Leadership Caffeine-Learning to Lead in the Project-Focused World
Filed under: Career, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Management Education, Performance, Project Management, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
The rise of “the project” as an important means of competing and creating value has profound implications for those in leadership roles. Unfortunately, in many cases, the evolution in leadership practices has not kept pace with the needs of project teams or the needs of organizations struggling to develop competence at executing on projects.
Our traditional models of leadership emphasize the development of skills and practices that focus on individuals and teams generally operating under the umbrella of a single functional leader. However, firms moving towards a project-focused culture tend to start by overlaying a matrix form project management structure on top of the traditional functional orientation. This new and non-traditional environment offers a host of new problems and challenges for leaders used to being masters of their own domains.
As a sidebar, while the project management discipline is well established and the role of the formal project manager is growing in importance and popularity, both my own anecdotal evidence and the many reports and studies on project performance indicate that we’ve not yet cracked the code on managing projects for success. In my work as a consultant and as a project management educator at the graduate level, I have few qualms in suggesting that the majority of the organizations that attempt what I’ve described above…imposing a matrix format on a functional orientation, struggle and flounder with their projects. Leadership or the lack of appropriate leadership support is a key issue in project failure.
8 Suggestions for Leading and Succeeding Inside the Project Matrix
- First, recognize that the rules of the game have changed. Your mission is no longer about optimizing results within your functional boundaries. Your emphasis is on providing resources and support for teams that aren’t yours.
- You enhance your position by supplying the strongest possible talent for work on project teams, not by hoarding this talent for your own purposes. Pony up.
- Your talent development efforts must now incorporate the development of skills and experience working within the matrix. Translation: you need to help teach and develop individuals that are comfortable and competent working on multiple initiatives for multiple teams.
- From time to time, complex project challenges will require your functional area’s direct support for resolution. This is a time for you and your colleagues to shine. Run, don’t walk and offer your help.
- Be aware of fluctuations and perturbations in the matrix. The brunt of the stress and complexity falls on the people doing the work. Communication, problem-solving, negotiation and prioritization are all complex in a matrix environment, and you can help by stepping in and facilitating solution development. Your efforts to reduce stress and complexity will pay off in the form of increased team performance and improved project execution.
- Hug a project manager today. OK, maybe not literally, but it’s a great practice to reach out and cultivate a relationship with your firm’s project managers. These busy individuals are at the epicenter of a firm’s key initiatives and have a unique view on the challenges, opportunities and the organization’s talent pool. Plus, develop a good reputation for supporting the project managers and this will pay dividends when you are looking for support for initiatives that impact your area of responsibility.
- Leverage the emerging project environment to expand your reach and grow your career. Top management is looking for leaders that understand how to help make things happen in an increasingly complex and hostile global marketplace. Your active involvement and contribution to project team success will highlight that you’ve moved beyond yesterday’s approaches to leading.
- Master the role of project sponsor. If you are at the level where you are eligible to serve as a project sponsor, sign-on and do everything possible to help the project succeed. Don’t make the common mistake of viewing this role as a token or honorary position. Good sponsors work hard to support their project teams. And don’t forget the Kevlar vest for others outside your project team that will have plenty of reason to take aim should things go wrong. This is the time when great sponsors shine.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Never turn down an opportunity to enhance your leadership skills. The increasingly important project-orientation of organizations offers a myriad of opportunities for you to develop new skills and try on new approaches. You can remain stubborn and insist on leading from a functional view-point, but in this case, your view might just be from the back of the unemployment line. It’s time to enter the matrix.
Leading the Driven Individual
Filed under: Innovation, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Management Education, Organizational Transformation, Performance, Product Management, Professional Growth, Project Management, Talent Management
Note from Art: My use of the “Driven Individual” term here encompasses the big-thinkers and game changers that I’ve had the privilege of supporting over my career. I get that there are other types of Driven Individuals…those that will seize a task and not let go until it has been wrestled to the ground. The latter group represents a subject for another day.
