1.1

This is a useful model to have in mind at the start of the project when thinking of the whole project group. It is important to get the team to buy in and be committed to the approach to be used on the project. Thus for project launch, we need more freedom for the project team to achieve a consensus. As the work progresses, the project manager can be more directional. Having bought in, the team wants decisions and will be more willing to accept a directional leadership style, with the project manager exerting extra authority.

1.2

Do not try to get everyone to reach agreement. Seeking a total consensus can lead to endless haggling and conflict. Margaret Thatcher felt that “consensus doesn't give any direction.”⁴ People will accept a decision that they do not fully agree with if the process (see a – d below) by which decisions are reached is seen to be fair. By having their say and their opinions considered seriously, they will accept a ‘consensus with qualification’⁵ result much more quickly. On the other hand, all Churchill wanted was acceptance of his views after reasonable discussion.

1. Each person must be free to suggest alternatives.
2. The group fully discusses the arguments for and against each option.
3. The group collectively modifies an alternative, as needed, to improve it.
4. The group or manager selects the option most acceptable to the group. The option is the one that enables individuals to say: “I can live with it.”

See also Section K, subsection 3, Binary Decision‐making.

2.1

With a small group: the interpersonal skills of the group as a whole will be relatively high. Thus, a decision‐sharing style is workable (shown by the full line from bottom left to top right in Figure VI.B.2).

2.2

With a bigger group: the interpersonal skills of the group will be reduced. Consequently, a more formal, but still consultative style will be required (shown by the horizontal dashed line in Figure VI.B.2).

With a large group: the interpersonal skills of the whole group will be relatively poor. Hence a more structured approach directing the group will be needed (shown by the chain link line from top left to bottom right in Figure VI.B.2).

3.1 Supervising Styles

1. 1 Directing: The supervisor tells the team member exactly what to do and how to do it.
2. 2 Coaching: The supervisor still provides information and direction, but there is more communication with the team member. The supervisor ‘sells’ their message to get the person on board.
3. 3 Supporting: The supervisor focuses more on the relationship and less on direction. The supervisor works with the person and helps with decision‐making responsibilities.
4. 4 Delegating: The supervisor passes most of the responsibility onto the team member. The supervisor still monitors progress at key points, but they are less involved in decisions.

Don't forget that when you delegate, you are still accountable. See subsection 7 below.

3.2 Skill/Experience and Motivation

1. 1 Low skill, high motivation – Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in hand but has the confidence and/or motivation to tackle the task. It's a new experience, and the person is keen to get on with it.
2. 2 Some skill, low motivation – May have some of the skills needed but won't be able to do the job without help. The task or the situation may be new to them, but the work is not as interesting as they thought.
3. 3 High skill, variable motivation – Experienced and capable but may lack the confidence to go it alone or the motivation to do it well/quickly. They need encouragement to keep at it.
4. 4 High skill, high motivation – Experienced at the job and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. May even be more skilled than the supervisor. You can leave them to get on with the work.

3.3 Time Management

The heavy emphasis on relationships, coaching, and support means that they are very time‐consuming for the supervisor involved. Consequently, once the team has bought in, more use should be made of directing and delegating since this frees up the manager's time.

4.1 Task focus

1. For the project team to be motivated, it is essential for the scope to be comprehensively and fully defined. In addition, the individuals need to understand the significance of their task and how it fits into the overall project plan.
2. People like to achieve targets. Consequently, milestones can be used as motivators for the team. Providing ‘stretch targets’ (the early finish date from the network analysis) for specific tasks similarly challenges individuals.
3. As the project manager, you will be arriving early and leaving late! Be punctual for meetings, and start on time in order to develop a productive project culture.

4.2 Team focus

1. The capability of the team will depend on the relationships developed during team building (see Part V, Section Q, subsection 2.) and the clarity of the roles and responsibilities. Having said this, in a truly effective team, the individual team members help each other regardless of their job descriptions. Further, when and where appropriate, the project manager should allow the leadership of the team to devolve to other team members.
2. It is useful if a bonus scheme has been negotiated to achieve project cost, time, and quality targets. This generates a competitive element for the team.
3. Try and eliminate your ‘project management ego.’ Talk about the team as a team and keep everyone updated on developments in the project.
4. The power of a team still continues to amaze me. Use the creative and constructive ability of the group process.

4.3 Individual focus

1. The individual team members should be selected on the basis of their being able to satisfy their personal agenda. This will depend on the stage of development of their careers and may be difficult to identify.
2. Job titles are cheap. Where possible, use them to satisfy individual career development ambitions.
3. Experienced individuals will not like being told what to do. Give them tasks that utilize their experience and skills. Consequently, develop individuals by making more use of the delegating style (see paragraph 3.1d above). Senior management recognition of your development of individuals will be to your own benefit.
4. If the bonus scheme, mentioned above, has an element that is distributed to individuals, it is even more powerful as a motivator.
5. As indicated in the situational leadership model, it is sometimes necessary to support and encourage individuals.
6. I once bent the rules to benefit someone's personal needs. From that point on, I was taken advantage of. I soon changed to my construction manager's tough line: Be firm, fair, and consistent, and people will respond positively.
7. A colleague once said: “That was well done, Garth.” Even though, I was 100 per cent certain that I was being manipulated in the particular circumstances, I felt good about it. It made me realise how powerful acknowledgement of good work can be.

