The Modern Servant Leader

Technology & Servant Leadership

Archive for the ‘Management’ category

Leaders Who Cry Wolf

February 22nd, 2010

Leaders Who Cry Wolf May Leave Their Flock to be Eaten

As the story goes a child shepherd, seeking attention, cries false alarms of “Wolf! Wolf!” on several occasions. Over time, the townspeople and neighbors learn to ignore his cries and soon, stop responding at all. As a result, when a wolf really does come and the boy shouts for help again, he’s left to fend for himself. The wolf eats the flock and, in some versions, even eats the boy. This tale offers wisdom to us in a business context as well.

Have you ever seen someone jump from fire drill to fire drill because their boss believed every issue was a crisis? Often, this stems from the culture of the organization and the overreaction is simply passed down the chain of command. Regardless of their source, constant fire drills may:

1. Burnout employees

2. Reduce creativity and innovation

3. Emphasize expedience over quality

» Read more: Leaders Who Cry Wolf

Like it? Please share it:

1802 commentsLeaders+Who+Cry+Wolf2010-02-22+16%3A45%3A12Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Career, Featured, Management

Tags: Burn Out Career Management Servant Leadership Supporting Your Team Understanding

Leadership Lessons From My Accident

February 2nd, 2010

Going Into A Snowbank Can Teach You A Lesson

Crashing Into a Ditch Teaches A (Leadership) Lesson

At 7:15 AM, I was already well on my way down the hour-long commute. On that morning I drove “the wife’s car”, because my regular vehicle was in the shop. It was a classic Midwest winter day, with plenty of lake effect snow, but the region was prepared for the conditions. As such, the roads were fairly clear. Still, occasional sections looked suspiciously like ice. As a result, I drove under the speed limit, but still passed a few people who “probably shouldn’t be on the road anyway”.

It was during one of those passes that I felt the back end start to slide out. After several counter-steering attempts, the fishtailing continued and I realized there was no escaping it. » Read more: Leadership Lessons From My Accident

Like it? Please share it:

355No commentsLeadership+Lessons+From+My+Accident2010-02-03+04%3A36%3A29Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Career, Management

Tags: Career Change Management Leadership Management Technology

Project Tailgaters & Brake Checkers

December 14th, 2009

Stop Tailgating & Brake Checking at Work

Imagine you’re driving down the road in the passing lane, already exceeding the speed limit, when you see somebody following very close. The tailgater’s message is clear: “I need to get somewhere and I need to get there quicker than you are going”. Some people in this situation might “brake check” the tailgater – they slam on their breaks to send their own message. The brake checker’s message is equally strong: “Watch out! If you follow too close, you may cause an accident and it will be clearly your fault.”

Does this sound familiar to disagreements at the office? Two people are working on a project and it appears both are trying to get to the same destination. Yet one person demands greater risks for quicker results. This happens a lot, especially in organizations where near-term results and quarterly goals are prioritized over sustainability. As a result, employees are often competing for who can get the job done quicker and not necessarily who gets there with the best balance of risk and reward. Both the Brake Checker and the Tailgater have better options to serve their company. » Read more: Project Tailgaters & Brake Checkers

Like it? Please share it:

200No commentsProject+Tailgaters+%26+Brake+Checkers2009-12-14+13%3A25%3A43Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Management, Project Management

Tags: Collaboration Commuter Driving Results Leadership Project Management Servant Leadership Supporting Your Team

Servant Leaders Can Be Mean Too

October 28th, 2009

One misconception about Servant Leaders is that they are just “too nice”. Many executives hear the term “Servant Leader” and think, “that person will never make it in our environment” or, “they’ll just go easy on the staff and we’ll never get anything done”. Then there is my favorite: “Servant Leaders just want to be liked by everyone”. In reality, Servant Leaders can seem quite mean, depending upon the circumstances. Below are four examples of servant leaders that even Donald Trump could be proud of….

Accountability
Servant Leaders accept the blame for failures within the team. However, in serving their organization and their stakeholders, they must ensure » Read more: Servant Leaders Can Be Mean Too

Like it? Please share it:

135No commentsServant+Leaders+Can+Be+Mean+Too2009-10-28+21%3A06%3A00Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Featured, Management, Servant Leadership

Tags: Driving Results Leadership Servant Leadership Supporting your Boss Transparency Understanding

Day in the Life of Your Team

September 19th, 2009

Note: The conclusion of our 3 part series, this message reflects on the perception and realities between leaders and individual contributors. Part one was “A Day in the Life of Your Staff“. Part two was “A Day in the Life of Your Boss“.