A great deal of popular leadership writing (mine included) focuses on the common issues and challenges with “typical employees.” Now before you grab a pitchfork and light the torches and start marching on this blog for my use of the term “typical,” don’t misconstrue my meaning.
Yes, I know that no one is “typical” and that we all have strengths and weaknesses and that it is grossly unfair to provide such a crass label to the masses of good quality employees laboring away and earning “strongly exceeds” on our grade-inflated performance evaluations. (I can hear the pitchforks clanking again on that last shot!)
Nonetheless, it was the best label I could come up with on short notice and only a few sips into my first cup of coffee, to differentiate from the subject of today’s post: The Driven Individual (DI). This is the “atypical, super-motivated, cannot do enough, has limitless energy and enthusiasm and offers capabilities that have no visible boundaries,” type of employee.
While one might consider the DI to be a leader’s dream, the reality is that these wonderful individuals offer a unique set of challenges that require special care and feeding. My perspectives are based on personal experience working with some brilliant but challenging DI’s and reflect both the good outcomes and some spectacular misfires on my part.
Understanding and Leading the Driven Individual:
Recognize that these individuals don’t think about problems like the rest of us. What we view as a set of tasks or a discrete goal, the DI views as an opportunity to change the world. DI’s in my experience are often “systems” thinkers, looking at the big picture and offering ideas that may be transformational.
A simple example might be an engineer or product manager that sees an opening for a new product. The product idea might be innovative, but the DI is constitutionally and genetically wired to attempt to rethink how the offering can redistribute the wealth of an entire industry. The iPod was a cool innovation beyond the Walkman. The iPod plus iTunes reset the profit pattern of an entire market and changed the world. You bet that there were a bunch of DI’s and one obvious one (Steve Jobs) behind that.
Another example is the individual that looks at the way certain tasks are executed in an organization and sees an opportunity to streamline, eliminate waste and improve coordination. This Deming-like thinker gets the fact that “the system” is the tool for success of failure and is always looking at problems and processes from that perspective.
And one other core observation of my own in working around DI’s is their reaction to failure. I’ve yet to meet one of these characters that didn’t respond by licking wounds for a day or so and then coming back stronger…either for the project that failed or on a new idea. They don’t need false motivation from you, they need recovery time and space.
Leadership Guidance
-Let DI’s run, but make certain that you stay engaged enough to keep them from pursuing too many revolutionary activities at one time. Some of these characters love to catalyze revolutions but lose interest for the long fight. Left unchecked, their passion and exuberance and brilliance can lead to too many great projects chasing too few resources.
-Don’t ask the types of DIs that I’m describing in this post serve as project managers. I’ve made this mistake and I’ve yet to succeed with this configuration. The minutiae of execution detail acts like a leash on creativity and energy. On the other hand, this same DI that might not be a great project leader is most definitely the heart and soul of the project, so they must remain involved as architect, champion and visionary.
-Don’t ever micromanage a DI. Frankly, don’t ever micromanage anyone, especially a DI.
-Watch out! DIs I’ve known have tended to have little regard for social niceties and are prone to stepping on toes or entire bodies. The goal is the thing for these DIs and if they have to throw a few body blocks along the way, that is fine. If you have this form of DI on your team, you’ve got a non-trivial leadership challenge in front of you.
The cultural pressure from the rest of the team may ultimately demand that you act to remove this “social misfit,” while your tendency will be to rationalize the behavior as the price to pay for their brilliance. Coaching, constant feedback and more coaching can help minimize the body count, but won’t completely eliminate the issue. Get this right and your DI will do great things for you and others will recognize how they benefit as well. Manage this wrong by either allowing reckless, free reign or worse yet, attempt to neutralize the DI and you will fail.
-Don’t let DIs sit idle or you will bore them into looking elsewhere, including your competitors, for their next challenge. Remember, these individuals are thinking three chess moves ahead of the rest of us, and as they mentally wind down on one issue, there needs to be a new one ready to take its place.
