“Traditional autocratic and hierarchical modes of leadership are slowly yielding to a newer model—one that attempts to simultaneously enhance the personal growth of workers and improve quality and caring through a combination of teamwork and community, personal involvement in decision making, and ethical and caring behavior … called servant-leadership.”
—Larry Spears, Reflections on Leadership
The project management world is changing and today’s project leader must raise the bar in both skill and character to succeed in delivering projects and building teams that produce value for the customer. One way to look at this change is to see the project leader as a servant leader . . . and do it in five steps.
- Build on Strength: Allow each team member to contribute what he or she is best at. There are no weaknesses, just limitations that are not strengths—yet. This improves everyone’s performance and solidifies teams by aligning the strengths of many people.
- Blaze the Trail: Turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones. Give them a fine reputation to live up to. These actions multiply the Serving Leader’s impact by activating tier after tier of leadership.
- Raise the Bar: Establish high standards of performance. Build a culture of high performance.
- Upend the Pyramid: Disregard conventional project management thinking. Put other people first. You are in charge to charge up others. Servant leaders put themselves at the bottom of the pyramid and unleash the energy, excitement, and talents of the team.
- Run to Great Purpose: Hold out a big “reason why.” Strive to do the most possible good.
The Serving Leader avoids the common top-down hierarchical style by:
- Emphasizing collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power
- Providing what team members need to operate at peak performance
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Considering the individuality and special needs of each team member
- Making the most of abilities
- Building motivation and morale
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Being a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead
- Leading because you want to serve better, not because you desire increased power
The objective of a project leader as a servant leader is to enhance the growth of team members on the project team and increase teamwork and personal involvement. Look for my next post where we look at 21 Project Leadership Tips to Build a High-Performance Team!
From my point of view leaders need to adopt different styles during the project.A leader has to lead at times and be followed at other times. Flexibility is the key and also knowing the relative strengths of different people.