Where Does Power Really Come From?

Mark Mullaly is president of Interthink Consulting Incorporated, an organizational development and change firm specializing in the creation of effective organizational project management solutions. Since 1990, it has worked with companies throughout North America to develop, enhance and implement effective project management tools, processes, structures and capabilities. Mark was most recently co-lead investigator of the Value of Project Management research project sponsored by PMI. You can read more of his writing at markmullaly.com.

  Career Development   Leadership  

Power.

That’s a loaded word.

Actually, power is a word that is beyond loaded. It is misapplied, misinterpreted, misused and misunderstood.

Mostly, when we think about power, we view it in a political and organizational context. We equate power with organizational stature and authority and decision-making scope. That is an extremely narrow view, and not one that often applies to project managers.

For starters, project management is—as I have mentioned many times before—the domain of the ultimate generalist. Good project managers have the breadth to encompass and embrace multiple disciplines, dimensions and areas of expertise, while not necessarily being deep in any of them.

At the same time, project managers often operate with organizational sanction, but without organizational stature. As a project manager, you are given incredible responsibility for massively important strategic initiatives. Often, they are investments that are vital to the success, growth and longevity of the organizations we work for.

That expectation, though, often comes with a title, a salary and a box on the org chart that belies the level of influence, visibility, accountability and obligation placed on your role.

For project managers to be effective in their role, they need to draw on other capabilities and capacities. The essence of that quickly gets framed in …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.