We saw both sides of the story. The individual contributor, Jonathon, working incredibly hard and striving to do the right thing, is misunderstood and feels undervalued. The team leader, Michelle, is looking out for the best interests of her team and the company, but is viewed as a taskmaster, unwilling to contribute the same long hours demanded of her team. The world is full of Jonathons and Michelles. The reality is, many individual contributors and team leaders are more alike than they may realize. This gap in understanding is often the result of insufficient transparency between the two. Below are some suggestions, framed by this business fable, for individual contributors and team leaders to improve transparency. » Read more: Day in the Life of Your Team

Like it? Please share it:

131No commentsDay+in+the+Life+of+Your+Team2009-09-19+15%3A16%3A00Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Management, Parable, Servant Leadership

Tags: Supporting Your Team Team Building Transparency Understanding

Day in the Life of Your Boss

August 23rd, 2009

First time managers often realize they underestimated how many additional responsibilities management entails and the efforts supervisors perform behind the scenes. So, before you suggest your boss does not work as hard as you, does not appreciate your contributions, or simply doesn’t “get it”, consider this short parable about one such – admittedly imperfect – manager. It begins with a long, restful evening…

Sleeping In
Michelle awoke to the obnoxious sound of her alarm clock ringing at 2:45 AM. It was 3:45 PM for her Asian colleagues she had visited earlier that month. While there, she learned how frustrating it was for her team members to always conform to U.S. time zones. Michelle believed in supporting her team and began accommodating them by awaking incredibly early for these weekly calls. Ugh, she groaned, rolling out bed, trying not to wake her husband anymore than the alarm clock. » Read more: Day in the Life of Your Boss

Like it? Please share it:

126No commentsDay+in+the+Life+of+Your+Boss2009-08-23+19%3A46%3A00Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Management, Parable, Servant Leadership

Tags: Empathy Supporting your Boss Team Building Transparency Understanding

A Day in the Life of Your Staff

August 23rd, 2009

How well do you know what members of your team do on a regular basis? Consider this parable of one employee’s interactions with his supervisor. It’s part one in a three part piece on the importance of transparency between leaders and their team. We begin with a reflection on the peaceful nights so many individual contributors experience…

Peaceful Nights
Jonathon woke to his Blackberry ringing. Rolling over, still blurry-eyed, he saw the alarm clock glaring back with “3:05 AM”. » Read more: A Day in the Life of Your Staff

Like it? Please share it:

1252 commentsA+Day+in+the+Life+of+Your+Staff2009-08-23+17%3A15%3A00Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Featured, Management, Parable, Servant Leadership

Tags: Empathy Supporting Your Team Transparency Understanding

New Book: Servant Leadership for Project Management

June 14th, 2009

Recently published, “Business Driven PMO Setup, Practical Insights, Techniques and Case Examples for Ensuring Success”, written by Mark Price Perry, includes a chapter on the Project Management Office (PMO) as servant leaders. As Senior Vice President of Operations at BOT International, host of The PMO Podcast and a regular contributor to Gantthead.com, Perry has a wealth of hands-on experience and a keen awareness for Project Management work “in the real world”. In addition, his servant leader values were apparent not only in the book’s content, but in his approach to it’s creation as well. With 20 contributors, Mark was certain to balance his own insights with the experience and opinions of other practitioners. In fact, I was honored to be included as a contributor to the chapter on Servant Leadership. » Read more: New Book: Servant Leadership for Project Management

Like it? Please share it:

120No comments2009-06-15+03%3A10%3A00Benjamin+Lichtenwalner »

Posted in Management, Project Management, Reviews, Servant Leadership

Tags: Book Book Review PMO PMP Project Management Servant Leadership

Conference Leadership Impressions from SAP SAPPHIRE

May 13th, 2009

I was very fortunate to be offered a coveted pass to SAP’s Sapphire conference last week. This is one of the larger conferences in the IT industry and specifically targets senior managers and executives requiring large-scale applications. As a result, although I was there for my employer and focused my time on their solutions, I also observed some of the leadership styles by so many information technology executives attending this conference. The attendance was down – a sign of the economic times, but there remained a broad range of leadership styles represented by Speakers, Vendors and Bloggers. Below are observations on the leadership styles these individuals presented at the conference*.

Hasso Plattner file photo from SAP Sapphire 2007 / CC BY-NC 2.0

Speakers & SAP Executives (Positive)
While commitments back at the office prevented me from catching all of the keynote speakers and SAP executives presenting, I was able to get to most of the top keynotes. » Read more: Conference Leadership Impressions from SAP SAPPHIRE

Like it? Please share it: