One of the most rewarding parts of my career as a PM, has been when I can use my leadership position to empower my team, remove their roadblocks, and let them do their jobs. The whole energy level of the team increases when they know you have their backs, they're the leaders, and you're the support system.
I remembered this recently when an exec I work for, did something very subtly, but very powerfully, stating that they must suddenly miss the last part of the project review where the functional leaders talk, but I speak for our org. The hand-off was incredibly subtle, but everyone knew that was delegation.
How have you found ways to use your position as the PM to empower others to do their job better instead of being the director?. Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
Hi Keith, great question.
To empower my team (specifically the leads), I have found it helpful (on certain projects) to make my attendance at weekly project review meetings exceptional. When I do this, I tell the team that I have full faith in their capabilities and that I’m doing this to encourage their empowerment, recognizing that the business will be directly engaging them (and not me) for all concerns and questions.
In my opinion, to make this work, you need to be “direct” about the purpose of your absence, that is, to empower the technical and business leads. If you are not direct, then you risk individuals holding back certain thoughts as everyone is concerned about deference to you. Obviously, you need to let your team know what is within their power to decide and what truly needs to be deferred, but I have found this approach builds core team cohesion and encourages leadership growth.
I believe our two examples are similar, in that strategically coordinated leadership absences can increase the confidence of a team, and encourage their affective and functional empowerment.
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1 reply by Keith Novak
Aug 17, 2019 8:11 PM
Keith Novak
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Great input. There was depth in your comment that I had to chew on for an entire afternoon. :-)
I have my projects which are routine and we all need to meet regularly to ensure that we are progressing to plan. On my "hot" projects, my meetings are all about coordination and status is purely secondary. If you missed my meeting, you probably missed out on a whole lot because I planned that as an important time for the team to ensure we are on the same plan, not something to stoke my ego as the person in charge
Those critical meetings tend to revolve all around how we can help one specific team that is on the critical path. We are not micromanaging their work. We are not second guessing their work unless their plan creates a new problem. We are all behind the team that we need to be successful in order get the job done. It is their plan, and I'm merely the person with thick skin to ensure they can execute.
My role becomes ensuring that everyone is doing everything they can, to support the critical team. Doing that very openly changes the dynamic from this is the team we have to mange, to this is the team needing everyone's support.
Hi Keith, Great question for discussion. Here are my thoughts on empowering team. - Create a conducive and engaging environment to encourage learning, sharing, discussing, and analytical ability to make decisions. - Analyse the motivators of members and study how to motivate members to assume individual accountability, make optimal decisions, strive towards project goals, and align with the organization's vision. - Gradually minimize micromanagement but not eliminate. Provide the needful and optimal guidance for team members to grow and lead effectively.
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1 reply by Keith Novak
Aug 17, 2019 8:16 PM
Keith Novak
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Pang,
I realize now that I should give a lot more attention to your 2nd point:
Analyse the motivators of members and study how to motivate members to assume individual accountability, make optimal decisions, strive towards project goals, and align with the organization's vision
I do that with people who are problems. Your comment struck me in how that helps not only to help get yourself out of a problem, but also how to allow the people who are never a problem to remain that way.
To empower my team (specifically the leads), I have found it helpful (on certain projects) to make my attendance at weekly project review meetings exceptional. When I do this, I tell the team that I have full faith in their capabilities and that I’m doing this to encourage their empowerment, recognizing that the business will be directly engaging them (and not me) for all concerns and questions.
In my opinion, to make this work, you need to be “direct” about the purpose of your absence, that is, to empower the technical and business leads. If you are not direct, then you risk individuals holding back certain thoughts as everyone is concerned about deference to you. Obviously, you need to let your team know what is within their power to decide and what truly needs to be deferred, but I have found this approach builds core team cohesion and encourages leadership growth.
I believe our two examples are similar, in that strategically coordinated leadership absences can increase the confidence of a team, and encourage their affective and functional empowerment.
Great input. There was depth in your comment that I had to chew on for an entire afternoon. :-)
I have my projects which are routine and we all need to meet regularly to ensure that we are progressing to plan. On my "hot" projects, my meetings are all about coordination and status is purely secondary. If you missed my meeting, you probably missed out on a whole lot because I planned that as an important time for the team to ensure we are on the same plan, not something to stoke my ego as the person in charge
Those critical meetings tend to revolve all around how we can help one specific team that is on the critical path. We are not micromanaging their work. We are not second guessing their work unless their plan creates a new problem. We are all behind the team that we need to be successful in order get the job done. It is their plan, and I'm merely the person with thick skin to ensure they can execute.
My role becomes ensuring that everyone is doing everything they can, to support the critical team. Doing that very openly changes the dynamic from this is the team we have to mange, to this is the team needing everyone's support. Saving Changes...
Hi Keith, Great question for discussion. Here are my thoughts on empowering team. - Create a conducive and engaging environment to encourage learning, sharing, discussing, and analytical ability to make decisions. - Analyse the motivators of members and study how to motivate members to assume individual accountability, make optimal decisions, strive towards project goals, and align with the organization's vision. - Gradually minimize micromanagement but not eliminate. Provide the needful and optimal guidance for team members to grow and lead effectively.
Pang,
I realize now that I should give a lot more attention to your 2nd point:
Analyse the motivators of members and study how to motivate members to assume individual accountability, make optimal decisions, strive towards project goals, and align with the organization's vision
I do that with people who are problems. Your comment struck me in how that helps not only to help get yourself out of a problem, but also how to allow the people who are never a problem to remain that way. Saving Changes...
In most cases project team members are already empowered to make decisions in their area of expertise and this is what it really matters.
