend the meeting where does this knowledge go? How can it be used in the future? Where and how should it be stored?

One idea I read about related to how Boeing maintains diaries of lessons learned from each airplane project. I wonder how these diaries are accessed and utilized on future projects? Are they searchable, indexed by topic, etc...

If anybody reading this has ideas, let me know and I will publish them here.

Until next time...