-Be careful: some DIs enjoy visibility and others run from it. Don’t misfire by either ignoring this for those that like the accolades or over-using it for those that would rather have a root canal without drugs than have to stand up at a company meeting.
The Bottom Line for Now:
I’ve barely scratched the surface of this topic, but need to stop somewhere. I love the challenge of working around and providing the environment for Driven Individuals to succeed. Get this right and fortunes are made. Get it wrong, and you’ll wreak havoc on the workplace. The stakes are big, and the Driven Individual will challenge you to earn your keep.
Thoughts on Leading and Managing in the Era of Disposable Workers
Filed under: Career, Crisis Leadership, Current Affairs, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Quality Systems Management, Social Commentary
Note from Art: this topic has me deep in thought. While the issue is generally a negative one, I do wonder whether it contains the seeds of significant management and leadership revolution. I would love your thoughts here.
In case you missed it, the article, “The Disposable Worker” in the January 7, 2010 issue of BusinessWeek offers a sobering look at the increasing trend for employers “to create just-in-time labor forces that can be turned on and off like a spigot.” And guess what folks, this trend is not just for those near the bottom rungs of the ladder, this current fashion extends all the way up into the CEO Suite.
While one might get the impression that this is a fairly modern “management innovation,” enabled by advances in technology and easy access to low cost labor around the globe, I’m reminded of the scenes in Upton Sinclair’s gruesome and powerful book, The Jungle, chronicling the early days of the meat-processing industry in Chicago.
I last read the book in high school, but the images of men (in this case, they were men) lining upside the gates of the stockyards and processers, and the foreman stepping out and indicating how many that he needed for the day, jumps to mind. If you were lucky enough to be picked on a given day, you were invited in to literally put life and limb on the line for a few cents. On other days, your family went hungry. If there was no work or you became injured, often, you died.
I’ll stop short of comparing the modern organization to those firms described in Sinclair’s pro-union classic, however, the picture painted in this article has that haunting specter of The Jungle hiding in the shadows.
My perspective here is not pro or con and don’t take my use of The Jungle or the union reference to mean anything other than highlighting a point in history and the message contained in this book. Organizations are striving and struggling to cut costs, compete and in some cases survive and desperate times call for desperate measures. The use of on-demand talent is well established in consulting and technology and in some cases it works well. However, I do think that the tasks of managing and leading and competing in an era of “workforce on demand” are about to change in ways that we might not yet fully understand.
Thoughts and Issues on Managing and Leading In the Era of the Disposable Workforce:
-The challenge to choose the right tasks for “just in time” resources. While it might be tempting to broadly apply the “on/off” approach to the workforce, managers should carefully evaluate the impact on business execution, customer satisfaction and innovation of replacing formal employees in core areas with contract workers. The short-term cost savings might just cost the firm its future.
-The difficulty of acclimating the remaining workers to this new reality. One of the more laughable parts of this not so funny article was the example of a firm adopting this model and then bringing in a resource to train the remaining employees on positive thinking. I suspect that more than a few workers were pretty positive what they wanted the firm to do with this speaker! While those that remain will likely be happier with a job than without, there’s little chance they will be happy. And while work doesn’t have to be an endless group hug, there’s something to say for the ability of an engaged, motivated workforce to satisfy customers and fuel innovation.
-The pain of living through the destruction of a firm’s culture. Whatever the firm was before, it no longer is the same after retooling with temporary workers. Instead of something that had a history and stories and artifacts and all those tangible and intangible components of a culture, the organization’s new environment might best be characterized as one that lacks a culture. Thoughts of Dystopian environments and various science fiction novels are beginning to jump to mind here.
-The challenges of measuring and maintaining quality and identifying and implementing critical improvements will be more difficult in the on-demand environment. The dearth of individuals that understand how to get work done via the informal organization will challenge firms to create new systems for these issues.
-The role of the Project Manager and the field of project management take on a very, very high importance in this new style organization.
