Background[1]
If you are keen to become a project manager and manage projects through
a team of supporters, you have to become a leader that exudes leadership qualities.
Now, you can find a gazillion articles on "leadership" on the Internet and such
articles range from the definition of "leadership" covering: Decisiveness; Awareness;
Focus; Accountability; Empathy; Confidence; Optimism; Honesty; and Inspiration
and the like.[2] Or leadership may be portrayed
as "the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability
to do this",[3] which actually sounds
more like the work of a project manager. Or again you may simply decide
to go by following the advice I published back in 1987, namely "plan, organize,
execute, monitor and control."[4] And then
you decide on which type of leadership is most appropriate, such as: - Coercive:
Leaders demand immediate compliance.
- Authoritative: Leaders mobilize
people toward a vision.
- Affiliative: Leaders create emotional bonds
and harmony.
- Democratic: Leaders build consensus through participation.
- Pacesetting:
Leaders expect excellence and self-direction.
- Coaching: Leaders
develop people for the future.
Further, you may decide to select a
style according to the nature of your intended project, its background (is it
political?), the make up of your team, and the urgency of the challenge.[5]
For example: - Bureaucratic: where leaders focus on following
every rule.
- Charismatic: in which leaders inspire enthusiasm in
their teams and are energetic in motivating others to move forward.
- Servant:
whose leaders focus on meeting the needs of the team.
- Transactional:
in which leaders inspire by expecting the best from everyone including themselves.
However,
what seems to be missing in all of this is any discussing of personal appearances.
For example, it is said that a person can sum you up upon first acquaintance in
about thirty seconds. This is particularly significant when going for an interview
for a position as project manager. That thirty seconds determines whether you
even get to seriously discuss the job you are seeking. But the same also applies
when meeting members of your team for the first time. They will accept your credibility
according to whether you look and behave like a leader. The
following pages provide advice on two specific situations or interactions.
1.
By Max Wideman
2. See businessnewsdaily.com/3647-leadership-definition.html
3. See businessdictionary.com/definition/leadership.html
4. See maxwideman.com/papers/capitalprojects/control.htm
5. See businessnewsdaily.com/3647-leadership-definition.html
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