About this Video

• Video Title: The Power of Project Leadership | Episode 309
• Channel: CorneliusFichtner
• Speakers: Cornelius Fichtner, Suzanne Matson
• Duration: 00:30:06

Introduction

This podcast episode features an interview with Suzanne Matson, a project leadership coach, author, and speaker, discussing her new book, "The Power of Project Leadership." The interview explores key leadership concepts and provides practical tips for project managers aiming to transition from managing tasks to leading through vision and empowerment.

Key Takeaways

• Transition from Project Manager to Project Leader: The episode emphasizes the shift from task-oriented project management to project leadership, focusing on vision, empowerment, and strategic value creation.
• Seven Keys to Project Leadership: Suzanne Matson outlines seven keys: be authentic, lead with vision, improve and innovate, empower the team, get close to stakeholders, establish a solid foundation, and work with intent.
• Strategic vs. Tactical Measures: The importance of understanding both strategic (impact on company objectives) and tactical (time, cost, quality) measures of success is highlighted. Focusing solely on tactical measures can neglect the bigger picture of value creation.
• Empowerment through Questions: Creating a safe space for team members to contribute ideas and fostering innovation through questioning is crucial for team empowerment.
• Ying and Yang of Project Leadership: The episode introduces a matrix illustrating the balance between support ("Ying") and challenge ("Yang") in leadership. Effective leadership requires a balance of both; an overemphasis on one aspect can be detrimental.
• Emotional Intelligence: Developing emotional intelligence, including empathy, self-management, and effective communication, is essential for building strong relationships and fostering a collaborative team environment.

Suzanne Matson's interest in project leadership stems from her own past experiences as a project manager. She made "all the classic mistakes" that she now sees in the project managers she coaches, such as trying to do everything herself, being overly task-oriented, and neglecting team motivation. This led to burnout. After a personal transformation involving leadership courses and coaching, she realized there was a better way and now dedicates herself to helping others avoid her past mistakes and deliver better projects. She points out growing evidence that leadership, not just technical skills, is the most important skill for project managers.

Suzanne Matson aims for readers to act differently after reading her book, not just gain knowledge. She wants them to start thinking of themselves as leadership role models, leading with integrity, adding value to clients, and influencing others positively. This includes connecting more with customers and understanding how to add strategic value to the company. The book's exercises, insightful questions, and interviews with leadership experts aim to inspire this transformation. It also focuses on mindset, emphasizing the importance of having the right motivations for wanting to become a leader to ensure sustainable transformation.

The book uses several methods to help project managers transform: It explains what good project leadership looks like, but also includes exercises, insightful questions, and 25 interviews with project leadership experts from various industries. This diverse content aims to inspire action. A significant portion focuses on mindset—understanding individual motivators for wanting to become a leader and ensuring those motivations align with the realities of the role. The book explores various aspects of leadership beyond theory, encouraging a practical shift in approach.

Suzanne Matson suggests several motivators for wanting to become a project leader: Growth (continuous learning and development), connection (creating community and helping others grow), significance (achieving recognition, a better title, or higher earnings), and contribution (adding to a larger purpose). She emphasizes the importance of understanding which motivators drive you personally, and whether becoming a project leader will truly fulfill those needs. She warns against pursuing leadership for the wrong reasons, as this can lead to unsustainable transformation.

Suzanne Matson doesn't recommend a specific number of years of experience before starting the transformation to project leadership. She suggests that the transition should happen naturally when a project manager realizes they lack the skills to persuade stakeholders, build strong relationships, or motivate their team. This typically occurs when they begin to see that their task-focused approach is not yielding optimal results and start looking beyond individual tasks to the bigger picture. Ideally, future training would incorporate emotional intelligence and business value from day one, but currently, the transition often occurs after initial technical skills training.

Suzanne Matson contrasts tactical measures (time, cost, quality) with strategic measures, which focus on the effect of the project's output on the company's strategic drivers. These drivers vary by company but could include improving reputation, increasing market share, beating competitors, or boosting revenue. Strategic success factors also encompass the relevance of the output to end-users and its long-term sustainability. These strategic factors help measure value and the overall business case.

Project managers need to improve and innovate at both the product and process levels. This requires a mindset shift, actively seeking ways to improve and innovate. Suzanne Matson suggests several methods: asking questions to encourage team collaboration and brainstorming, creating a safe space for idea sharing without immediate criticism, rotating personnel within organizations to facilitate knowledge transfer, and actively seeking external knowledge and best practices to overcome internal silos and improve processes. She also highlights the potential of agile methodologies, but cautions against rigid adherence to the process without considering whether it's working effectively.

Suzanne Matson describes the "Ying and Yang" of project leadership as a balance between support ("Ying") and challenge ("Yang"). Support involves actively listening to team members, understanding their strengths and motivators, holding one-on-one meetings, and creating a safe and collaborative environment. Challenge involves setting challenging goals, delegating difficult tasks, and pushing team members to grow and develop. Effective project leadership requires both—a lack of either support or challenge can create problems (complacency with excessive support, stress with excessive challenge). Leaders who neglect both create detachment within their teams.

Suzanne Matson offers these concluding tips for aspiring project leaders:

• Consider shifting from a primarily task-focused approach to a more people-focused one, developing emotional intelligence to build better relationships.
• Assess whether you're asking enough questions and truly listening to your team, creating space for their input rather than simply directing them.
• Focus on creating long-term value for your clients, as this is the ultimate goal. She summarizes this as being a role model, asking questions, listening, empowering the team, creating space, and considering what creates value in the long term for clients.