Thoughts on being a project leader

The same client that prompted thought on my last post also prompted this one. Basically she said she wished she knew how to get control of people on the project, especially early on when she was first new to project management. The problem is that oftentimes none of these people report to you. So how can you get them to listen to you and respect what you say? This is not easy but I believe it all comes down to your approach. Here are some ideas:

-Get empowered by someone in the organization.  I would maintain that the very first thing you should do is have your boss or sponsor empower you. So instead of them just hiring you and saying “Get to work,” they should instead call a meeting with the team, introduce you and say, basically, “This is my guy and he is the one I want to drive this project to finish.” So right away you have a sort of borrowed power from this senior person. Now it doesn’t necessarily mean that the team will love you or follow you. That’s up to you. But at least you’ve got a good start.

-Be assertive. If you’re the project manager, you can’t come in and act like you’re uncertain even on day one. Especially on day one. Case in point: I took a job a few years ago at a telecom company to roll out a Virtual Private Network. It so happened I started on a Wednesday and my boss said to me, on arrival, “Come on, we need to go to a weekly telecom with the security team in Philadelphia.” So she and I walked across our small campus to the teleconference room.  When we got there, several of the team had arrived and she introduced me to them. (I had actually met them in the interview process so they knew me). The seating was auditorium style. I instantly had a choice to make. Do I sit further back since I’m the new guy? Or do I sit up front because I’m the PM? I chose to sit up front next to my new boss. I was making a statement when I did that. Basically, you hired me to be the project manager and I’m going to act like that from day one.

-Commanding presence.   By this I don’t mean you have to be like General Patton. But you should have – for want of a better expression – an air of authority about you. People want to be led and they must see that you are the guy or gal that can do that. Led meetings crisply, make authoritative decisions, be the person that the team looks up to. This is all easier said than done. But if you can’t do it, you must learn to do it. There is nothing worse than a leader who won’t lead. Or someone who gets up to talk to the team whose voice trails off, who mumbles. And then everyone stops listening and instead talks to each other.

Lastly, PMI recognizes five types of power: Formal / Legitimate: Power based on position; Expert: Power based on knowledge or expertise; Reward: You reward desirable behavior with incentives (carrot); Punishment / Penalty: Threats of punishment (stick); and Referent: Power based on respect or charisma.

You’d better have one or more of these types of power. Because if you don’t, the team will soon see that. And rather than follow you, will eat you alive.