Backseat Leader

  Change Management   Leadership   ProjectsAtWork  

Project leaders know about the challenges of managing initiatives without official authority or long-term resource commitments. And some of the same skills they use to succeed can drive positive change in their organizations. Here, the authors of Leading Business Change For Dummies, share 10 ways to lead change when someone else is running the show.

The global economy has turned the rules of leadership upside down and shaken them vigorously for good measure. Where there was once a fairly defined hierarchy — Boss A tells Worker B what to do and Worker B does it — there’s now a flat landscape where everyone is expected to take the reins as needed. That means if Worker B has an idea — a way to make a process more efficient or a new way to get customer feedback — he or she is allowed, even expected, to make it happen.

In other words,everyone is now a leader. This is great news for entrepreneurially minded individuals —but it does pose a challenge for someone, say a project manager, who wants to create change but doesn’t “officially” run the show.

“It can be more challenging for employee-led grassroots movements to spark change, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done,” says Christina Tangora Schlachter, PhD, coauthor with Terry Hildebrandt of Leading Business Change For Dummies^®, (Wiley, …

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