Empowered Teams Need Empowering Leadership

 

President Harry Truman said, "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."

Last week I cam across an article written by Esther Derby for Agile Zone, Empowering Leadership. She suggests, "Some pundits proclaim that leadership rests on charisma, the ability to create a vision, or 'presence.' Teams do need a vision and a compelling goal. But do teams need one charismatic leader? No. Teams need leaders of a different sort. Teams need leaders who don't need to be out in front, who are able to work quietly, creating an environment where everyone on the team is empowered. Such leaders—empowering leaders—may not get the glory. They do help teams get work done, invite creativity, and build capacity. How do they work? Not by rousing speeches, through followers or by exuding some magical stuff. Empowering leaders create an environment where everyone is empowered. They act on observation, not gut feel or random action."

I agree. Empowering leaders don't believe the stick or the carrot are long-term solutions to motivating people. Sure, they may work for a while, but they are ineffective over time. To be successful, it's important for us to empower the team—which means we need to become empowering leaders.

"Empowering leaders learn to observe the team and discern patterns of behavior on the group level that effect the ability of the group to get work done," says Derby. "They notice who offers ideas, who challenges ideas. They notice when one person consistently interrupts another team member. Leaders hone their ability to notice the roles people take in group discussions, and pick up on non-verbal cues. This is the information that allows them to determine what is happening, and what (if anything) is needed to adjust the environment so everyone is empowered and able to work. Empowering leaders notice how the physical arrangements affect work, how information is flowing (or not), and when the constraints on the team are too few or too many.

In other words, time spent out of the office working with the project team gives project leaders a critical view into how the team is working together and whether or not they need to adjust the work environment to help everyone work together more successfully. Henry Ford once said, "If everyone is moving forward together, then success will take care of itself."

Derby also suggests that "...empowering leaders pay attention to the context, the world the team works in. How does work flow into the team? What are the relationships with other parts of the organization? Are their policies and procedures that are hindering the team?"

Of course, we might not be able to eliminate all the negative factors impacting the project team, but according to Derby, an empowered project leader "...knows how to modify the team environment to lessen harm, and to influence out side the team to achieve change."

As project leaders, if we are aware of the environment the team is working in and how the team is reacting to it, we are better able to impact that environment for the good of the team. I'm convinced that we will find our greatest success facilitating an environment where team members can find success.