Thursday’s Carol Lewis article for The Times could speak volumes for those programme managers or senior project managers looking to revitalise the UK capital through London 2012. In fact, there could exist the capacity within one well-run project affiliated with the Olympics that leadership traits could – repeat: COULD – be on display within our nation’s project managers.
An excerpt reveals the following:
If you can handle a high-pro-file (sic), complex project such as the staging of the Olympic Games or the construction of Heathrow’s Terminal 5, then you are likely to be able to run a large corporation, says Dr Janet Smart, director of the BT Centre for Major Programme Management at Saïd Business School in Oxford.
“A programme manager needs to be able to combine project management and leadership skills. But do all leaders need programme management skills? No. It’s useful but not essential.” Successful programme managers (senior project managers who handle large complex projects or portfolios of projects) need to direct a diverse team of professionals, confidently manage lawyers and budgets and posses a well-honed set of soft skills, including the ability to communicate with the media and government, she says.
Read the entire article in the link above, and you’ll see what is really at stake here for corporate ladder advancement: soft skills. If we’re to take quotes from Lewis’ article’s key sources to heart, the key to climbing the ladder, dear PM brethren, lies not merely the ability to get things done. You have to display communication skills. You have to look accountable publicly. And, yes, you have to handle the other everyday traits the role requires: Manage the budgets, handle the barristers and project/programme professionals alike. And deliver.
What happens when our more recognised leaders in the world have the communication skills of a suave PR natural? Some notable examples in history and present-day life:
- Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Two of the most highly-regarded, celebrated leaders in their respective countries’ history, Churchill and FDR were not subject to the personal life scrutiny that plagues public officials these days. If they had been, it wouldn’t have mattered: their skills as communicators (Churchill was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and highly-regarded orator, while Roosevelt’s innovative Fireside Chats were PR genius in the radio age) developed support, encouraged and stirred the masses, and mobilised nations ready to change the course of their respective futures.
- John McCain: Currently the Republican nominee for President of the United States of America, the Vietnam War hero and Senator from Arizona has been a media darling thus far in the 2008 Presidential campaign. McCain rose to prominence in the US during his 2000 Presidential campaign run behind his innovative ‘Straight Talk Express’ Bus Tour. He released a best-selling, well-received book, made up for a lack of campaign funds with a media-friendly demeanor, and molded a public image (complete with a degree of self-deprecation) that makes him his party’s presidential favorite eight years later, in spite of criticism about his bad temper from several notable colleagues, as well as public forum commentators who hope to provide a real glimpse of the man behind the image.
- Joe Torre: Who? you ask. Torre is Alex Ferguson of modern baseball, as for 12 years he guided Major League Baseball’s most successful team, the New York Yankees, to countless championships and records. Torre’s otherwise uneventful run as a baseball manager with the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals prior to his 1996 hiring by the Yankees was questioned and criticised throughout the baseball world (and the unforgiving ‘Win It Yesterday’ New York sports media). Throw in a fire-breathing owner with a reputation and history of volatility, and the media storm clouds were circling before he’d even got started. Yet Torre, a native of New York City, never allowed the clouds to materialise through much of his first six years at the helm. Affable in public, yet determined and resourceful as a leader, the Torre-led Yankees overachieved from 1996 to 2001, winning MLB’s World Series four out of five years and consistently getting production in the clutch when they needed it. He left the Yankees after the 2007 season having never missed the playoffs as manager, the second-longest postseason streak in baseball history. While winning certainly helped him become the longest serving, most successful Yankees manager in the George Steinbrenner era, his media profile went a long way as well: a former broadcaster, he was a quoteworthy and accountable presence in a clubhouse that always demands such traits. One particular example of his media-friendly demeanor occured after an incident instigated by one of his players in the 2000 World Series. The incident, which came to be known as ‘Bat Gate’, led to a press conference that angered Torre to the point of a vehement defense of his player. Though the high-spirited defense made the headlines, what is barely remembered is how Torre recognised the incident wouldn’t go away that easily: He realised he owed the public more. Slowly, Torre collected his emotions and calmly reasoned with the same reporter (one of over 200), while still managing to stick up for his disgraced player and settling the focus of a noisy series back on the task at hand. It would lead to the Yanks’ final title, defeating the derby rival Mets four games to one in a battle for Big Apple bragging rights (not to mention the league championship).
In essence, while few people are fortunate enough to hold the same positions as these giants of managerial / political leadership, they possess the simple, essential gifts that complete projects and programmes quite similar to our own projects and programmes.
