Leadership Advice for Managers

I think Agile Project management is something different than old project management style. Generally "old managers" try to control the things in angry and judgmental way. This tends to long run problem for you and organization.

Do you have any employee who is not acting as he supposed to? Are you just getting annoyed or are you trying to help him. Think about your own behavior at work. Are you communicating a sense of joy and enthusiasm to the people around you - or are you spending too much time in the role of angry, judgmental critic.

Keep trying to make a constructive difference in the situation, but do it in a way that is positive for you and the people around you. Real leaders are not people who can point out what is wrong. Almost anyone can do that. Real leaders are people who can make things better. What do you think?

4 comments:

  1. As a sergeant in the Marine Corps I learned the foolishness of controlling people in an angry and judgmental way. After all, these people will be armed when they follow you up a hill one day. The Servant Leadership approach has always worked, it is not new, and it is not just about Agile. In fact, I know some angry Agile project managers.

    Agile Project Management is about building the ability of the team to respond to changes. Sometimes this is done with joy and enthusiasm, sometimes it is done directly and bluntly.

    You are right that it is always better to put people in a position to be successful - and it is becoming increasingly important to have people feel engaged in the project.

    Dennis Stevens
    www.dennisstevens.com
    twitter.com/dennisstevens

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  2. I agree. Everything you do as part of your job should serve a purpose. I don't see that getting angry is going to keep a project on track. Instead, I've found its better to concentrate on keeping the project going as quickly and as smoothly as possible, and this inevitably means focussing on issue resolution, helping people, and leading by example.

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  3. And furthermore, by seeing failure or errors as learning points, to help bring a team in on learning how to work better together, you create a sense of ownership of the project as a whole. To quote Lao Tsu: "To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'"

    Sometimes my greatest moments managing a group of people is when I step back and let them run the day and debriefing it later. We retain 20% of what is lectured at us, 75% of what we say ourselves, 90% of what we do, and 95% of what we teach to others.

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  4. I agree with you friend... I have enjoyed reading the tips. I find they provide insight in dealing with both my personal issues, as well as, my professional career.

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