3 Lessons In Leadership
From the Voices on Project Management Blog
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Peter Tarhanidis, Conrado Morlan, Jen Skrabak, Mario Trentim, Christian Bisson, Yasmina Khelifi, Sree Rao, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, David Wakeman, Ramiro Rodrigues, Wanda Curlee, Lenka Pincot, cyndee miller, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, Marat Oyvetsky
Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.
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Date
by Dave Wakeman
I recently had a chance to chat with Mark Herschberg, author of a great new book, The Career Toolkit. Mark was an interesting person to talk with at this point because his book lays out a few essential skills and ideas that will help us navigate the rest of the pandemic, but also put our careers on a stable trajectory going forward.
Here are three key takeaways from my conversation with Mark:
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Leadership based on position is less impactful than leadership built on vision.
We’ve all recognized this at some point in time. We see the person with the big job title who doesn’t want to take responsibility and barks out some form of “because I said so.” In Mark’s opinion, the best leaders understand that leadership is a tool, not a position on the org chart. And often the most successful form of leadership is influential leadership: the ability to get people to buy into a vision of a better future that isn’t guaranteed but is worth the effort and the risk of failure.
One example I fall back on is a quote I learned about while working on a project with EB Research Partnership, an organization focused on finding a cure for epidermolysis bullosa. One of the organization’s co-founders is Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder, and he said the nice thing about having such a big platform as a musician was his ability to shine a light on organizations doing great work. That’s influential leadership—and it’s often a better door to success than just relying on positional authority.
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Communication is for the listener, not for you.
When I’m communicating with an audience or a team, I always try to remember that I need to tell people what they need to know, not everything that I know. One effective method for keeping the user in mind is to bullet point the key ideas you’re trying to deliver. At the start of a talk, for example, I lay out the three or so key ideas I’m trying to get across so folks can see that everything I’m leading up to is built on those points.
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Negotiation is life.
The way that Mark talks about negotiation reinforces that it’s an essential skill. As people delivering projects, all any of us do is negotiate. But when I was listening to Mark, I realized that we aren’t always labeling it negotiation.
We might call it meetings. We might call it leadership. We might call it communication. But really, it’s all negotiation: We’re trying to win people over to see things the way that we’ve seen them or in the way we need people to see them. That’s an oversimplification, certainly. But it’s also a good way of thinking about the way we lead our organizations and teams—not through brute force, but through the delicate balance of negotiation.
Time constraints, limits on our resources, specific skill sets: All of these are things that need to be negotiated to help us arrive at success.
How do these leadership lessons align with your own experiences?
Posted
by
David Wakeman
on: March 15, 2021 09:54 PM |
Permalink
Comments (12)
Please login or join to subscribe to this item
Luis Branco
CEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, Ldª
Carcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Dave
Very interesting the theme that brought for reflection and debate
Thank you for sharing it and giving your opinion
I learned that everything in life is negotiated
In order to be a good negotiator, it is essential that we know very well what our objectives are (what we want to achieve) and what the objectives of the other party (ies) are.
To get to know the objectives of the other party (ies) we have to listen using empathic listening
Kwiyuh Michael Wepngong
Community Champion
Financial Management Specialist | US Peace Corps
Yaounde, Centre, Cameroon
Hi Dave, you waked menus with this...
Thanks for sharing
Khai Ng.
IT PMO | IT Project Manager| TTGROUP
Hanoi, Viet Nam
Thank you very much for sharing! "I need to tell people what they need to know, not everything that I know", right!
Jane Whitely
Information Managment| Sierra Nevada Corporation
Greencastle, Pa, United States
Simple but so true. Way to get to the point and make it so relevant to leaders new and seasoned alike. Communication is for the listener, I believe, is rarely looked at in that light, but at the end of the day if you want to be heard then you need to speak it appropriately to your audience... know your audience!
Severance leaderdhip is all about Communication. Indeed, it`s a hihgly-demanded skill that we do all learn by doing. Good communication skills is not only about transmiting a message, but also on how the audience interacts and how the emitter taked action on feedback.
Agree that negotiation is a crucial part of any personal or professional business. We do need to learn from our parents, they are natural negotiators!
Emily Reese
Director, Manufacturing Network Strategy| Abbott Nutrition
New Albany, Oh, United States
When I reflect on this statement "Leadership based on position is less impactful than leadership built on vision", I realize that all the people I consider to be great leaders fall into the bucket of those built on vision, and that group of great leaders often does not overlap with the group of people who are "leaders" by title/position. Thanks for the brief insights!
Daniel Araujo
Engenheiro de Projetos | Gerente de Projetos | Betta Group Partner
Brazil
Well done. Thanks.
Exactly. Catch all by purpose, tell what they need to know clearly, and go negotiate. Negotiation is life.
Matias Castano
Operations Management - FinTech Industry | Agile Transformation Member.| AppMaster
Caba, Buenos Aires., Argentina
Thanks for sharing on a hot topic.
I would also add, leading by example - A.K.A. Servant Leadership.
Paphatpisit Klinklan
Regional Sourcing and Operation Manager| Krones (Thailand) Co., Ltd
Samutprakan, Thailand
Outstanding Point of View.
Manuel Ancizu
Program Manager Wind Energy| Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy
Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
I recall an interview with Jack Welch where he said: leaders need to tell employees not only the vision, where they stand and where they are going but also why they need to go with them as leaders. The value that them, as leaders, are going to provide to the employees.
Shehzad Saeed
PMO Manager| Bazy T&C Co. Ltd.
Riyadh, Ar-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Dave, Outclass approaches in different ways,
Leadership should be built on visions not as positions.
Communication should be according to others perspective what they want to know. And at the end all these are Negotiations at their different stages.
Remarkable all these with new visions and thoughts.
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