38: Potent Leadership

July 13, 2007 @ The Tao of Project Management from P M Blogger

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Once upon a time, I used an exercise in my project management courses to identify the characteristics of good and bad leaders, by asking the delegates to think of the most effective ineffective managers they had ever known. Some of the flip charts we produced were hilarious; come to think of it maybe I should re-introduce the exercise!

The negative characteristics were things like: reactive; chasing around in circles; trying to do it all themselves; and they lost the rest of the team somewhere along the way. The positive characteristics were things like: proactive; letting people get on with things; delegating; part of a keen team; and keeping the team in the picture. Do those descriptions remind you of anyone you know?

The good project manager is aware of what is happening in the project team and acts accordingly. Specific actions are less important than clarity or consciousness. There are no exercises or formula that will ensure successful leadership. It cannot be calculated or manipulated and it is never achieved by trying to look good.

The Project
As I am currently "between projects" and in the spirit of popular television, I have been working on a make-over for my web site, angling it towards project management solutions rather than focusing on the doing bits. What I am really looking for is organisations who want to develop their project management methods and approach, as this has been one of the areas I have enjoyed most in the past.

Meantime I await the good weather so I can do some walking and if the weather forecast is correct Saturday should be the first opportunity, so I am planning to do a circular walk around the Dart Valley.

The Tao
Lao Tsu tells us:

A truly good man is not aware of his goodness,
And is therefore good.
A foolish man tries to be good,
And is therefore not good.

A truly good man does nothing,
Yet leaves nothing undone.
A foolish man is always doing,
Yet much remains to be done.

When a truly kind man does something, he leaves nothing undone.
When a just man does something, he leaves a great deal to be done.
When a disciplinarian does something and no one responds,
He rolls up his sleeves in an attempt to enforce order.


This article is syndicated from The Tao of Project Management . The original article is available here. Read more in Project Management News, The Tao of Project Management .

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