-The impact when the worm turns! If and when recovery occurs, watch out! Somewhere, some wise firm will catch on to the novel idea that they can compete more effectively with an engaged workforce and the “jumping ship” will happen so fast that the firm’s leadership will be checking the news for information on the tsunami that cleared out the buildings.
-The role of the leader will change significantly. Many of the core focal points that are written about daily in the leadership blogosphere and in shelves filled with books from name-brand authors will no longer be relevant. The leader as a transaction manager with accountability for output with no concern for development, coaching and well-being may disappear.
The Bottom Line for Now:
I recognize that I’ve taken a mostly dark look at this issue in this post. The beauty of writing these things is that they force the author as well as the readers to think through the issues at a deep level. Intellectually, I do wonder whether the current economic situation contains the seeds of a new approach to management…an evolution or as Gary Hamel describes it, management innovation, and that the real challenge and issue here is truly how to rethink management and leadership.
Hmmm. Back soon with some more thoughts. Meanwhile, I would love to hear yours.
Leadership Caffeine: Learn to Manage Your Team’s Rhythm-6 Ideas for Improving
Filed under: Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Leading the Generations, Performance, Project Management, Talent Management, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
All teams and groups have a rhythm and natural energy for their tasks that ebb and flow based on a variety of factors, including personal, environmental and seasonal to name a few.
As a leader, you should be aware of these cycles that are characterized by either intense creativity, outstanding productivity or on the other extreme, by a slow, plodding march through the days and weeks as if everyone’s feet were encased in clay.
It’s your job to help smooth out the highs just a bit and minimize the time spent in the lows. Good coaches pay attention to the rhythm of their people and teams and leverage their leadership tools to make appropriate adjustments.
A Great Example of Managing the Rhythm:
One client managed an intensive and exhausting trade show and event program from March to May and then again during September and October. Energy and creativity peaked 30 to 60 days in advance of “go” and fell off the cliff as people caught their breath for a few weeks after the end of the each period.
This team’s manager shifted her focus from one of support, encouragement and oversight in advance of the programs, to one that facilitated recovery, rejuvenation and reinvigoration at the close of the programs. The 2x per year awards events (low budget, pizza and laughs) were “don’t miss” opportunities to share the fun, excitement and achievements and to poke some great natured fun at slip-ups. These events were produced and emceed by team members and team members began carrying cameras to capture “moments” that would ultimately make their way into the team-produced awards presentation.
Celebration in this example transitioned to a reflective period, where the benefit of recovery time created a natural opportunity for reflection, assessment and improvement. While this “team” of cross functional participants worked together only for the event programs, every member had a voice in suggesting strategic ideas to beat competitors and better reach customers and prospects as well as to improve internal execution. Year after year, the results improved, the costs shrunk and competitors were left guessing. Oh, and everyone involved had a riot.
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6 Common Rhythm and Energy Management Mistakes of Managers and Ideas to Improve:
1. Treating people like machines: not recognizing the need for rejuvenation and reinvigoration.
2. Assuming that they (the manager) are the source of energy and motivation. Nothing could be further from reality than this misguided belief. Team energy derives from many sources…a shared cause, a sense of belonging, individual and group pride and so many places other than from a manager’s cajoling.
3. Staying too distant from the challenge and not truly understanding the nature and intensity of the work. The manager described above also took on distinct tasks and played her part in program execution. Her credibility was sky high because she was involved in the work, albeit, in a highly specific role that didn’t interfere with others charged with executing this program. She supported and served in this instance.
4. Getting too close to the execution and communicating that you don’t trust your team members. There is a fine line between appropriate oversight and micromanaging. Don’t cross it.
5. Focusing the lessons-learned on the negatives. Instead of managing program debriefs to the tune of “What did we do wrong?” try the “What should we do more of?” approach and watch the change in tone and creativity.
6. Forgetting to celebrate. Pizza, some printed certificates and widespread team involvement in picking favorite moments, iron-man/woman awards for most travel, most hours etc. and any other fun category that your team members can think of, go a long way to creating a shared bond and driving some healthy laughs.
