Preventing Project Failure

Lesson 2

“The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”

Colin Powell

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Lesson 2 in the Colin Powell Leadership Series is something I see a lot of PMs do.  That is, create an atmosphere that says ‘leave me alone’.   Here’s the scenario: Your people come to you and you’re busy, so you speed them through their ideas, or you think that they don’t know what they’re talking about, or they are stuck in the weeds, or they don’t understand the schedule…or whatever reason.   You think you don’t have time for them.  And guess what….they know it.  You may not be saying ‘not now’ but what you are communicating is ‘you are not important.’  That is a dangerous message to convey when you’re managing a project because the devil is usually in the details.  If people aren’t giving you details because the atmosphere you create says ‘back off’ then you can miss important information that can derail your project.

Oren Harari puts it this way:

“If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEOs would fail.  One, they build so many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone lower in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous.  Two, the corporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness or failure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly. Real leaders make themselves accessible and available.  They show concern for the efforts and challenges faced by underlings, even as they demand high standards.  Accordingly, they are more likely to create an environment where problem analysis replaces blame.”

 Putting Lesson 2 into Action So, how do you create an aura of accessibility and availability?   I’ve created a little mnemonic device to help you remember.

4 Easy Steps to Being Accessible

• Don’t Shoot em Down
• Manage by Walking Around
• Face Front
• Punt

Don’t Shoot em Down  The shoot down comes when someone begins to tell you an idea and you interrupt them with something like  ‘No, that won’t work’ or  ‘We’ve already tried that’  or ‘That’s not what the issue is’.  This kind of immediate negation shuts people down.  Some people will keep trying, others will immediately shut up and decide to never give you information.   So instead of the immediate negation, just listen.  And try not to start your response to them with ‘No’.  Instead say something like, ‘That’s an idea’, or ‘Let’s consider that in more detail.’  Even if you think the idea is not a good one, the point is to use language to open discussion rather than to shut down discussion.   Most people want to talk through their ideas and will appreciate your willingness to hear them out, even if they are proven, through discussion, to be wrong.

Manage by Walking Around Management By Walking Around (MBWA) is actually an accepted management theory.  I thought it was kind of simple and basic when I first read about it…kind of like ‘duh’.    But I’ve learned there is simple wisdom in this one.  It’s like Maximus in Gladiator walking through the troops, or President Bill Clinton going to McDonalds.   There’s something very encouraging and affirming when your boss comes to you.  At Fannie Mae, I had an SVP come by and write her name on the cube in my wipe board.  I never erased it.   Go and visit your team members.  See what their work environment is like, ask them one on one what they are working on, and maybe engage them in some light discussion about kids, family, hobbies.  These kind of informal discussion goes a long way towards building trust.

Face Front I had a manager once who never turned to look at me when I bought important issues to him.  He just kept typing and staring at his screen. At first I took it really personally; did he not like me?   Or did I look funny to him?  Or maybe what I said just wasn’t important?  One day I saw him do that with his boss and I realized that he did that to everybody.    This one is really simple; when people are talking to you, give them your attention.  Turn to face them, stop typing, don’t look at your screen.  This can be difficult when you have unscheduled interruptions.  In those cases, stop and face the person, explain that you’ve got a lot going on and schedule time, right then and there, where you can give that person your full attention.

Punt This one is about letting someone else be the hero.  It’s like playing checkers with your little cousin and letting them win, the self-sacrificing giving of hints along the way (“I wouldn’t jump if I were you”).  You may be able to see the answer, but sometimes, you want to lead others through informed questioning; the Socratic method if you will.    Pull the answer out of your people.   Lead them toward the solution, or even better, trust them to come up with a solution and support them on it.  

I've got GREAT aura

Get Great Aura

Small steps like the 4 Easy Steps to Being Accessible create an aura about you in which people feel free to bring you the important stuff.  They know they’ll be heard and respected and the benefit to you as the PM is that you’ll open many more channels of communication…and be more successful for it.

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