Synproma Corporation

Archive for February, 2010

Just because there are people assigned to your project or your department, does not make you a leader.  Have you ever noticed that people always seem to want to work with or for a particular manager or project manager?  In some cases, there are certainly personalities that do not lend themselves to leading teams.  In these cases it is up to management to provide some intervention and help those folks with some self-awareness and career planning work.  But more often than not in my experience, it is the attitude of the person themselves and how they view their team that makes the difference.  And this can be learned and developed.

Take five minutes and think about your team.  Not the collective group, but the members.  Be honest.  What is your relationship to them?  Were they assigned to you to help get your project completed?  Is their lack of performance making you look bad?  Do you find yourself wondering what you have to do to get them to deliver?  If you find yourself answering yes, then flip the coin and consider their view of you.  Think about your interactions and conversations with each of them both in private and in groups.  Is there someone else they would rather be working with?  Who?  Why?

This is not just an academic exercise.  If you want to be a successful leader, you need to evaluate your attitude and your role in regards to your team members.  The most successful project managers I have known were those that understood they were there to serve their team members by removing roadblocks.  In the words of Harry Truman “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”  Servant leadership is the model that draws others to a true leader.  They need not call people to follow them; it will happen of its own accord.  I actually had a senior manager tell me once that the job of a project manager was “to spank the donkeys and get them up the hill!”  I had another Vice-President refer to staff members as “worker bees.”  What does that attitude about subordinates reveal to you?  Imagine how that played out in day to day events.  Is that the person you want to work for?

So, if you find yourself with a team of people.  They might be direct reports or matrixed team members.  Either way, it is your job to motivate them and ensure that they deliver.  You have to make the effort to get to know them.  And you cannot fake caring.  It is easy to spot disingenuous efforts.  So find a way that is comfortable for you.  How you do this is a matter of individual style.  One aspect of your own behavior is to examine your own behaviors toward them.  Do they ever hear from you outside of team meetings?  When was the last time you just dropped by their office to see how they are doing without an agenda?  Have you gone to lunch with your team members and just tried to be friendly?  How do you treat them in public forums?  Are you the supportive leader who credits team members by name?  Or are you the one who seeks the glory of success?

Simple things can go a long way.  Send a hand-written note for a well done job.  (Email is just not very personal)  Grab a pizza with the team to celebrate a milestone in the project.  I once had a team working exceptionally hard for months and months.  I sent out an ambiguous five hour meeting request that started at noon Friday and went until the end of the day.  I did tell them that I would provide food for this working meeting.  As promised, I had pizzas and sodas along with some brownies.  You could see fatigue and concern in their faces as they slowly arrived and settled in for a long afternoon not knowing what the big issue was going to be.  With everyone and starting their lunch, contrary to their expectation, I told them how much I appreciated all the hard work they had been doing.  And I knew it was long hours that went largely unnoticed by the rest of the organization.  This meeting was simply a chance to breathe.  I closed the blinds and we watched a then popular stand-up comic video for an hour.  After we ate and laughed for about 90 minutes, I sent them all home.  Not back to work, I sent them home.  The next week they all came back with jets blazing!

Remember to look at your team as people.  If they are fading or under-performing, rather than demanding  delivery, seek to understand why and what you might do about it.  Find ways to acknowledge your team members in public.  Remember to praise in public and reprimand in private.  Find little ways to show them you see them and actually do care for them.  You will go a long way toward building trust and loyalty.  Those in turn will fuel motivation and performance.  Success will follow.  But it will only follow a good leader.