The Bottom Line for Now:
Whether you manage tradeshows and events or engineering teams or customer support professionals, it is up to you as the leader, manager or project manager to understand the rhythm of your teams and manage the cycles to match the business needs. Master this and watch performance grow. Oh, and you’ll likely have a lot more fun in the process of doing great things. You get bonus points for creating a high performance environment where people have fun as well.
Leadership Caffeine-Develop the Courage to Derail the Bad Decision Train
Filed under: Crisis Leadership, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Leadership Skills, Making Decisions, Management Education, Performance, Project Management, Values
“In life, one bad decision often leads to other bad decisions.” These are the words of Andre Agassi, the former professional tennis player describing on 60 Minutes a cascading series of bad decisions that almost ruined his life.
While Andre’s story had a generally positive outcome; he struggled back from depression and drugs to regain tennis glory, find the love of his life and turn into a philanthropist that has raised over $100 million dollars for charity, many business professionals and businesses aren’t as fortunate.
Once the bad decision train starts rolling, we often respond by adding more coal to the fire. This is particularly true for senior leaders that perceive that they have the most to lose if they admit that they were wrong.
Consider:
- It’s common to deal with major project problems in new product development or technology infrastructure for firms to double-down and keep investing when all of the signs say, “pull the plug.”
- Once senior leadership allows a move away from goodness….something that crosses the ethics or values chasm, it can be like pulling the plug on a dam. Think Enron.
- Greed begets greed. AIG’s founder, Hank Greenberg in Business Week on his successor, Martin Sullivan: “I know for a fact that Sullivan told everyone, Just do everything you want, get as much business as you can and don’t worry about a goddam thing.” (See also my post from last year, “The Dollar Bill Auction and a Failure of Rational Judgment.”
- Momentary success creates a blind spot in the front-windshield. “Here’s to a future of more trucks and fewer cars,” toasted a Ford CEO in the earlier part of this decade. He got it half right!
- The gut reaction to a recession is to cut and then quit moving. Firms hunker down and wait for the storm to pass, when they should be moving faster to create in anticipation of the storm passing.
And don’t get me started on the nearly endless examples from history.
The “bad decision train” is difficult to stop or derail once it gets moving. It seems to take extraordinary courage to admit that you are wrong. A combination of ego and fear often prevail, driving us to go all-in when we should fold and walk away.
While the instinct to pursue bad decisions with more bad decisions might be difficult to overcome, it is critical that leaders fight this tendency by fostering a culture that encourages teams and individuals to challenge decisions, particularly when new facts and lessons learned begin to point towards a different direction.
The trick of course is to not err in the opposite direction, and create a culture that second-guesses every decision and results in people constantly rearranging the deck chairs in a never-ending stream of shifting priorities.
Ideas for Derailing the Bad Decision Train
- Carefully develop and communicate the assumptions that underlie major projects. Teach team members to constantly compare initial assumptions to the current marketplace realities and make it safe for them to push the alarm button.
- Recognize that as a leader, it is your job to foster a learning culture. Define what this means for you and your team and ensure that it is supported in actions, not just easy words. Learning includes recognizing mistakes and adapting behaviors.
- Recognize that your behavior sets the pattern for everyone. Shoot messengers and execute teams for making mistakes, and you will create a culture that never questions a decision regardless of how visibly wrong it truly is.
- Encourage dissenters..not toxic employees, but the courageous individuals willing to stand up and tell you that your baby is ugly.
- Manage the second-guessing by challenging teams with cold feet to go through the process of vetting original assumptions and developing alternatives. Hold them accountable to more than complaining. If an idea is wrong, fine. What’s the alternative?
- Accept the reality that you will need to make tough decisions that will fly in the face of prevailing emotions, including your own. This is your job.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
The list of suggestions above is just a starting point. Admitting failure and moving on is harder for a variety of personal and sometimes job saving reasons than plowing ahead on a strategy of hope. It takes courage to lead effectively, and sometimes that courage calls for a retreat or a complete change of plans.
Are you courageous enough to derail the bad decision train?
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