5.1

Adizes⁷ recognizes that the management process is too complicated for any one individual as effective management entails simultaneously performing four individually conflicting management roles:

1. The Producer‐is oriented towards creating results and has a thorough knowledge of their field.
2. The Administrator‐is oriented towards planning and scheduling.
3. The Entrepreneur‐is oriented towards generating new ideas and plans of action.
4. The Integrator‐is oriented towards turning individual goals into group goals.

5.2

Adizes argues that, in practice, no single individual is capable of performing all four of the necessary managerial roles at the same time. Adizes's first two roles may be seen as primarily associated with the concept of management (efficiency). Whereas, roles 3 and 4 are more closely connected to the concept of leadership (effectiveness).

5.3

There are interesting correlations with different aspects of Belbin's team roles (see Part V, Section R). For example: ‘the producer’ is Belbin's company worker/implementer and ‘the integrator’ is Belbin's team worker.

6.1

MBWA is an informal and unstructured approach to involvement by the manager in the work of subordinates. In practice the project manager makes informal visits to designers and draughtsmen (and foremen on site) and listens to their comments and complaints about their work. The process enables issues and suggestions to be raised that might not otherwise get an airing.

7.1

This is what the father of the U.S. Navy nuclear propulsion programme, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, had to say on the subject of responsibility⁹:

8.1

Know Your Men, Your Business and Yourself.¹⁰

You will have in your charge loyal but untrained citizens, who look to you for instruction and guidance. Your word will be their law. Your most casual remark will be remembered. Your mannerism will be aped. Your clothing, your carriage, your vocabulary, your manner of command will be imitated.

When you join your organization you will find there a willing body of men who ask from you nothing more than the qualities that will command their respect, their loyalty and their obedience. They are perfectly ready and eager to follow you so long as you can convince them that you have those qualities.

Leadership is a composite of a number of qualities. Among the most important I would list self‐confidence, moral ascendancy, self‐sacrifice, paternalism, fairness, initiative, decision, dignity, and courage.

Self‐confidence results, first, from exact knowledge, second, the ability to impart that knowledge. … Men will not have confidence in an officer unless he knows his business, and he must know it from the ground up.

And not only should each officer know thoroughly the duties of his own grade, but he should study those of two grades next above him.

Self‐sacrifice is essential to leadership. You will give, give all the time. You will give yourself physically, for the longest hours, the hardest work and the greatest responsibility is the lot of the captain. He is the first man up in the morning and the last man in at night. He works while others sleep.

Fairness is another element without which leadership can neither be built up nor maintained. There must be that fairness which treats all men justly. I do not say alike, for you cannot treat all men alike – that would be assuming that all men are cut from the same piece.

When one of your men accomplishes an especially creditable piece of work, see that he gets the proper reward. Turn heaven and earth upside down to get it for him. Don't try and take it away from him and hog it for yourself. You may do this and get away with it, but have lost the respect and loyalty of your men. Sooner or later your brother officers will hear of it and shun you like a leper. … Give the man under you his due.

When an emergency arises, certain men calmly give instant orders which later, on analysis, prove to be …very nearly the right thing to have done. …You may say “That man is a genius. He hasn't had time to reason … he acted intuitively.” Forget it “Genius is merely the capacity for taking infinite pains.” The man who was ready is the man who has prepared himself. He has studied beforehand the possible situation that might arise, he has made tentative plans covering such situations.

Any reasonable order in an emergency is better than no order. The situation is there. Meet it. It is better to do something and do the wrong thing than to hesitate, hunt around for the right thing to do and wind up by doing nothing at all. And, having decided on a line of action, stick to it. Don't vacillate. Men have no confidence in an officer who doesn't know his own mind.

Moral courage demands that you assume responsibility for your own acts. If your subordinates have loyally carried out your orders and the movement you directed is a failure, the failure is yours, not theirs.

Furthermore, you will need moral courage to determine the fate of those under you. … Keep clearly in mind your personal integrity. … if you are called for a recommendation concerning a man whom, for personal reasons you thoroughly dislike, do not fail to do him full justice. Remember that your aim is the general good.

And lastly, if you aspire to leadership, I would urge you to study men. Get under their skins and find out what is inside. Some men are quite different from what they appear to be on the surface. Determine the workings of their minds.”

8.2

Know your team, know your project, and know yourself.