The Leadership Thing; be Like John Wayne

I hesitated a good long time before writing this post; hopefully I don’t come out as too pompous and it is a long one…

To me, a good project manager has to be both a leader and a manager.  Those two roles are not the same contrary to what some people might think.  Here is my take on the leadership thing.

A leader typically has a large number of duties but few rewards.  To be a good leader you have to (not an absolute list):

• Take the time to listen and the time to state clearly what is required. You have to seek your team member’s opinions and consider them when you take decisions. This does not mean that the decision will please everyone.
• Take the time to state clearly what is required. You have to communicate decisions unequivocally; the army talks about a “lawfully given order” which means that it is stated in a clear manner. That means no “I’d like you to…”, “Would you…”, etc.; this may sound harsh but it is important to be clear if you want team members to understand that they are responsible for an outcome.
• Show some drive. Leaders get their marching order and then get on with their mission. Your team members will not follow you if you have to always ask someone else for directions or for permission.
• Have a backbone. To be a leader you have to be able to take the heat. Stuff will happen. Sometimes terribly bad stuff will happen and as I like to say “When panic appears to be the right thing to do, don’t!”. I know this sounds weird but it means that when things go wrong, it’s time to be like John Wayne and drive through the obstacle.
• Have a second helping of backbone. Team members are responsible for the outcome of the tasks they’ve been given; the leader is accountable for the results. The leader can’t run away from his responsibility; ever.
• Recognize the good work of others. Things get done because team members take their responsibilities and do their work. They are making you look good; acknowledge it.
• Have a third helping of backbone. Be willing to take some risks; you are most likely working on something that has never been done or that has some aspect that calls for going out on a limb. Do it! By the way that doesn’t mean being reckless; if you are not willing to take risks you are not a leader, if you take every risk you are a fool.
• Be trustworthy. You will never convince anyone to team with you if they don’t trust you. Try leading them if they don’t believe you are part of the team.
• Acknowledge your limitations, work on improving yourself, and be willing to receive criticism. No one is perfect. No one believes that you are; don’t even try to hide your limitations. You team will cope with your shortcomings if you acknowledge them, even if the criticism is hard to take, and make an effort to improve.
• Roll with the punches. You have a goal but there is more than one path to this goal. When you hit a problem you can keep on hitting it head first or adapt and workaround the issue. A leader is determined not stubborn.

As I stated before there are few rewards in leadership but the value of those rewards is amazing; a few of my experiences:

• An artillery warrant officer I trained years ago told me in front of a gathering of NCOs of my old unit that he would go to war with me as he trusted me to bring everyone back. Tall order but receiving that level of trust makes you want to move mountains.
• Another member of my old unit, who is also an Afghanistan veteran, recently told me that he wishes I had been there with them as they needed guys like me. This is a variation of the previous point and touched me deeply as I have been out of the services for close to 20 years.
• A colleague told me that, in his opinion, we managed to close a very tough, much challenged project because I inspired the team by refusing to abandon.
• Another colleague, after being let go due to the economic situation, thanked me for giving him the opportunity to grow and develop new skills; something no one else had gone on a limb for him.

I don’t know about you but moments like these make it all worthwhile.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Comments

[Rob van Hell]

Was I the colleague who thanked you for helping me grow and develop new skills? I hope so, because really, if I haven't thanked you for the years of mentorship that you have given me, I have been grossly remiss.

[Patrick Richard]

Hey there!

Actually it was the "other captain" that sent me an email after he "left".

Thanks a lot for your good word in such a public space; I really appreciate it.

That being said, what are you doing on the Internerd at 2 PM on a Friday? Stop slacking off right now... :-)