Many project team members, especially the technical experts, only care to be empowered to decide what needs to be done to complete the work that it is assigned to them, many don't like to be involved in decisions outside their functional area.
Most PMs act as facilitators and don't get to hold the power over the team members and as such they can't empower the team. Usually the project leads, functional managers and higher management can take the power out of the team members and order them to do things in a certain way.
So you should be careful when talking about empowering the team as you may want to give to the team members the power they don't want.
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1 reply by Keith Novak
Aug 18, 2019 12:29 PM
Keith Novak
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Adrian,
You could not have set me up better for describing how *I* was working to empower other people, when my boss handed me the reigns at the end of the day.
There was an outside organization, trying to place a lot of responsibility on one person on my team, which was completely outside their RAAs. The individual who was being overly-empowerd if you will, was IM-ing me about how they were getting action items completely outside their area of responsibility.
Fortunately I was paying attention and already communicating this to my leadership team in the background. I was able to explain to the concerned teammate that what they were being asked to do was my job, and not their job. If anyone disagrees with that, they come talk to me, and if necessary, I will teach them how to read an org chart.
That made my teammate much happier. My empowerment there was to give them full authority to to their own job, without having to do my job too.
Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
One of the ways I empower the team is to do whatever I can in ensuring the team has the information and/or access to information, or individuals that can provide needed expertise so that they [the team] can make effective decisions in executing on the work within the given timeline. Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
Hi Keith,
I completely understand your context and agree with it!
The type of project my post was referring to is those where I’m “viewed” as a SME in the domain(s) the project is engaging. We have discussed the dangers and issues created when a PM has SME characteristics many times on this site, and I’m in agreement with those concerns. So, this is one of my strategies for dealing with potential conflicts when the line becomes or is perceived as blurred.
I have leveraged “architectural awareness” as a philosophy through most of my career, and when you have been with an organization for enough time where you have seen the “true SME’s” turn-over a few times, you run into the situation where your continuity-of-knowledge (i.e., tribal knowledge) on a given subject becomes sought after. This is not something that I seek to have but is a result of architectural awareness on given subjects along with natural attrition within an organization.
I should have given some background regarding the context of my “strategic leadership absence” thought/posting. So, I hope the taste of what you were chewing on is no longer bitter, but instead pleasantly mellow. :-) Saving Changes...
I find this is easier in contexts where team self-organization is desirable, as we (as leaders) need to practice what we preach!
Strategically skipping ceremonies is a good way to both explicitly empower the team but also to assess whether they are ready to fly on their own.
Playing a game like Delegation Poker is another method of testing individual biases about what decisions we feel comfortable making on our own and which we'd want to push upstream.
It's also about (gently) pushing back when someone comes to you with something which they could do for themselves. Remind them that you support them in their decision making and they can come to you for advice but the decision is theirs.
Kiron
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1 reply by Keith Novak
Aug 18, 2019 4:23 PM
Keith Novak
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It really is an interesting and nuanced part of our jobs. My initial reaction was, "Great...right when I need the leadership team to back me up, they walk out." It wasn't until later that I realized that what they really did was say, "You've got this, and if you need help you know where to find it."
I may be repeating the comments here but would recommend to read:
How to empower your team:
1. Empower to make them decisions.
2. Empower them to fail and correct themselves.
3. Empower them to come to you for suggestions
4. Empower them to accept criticism and criticize.
Coach them to learn above points.... Saving Changes...
In most cases project team members are already empowered to make decisions in their area of expertise and this is what it really matters.
Many project team members, especially the technical experts, only care to be empowered to decide what needs to be done to complete the work that it is assigned to them, many don't like to be involved in decisions outside their functional area.
Most PMs act as facilitators and don't get to hold the power over the team members and as such they can't empower the team. Usually the project leads, functional managers and higher management can take the power out of the team members and order them to do things in a certain way.
So you should be careful when talking about empowering the team as you may want to give to the team members the power they don't want.
Adrian,
You could not have set me up better for describing how *I* was working to empower other people, when my boss handed me the reigns at the end of the day.
There was an outside organization, trying to place a lot of responsibility on one person on my team, which was completely outside their RAAs. The individual who was being overly-empowerd if you will, was IM-ing me about how they were getting action items completely outside their area of responsibility.
Fortunately I was paying attention and already communicating this to my leadership team in the background. I was able to explain to the concerned teammate that what they were being asked to do was my job, and not their job. If anyone disagrees with that, they come talk to me, and if necessary, I will teach them how to read an org chart.
That made my teammate much happier. My empowerment there was to give them full authority to to their own job, without having to do my job too.
...
1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Aug 18, 2019 1:32 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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I guess every organization is different but on the projects on which I have worked each team member has his own duties on the project and once he is assigned to those duties he is empowered to do whatever it takes to complete his work.
When there are two or more than two team members with the same duties one of them is designated as the lead in that area and he can make decisions that the other members from his line of work must follow. If the tasks are independent of each other then there can be no lead and each team member works independently.
For instance if you have a business analyst on the team and his duties is to gather the requirements and decide the priorities of the tasks that are about to be completed then he is empowered to make those decisions. The PM does not have to empower the business analyst or delegate these duties to him since his assignment on the project already gives him the power he needs.
Unless the PM is also a very experienced Business Analyst capable of doing the work himself he can't interfere with the work the BA is doing and he can't empower or dis-empower the Business Analyst.
From my experience on a project knowledge is power. The one that has the most knowledge in a certain area has power in that area of the project. The PMs power is often limited to the project management area and he she can't interfere with the work of the other team members.
