COMMENTARY>>Big project? Lead it right

By Lt. Col. Thomas Morrison
19th Aerospace Medicine Squadron
commander

Management without leadership is like a rocking chair. Keeps you going but doesn’t get you anywhere. - Anonymous
Anyone who’s been handed a hot project knows it’s an opportunity to shine or crash and burn. Often, it’s a chance to make real, lasting changes. Success or failure of a project depends on many things but sound leadership can make the difference between an evolutionarily advantageous adaptation and one that dooms the organization to extinction. The essence of sound leadership in project management is the act of inspiring effective actions that support the goals of the project, which in turn supports the united values of an organization. A leader can best serve his organization by attending to the shared values, effectiveness and empowerment of the team in completing the project.

Effective project leadership depends upon exposing the values of the organization that prompted the project. This shared “meaning” helps align the team’s priorities.

Just making people aware of values is not sufficient. A leader must expose the differences between the current state and the desired state. Managers are problem solvers. Leaders are problem finders.

Establishing shared values and vision for the project team is important, but without attention to the effectiveness of the team, progress can slow or even stagnate. Leaders are concerned primarily with effectiveness rather than efficiency, focusing not only on outcomes but also on the ability of their people to produce those outcomes. To maximize team effectiveness leaders must recognize that their personal primary customers are the members of the project team they serve and treat them right.

Part of that philosophy is giving the team some freedom of choice in how best to accomplish the project.

As a primary source of inspiration for the group, the leader sets the destination but should not necessarily steer the boat. In contrast to being a directive micromanager, an effective leader must be willing to empower his team. A leader must balance empowerment of the team he serves with personal involvement in the project. Trust is essential to developing and maintaining that balance. When a leader has good followers, trust and empowerment come naturally and the project will proceed and succeed even in the absence of “the leader.”