项目领导力阴阳平衡，软硬适度

尉艳娟

“項目管理的目标不再局限于预算、进度、质量。项目若要产生影响力和持久价值，项目经理需学会做项目领导者，包括制定战略、创新、激励、授权、开展合作。” 苏珊娜·马德森（Susanne Madsen）如是说。

苏珊娜·马德森，国际知名项目领导力顾问、教练、培训师，英国项目管理协会（APM）成员。在花旗集团、摩根大通公司等有过近20年的项目管理经验。“项目领导力学院”联合创始人，曾出版图书《项目管理训练手册》（The Project Management Coaching Workbook） 、《项目管理中的领导力》（The Power of Project Leadership，有中译本）。

苏珊娜·马德森认为，项目经理和项目领导者的主要差别在于：项目经理在管理任务，而项目领导者在领导人。管理靠的是逻辑和权威，而领导靠的是影响力。苏珊娜·马德森发现她身边的大多数项目经理太过于注重任务。她主张，领导力是通过提问、协同合作、倾听、给予安全感等与成员建立关系。领导力技巧可以通过学习获得，秘诀是提升自我意识和情商。

苏珊娜·马德森强调，项目领导力有阴阳两面，“阴”是基于心的管理方式;而“阳”是基于脑的理性管理方式。项目领导力不是非此即彼，而应做到阴阳平衡、软硬适度。

“压力山大”是项目经理工作的常态。苏珊娜·马德森建议，面对压力，项目经理应改变看待压力事件的视角，设立工作界限，通过在业余时间投身爱好，来激发和恢复活力。

多数失败的项目往往一开始就失败了。采访中，苏珊娜·马德森特意为项目经理支招儿。她说，项目启动初期，三点不容忽视：了解项目的重要性和商业环境;找出重要决策者并与其建立牢固信任关系;与核心团队共同制定基本规则。

采访最后，苏珊娜·马德森特别提醒到，项目经理应避免逼着团队成员做事情。他们需要增强影响力技能，与项目团队成员建立更高层次的信任关系。人都喜欢被欣赏，排斥被管得太死，项目经理应避免“微观管理”，只关注目标和产出。

Interview

Youve said that project managers must learn how to lead. Why？

Susanne Madsen： In todays “more for less” culture， the expectations of project management and delivery are no longer limited to budgets， schedules and quality. For projects to make an impact and have lasting value， project managers must be able to strategize， innovate， motivate， empower and collaborate; in other words， they must learn how to lead. My book The Power of Project Leadership helps project managers transform into an effective project leaders by shifting their managerial mindset into one of inspiration， motivation and influence. The book describes what good project leadership looks like and explains how to make the transition using tangible tools and strategies.

From your perspective， what qualities distinguish a project leader from a project manager？ What are the secrets to make the transition from a project manager to project leader？

Susanne Madsen： A good project manager is someone who is rational and logical and who is good at producing a set of products and services in a predictable way， on time， on budget and to a consistent quality. A project leader is someone who is good at setting goals， making improvements to existing ways of working and motivating and leading the team to reach this new direction. To run a project successfully， we need both of these skill-sets. We have to manage tasks and lead people. If we are stuck in management side， it means that we rely on logic and authority to get work done. When we begin to act more as leaders， we begin to rely on influence.

Most project managers I work with are too task-oriented and dont understand that leading people isnt about pushing them or being overly directive. Leadership is about engaging through questions， working collaboratively， listening and making people feel safe. But its also about having tough conversations and being able to stretch and challenge others. Most project managers havent been taught how to do that， and the biggest shortcoming in my view is interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

Leadership skills can be learnt with conscious effort and a desire to collaborate with clients and team members in a deeper and more responsible way. The “secret” is for people to develop their level of self-awareness and emotional intelligence. This can be done by attending leadership workshops， reading leadership books， studying human psychology and working with a coach.

You mentioned Yin and Yang side of project leadership. Would you please elaborate on that point？

Susanne Madsen： Yin symbolizes such feminine elements as listening， supporting， coaching and maintaining stability. Supportive yin-leaders respect people and are eager to know what drives and motivates each member. They spend one-on-one time with team members， helping them to grow and develop and build up their confidence. They are good at praising people for a job well done and will often ask what type of help the individual needs.

Yang symbolizes the masculine element， which is challenging， demanding and factual. Yang-leaders set a high standard and expect the team to deliver to it. They have a strong sense of direction. They are action-oriented and results-driven. They ask challenging questions， hold people to account and may come across as forceful. They are assertive and push the team to deliver to the best of its ability and expect nothing but excellence.

