Got Integrity?

Craig is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and has worked with ProjectManagement.com for the last six years developing the various HEADWAY processes (Project, Change and Portfolio). He has hosted a series of webinars and is a business intelligence subject matter expert.

  Career Development   Communications Management   Talent Management  

When I started to think about the topic of leadership, a host of initial thoughts ran through my mind--including thoughts of executives, senior management and people in positions of power. I realized that I was equating leadership with power, and while the two topics are related they are also very distinct and can be treated separately.

I pressed the mental reset button and started thinking about leadership and its impact or implication for me. Leadership doesn't need to be only for the CEO in the large corporation with billions in assets under his or her control. Leadership can be (and often is) found at a variety of levels. As project managers, we often find ourselves in positions where we have all the responsibility--but not the power that comes along with it. So leadership is not just for “those people up there” but also for you and me. In my view, regardless of at what level we are or what we think about leadership, leaders have some common traits that we can look to emulate and foster on our projects--leading by example, consistency, simplicity and integrity.

In my eyes, one of the key traits of leadership is action. It is about taking the initiative and doing the things the way you feel they should be done. Leadership is not about waiting for someone else to take action, move things forward or progress. The Nike slogan “Just Do It” …

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