MyProjectAdvisor Newsletter

July 2009

"The leader has not yet arrived."

How many of us have heard that message when joining a conference call? And how many of us, having heard that recorded message, mute the call and turn our attention to some other task?

In many projects, at stages from kick-off to final celebration, the leader still has not arrived, simply because many project managers do not feel they are in a position to lead. They are not willing to accept that responsibility, or they just don’t have the courage.

When a leader is late to a conference call, your full attention is most likely never restored to the call. The person whose responsibility it was to make the meeting a success failed to be reliable, and weakened the trust of the team in the process; if the leader cannot be counted on to make team meetings or calls a priority, team members begin to question whether their best interests are being looked after.

Project managers who fail to demonstrate leadership early on in their projects will similarly lose the attention, respect and effort of their team members and customers. The first few project meetings are often critical to a project manager’s ultimate success as a leader.

Reliability, along with credibility, intimacy and low self-orientation, is a key component of trust-based relationships, which in turn form the basis of strong leadership. And reliability begins with good meetings.

The three most common reasons for bad meetings are poor planning, inept leadership and undisciplined participants, and the unique demands of remote meetings such as conference calls can quickly exacerbate any of these. While the leader of a meeting has more limited control over the other participants than over the other two factors, good planning and competent leadership are very likely to have a positive influence on everyone involved.

There are several simple ways we can plan reliably good meetings. Meeting objectives should be written in a logical format. They should indicate action (what the group will be doing), outcome (what the result of the action will be) and qualifiers (any description needed to provide focus). This lets the group know what the meeting will address and gives them a chance to consider their roles concerning each of the objectives. If the agenda for the meeting is provided in advance, participants have the additional opportunity to prepare for anything that pertains particularly to them.

Once the meeting has been well-planned, leading it well should be much easier. Show up on time or early, whether in person or on the phone, and begin promptly. Stick to the agenda, but listen to your team; they most likely have valuable information to give you. If they recognize that you are prepared and focused on them, they will be more likely to participate well and contribute to a productive meeting. If a certain topic threatens to bog things down or make the meeting run over schedule, don't be afraid to schedule a separate meeting or discussion time for dealing with that issue. Let the person responsible know that it is important to you, even if it is beyond the scope of the current meeting.

If despite good planning and a reliable presence during the actual meeting the participants remain undisciplined, unfocused or uncooperative, re-examine your own actions before laying blame on them. Team members who do not trust their leader, or feel that they cannot rely on him or her, are unlikely to be fully invested in the meeting, especially if it is a remote conference call. They must know that the meeting is for them, that they can rely on you to give them your full attention, and that you are relying on their participation to make the meeting a success. In short, they must know that, you, the leader, have arrived!

MyProjectAdvisor^®  News, Contact Hours and PDU Opportunities

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Great things come to those who serve!

Sincerely

Jack Ferraro PMP

President MyProjectAdvisor

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