We could say that yin is a predominant heart-based approach， whereas yang is a predominant rational or head-based approach.

Project leadership involves a high degree of yin as well as yang. Team members need both from their manager in order to perform and thrive. We have to support and enable people to lead on the one hand， whilst on the other challenge and drive results.

Imbalance in yin and yang creates a lopsided leadership style. When managers have a preference for either yin or yang， they can develop a lopsided or dysfunctional style. Leaders who have a lot of yang， and very little yin， tend to create stress around them. They demand a lot but dont give the team the security， confidence and space it needs to perform. On the other hand， when leaders only use yin， they run the risk of being too soft and nice and supporting people without looking for a return.

Project teams need the dynamic tension of both yin and yang and leaders need to reconcile the two. Leadership is not about “either/or” but about “and”. We must be enabling and forceful; forgiving and demanding; flexible and tough; supportive and challenging.

How can project leaders free themselves from too much stress？

Susanne Madsen： Its true that working on projects can be stressful with looming deadlines， demanding clients and endless to-do lists. The way project leaders can increase their ability to cope with high-pressure environments is to challenge their perceptions of the events that stress them and by setting personal boundaries.

They can do that by asking themselves what some of their beliefs are that cause them to be overworked. Do they believe that to be a good project manager they have to work as hard as possible？ Do they feel that they have to be perfect and always in control？ The trick is to insert some new beliefs instead of the old ones， such as “Between the hours of 9 to 6 I do my very best to lead the project. After 6pm I allow myself to switch off， to reenergise and to focus on my own needs.”

Id also like to mention the importance of spending more time doing what they love and what gives them energy during their spare time. When we work too much or worry about work， it drains us from energy， which makes us even more susceptible to stress. To be an effective project management leader， we have to feel strong in our body and in our mind. We can do that by reenergising ourselves during our spare time.

What should project managers pay special attention to during kickoff of a project？

Susanne Madsen： There is a range of things that project managers have to pay attention to when kicking off a project. Ill highlight three items here that I feel are often overlooked.

The first area that needs special attention is to find out why the project is important and to validate that it has an acceptable business case. The project manager is not responsible for the business case， but its important that they are familiar with it and that they buy into it. Too many projects get kicked off without a clear objective， rationale or benefit and when it later runs into trouble， it can easily reflect badly on the project manager. Fully understanding the business case will make the project manager better able to make decisions and steer the project in the right direction.

The next item is to understand who the decision-makers are and to build strong relationships of trust with them. Project managers need to ask themselves who the most important decision-makers are and how supportive they each are of the project. Its also important to understand who should be on the steering committee， as the most senior decision-makers need to meet on a regular basis to provide executive guidance for the project.

The third item worth mentioning is the importance of setting ground rules. Many projects dont get completed in the desired timeframe or in the way the project manager was hoping for. The fundamental problem is that the project manager has a set of expectations that have never been explicitly stated or discussed. Having a rulebook that no one has had input to is a recipe for conflict. The best way to create an effective and harmonious project team is for the team to produce a common set of ground rules that addresses how they will work together. Its not for the project manager to set these rules but for the core team to define them. It doesnt matter what the rules are as long as they have been collectively agreed and work for everyone.

As project managers， time is essential. How can they avoid chasing team members？

Susanne Madsen： You are right that many project managers find that they have to chase people to get work done， which is time consuming and frustrating. My advice is to strengthen their influencing skills and build higher levels of trust with the people on their project. They can do that through collaboration and inclusion and by accepting that their relationship with the team shouldnt be a transactional one. The key is to show empathy and to take a greater interest in the people they are asking to do work for them. They have to find out what the team member likes the most or the least about their job and use that to strengthen the bond between them. Trust is built and earned over time by listening， sharing， asking questions and by being honest and fair. Its also built by involving people in the work they do.

Another thought is that most people dont want to be tightly managed or told what to do. They want to feel appreciated and have the autonomy to decide how to do their work. Project managers wont be able to provide people with ultimate autonomy， but they can avoid micro managing team members by focusing on the objectives and outcomes of the work they delegate. They should agree with people what a good outcome looks like rather than defining how to do it – i.e. how will we measure that the task has been properly completed and how will we measure progress along the way？ When the project managers agree these parameters up front with team members， they make people feel part of the process and strengthen buy-in to the project.