Leading Projects in Uncertain Times
4 essential steps when you have lots of responsibility and little authority
Congratulations on your new assignment as a project leader! Covid-19 Economics has made shambles of organization structures. Day One you realize that you have all the responsibility to deliver the project and very little authority over anyone.
Ugh! How are you going to survive and make this assignment successful?
Let’s answer your question using the “CAR” (Context, Action, Result) approach.
CONTEXT
You as the gig-economy project manager is charged with delivering a project (solution). The tactical project team is a blend of customer and maybe external resources. The team represents various levels of the organization from executive to analyst to field worker. Ultimately they must adopt the solution for the project to be successful. All of the customer’s project team constituents have a “day job” and pressing responsibilities other than the project. None of the customer’s constituents have a formal reporting relationship to you. So, you have no official customer organizational power (reward or punishment).
Not all is lost. You do have Expert power — power based on your expertise and experience. (After all you did land the job.) And you have Referent power — authority linked to your hiring manager. Expert power is valuable and provides a foundation. Referent power, or name dropping, is weak bargaining position.
ACTION
Expert power only goes so far. It opens the door to conversation. To reach success you must build a coalition across the team whose common goal is delivering the project.
Consider these four levers.
#1 Destination Can you clearly articulate the project’s objectives, scope, and deliverables? How about how the project fits into the bigger picture? What does success look like to the stakeholders? Nail down these answers on Day One. You can’t lead a project without knowing the destination. Plus this is the tie-back to your expert power (knowledge / experience).
Tap the brakes. Have a kick-off meeting — share, discuss and confirm the project’s destination with all project constituents. Don’t settle for passive head nods. This is the time to everyone’s expectations and assumptions are aligned — before the work begins.
#2 Motivation What motivates each of the constituents? Can you answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” With that knowledge, you can relate how the project delivers the goods for the project team constituents. Underscore that you will ensure the broader organization recognizes their contributions. Recognize some people are motivated by the work itself (the journey). Others are motivated by rewards at the finish.
#3 Communication Establish a consistent rhythm of communication. Build upon the project kick-off meeting. Provide the team clear project updates and statuses. Minimize unpleasant surprises. But there is more. Make the “investment” to actively listen to each team member. Build trust.
#4 Control Change Not all projects bring about dramatic change — but all projects have an element of change. Develop a sense of the organization’ dynamics. Sometimes it is useful to diagram and review the change agenda with the team constituents. For example, does the project call for new skills or shift in department responsibilities. As the project leader — getting others to visualize the change and to participate crafting the steps to accept the change is key to maintaining participation and support.
As in any relationship you will have modulate your communication message to the audience. You will have to test and adapt your communication style to align with how each person best receives information.
Result: Success! You relied upon your business acumen and project management skills to wrangle the work. You relied upon your emotional IQ skills to create a harmonious team. You made the investment to understood how people are motivated — intrinsically and externally. You took a sincere interest in the team constituents and built a foundation of trust. Each of the project stakeholders achieved their vision of success.
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” — Henry Ford
