Episode 160: Business Driven PMO Setup; Chapter 8 - PM Leadership: Servant Leader vs. Subject Matter Expert

This week The PMO Podcast™ Featured Story introduces, “Business Driven PMO Setup; Chapter 8 - PM Leadership: Servant Leader vs. Subject Matter Expert” presented by Mark Perry (about Mark), host of The PMO Podcast™. Each chapter of the book starts off with a cartoon and the cartoon in Chapter 8 goes like this. There is a picture of a PMO manager talking to the project member and one of the members of the team. The PMO manager says, “Can’t you hurry up and finish the project charter? The early bird gets the worm you know.” The project manager replies, “The early bird may get the worm, but it is the second mouse that gets the cheese.” The other team member adds, “How I can relate to that first mouse.” As the cartoon shown suggests in a playful way, it is actually quite important for leaders to know what they are talking about and to lead in the right direction. But what makes a good leader? As long as there have been groups of people, there have been leaders. Whether borne out of necessity or appointed, leaders occupy a position of authority. But do leaders have to be experts? Do leaders have to make strategic decisions? Do leaders have to micro-manage followers? Do leaders have to brandish their power? Conventional leadership has taught us that the answer to all of those questions is yes. I beg to differ. The PMO Podcast™ Points Memo suggests, “Give the credit to your team." Some bosses never see a good idea unless it is their own. Likewise, they never make a mistake that wasn't actually the fault of someone else. Many workers, over the course of their career, will have some good ideas stolen by bosses and other good ideas summarily dismissed. Nothing will destroy employee morale, enthusiasm for the job at hand, and stifle future innovation than this. Good managers, especially good PMO managers, know that they never lose credit when they share that credit and the glory that follows with their PMO team. The PMO Podcast™ Mailbag answers a listener question about a good rule of thumb for how many meetings or how often a project manager should hold team meetings to review the status of a project. The PMO Podcast™ is sponsored by BOT International, the provider of Processes On Demand, a PMO Setup solution used by more than 1,000 companies.Request a Demo LoginThe PMO Podcast™ is a trademark of BOT International. The PMO Podcast™ and its RSS feed are copyright © by BOT International 2013. All rights reserved.