This time of year many of
us compile our year end accomplishments for an annual performance review. Last year, as I looked over my assessment, it
occurred to me that this had been no ordinary year. I didn't think much more
about it until weeks later in a conversation with a colleague at the coffee
machine. Discussing the $30M cost savings program I led got me thinking about sharing some lessons learned from my
experience with other project managers. I decided to read a few books on the subject
of leading organizational change but they all seemed to target executive management. That’s
when a new passion kicked in. I
realized that in my experience there were valuable project leadership insights for other
individual contributors that the authors of the books I read seemed to overlook. I decided to make others aware by writing
about my experiences successfully leading project teams. Although it took several months, all managers
in my department approved a draft article that went to the PM Network magazine editor
for review.
When the article was
published (click here see pg 24), I had decided to leave the experience behind until longtime project
management consultant, Greg Githens, contacted me to say, "your article in
the August [2011] issue of PM Network was one of the best I have seen in the
last few years." He later would become a major force behind the
article's nomination for PMI's David I. Cleland Project Management Literature
Award.
It was an unlikely outcome. About two years prior, organizational restructuring put a
new manager in place, who promptly informed to start packing. I wasn't actually being sent out the door by this new manager only
on the job for one month. I was being replaced. Despite letters of support from several key
stakeholders, he couldn't be convinced to reconsider. I had no choice but
to accept the fact that I needed to look elsewhere. Around this time the
idea came to me. As described in the article, I pulled together a team to
explore network cost savings - something several knew was needed but no one could successfully execute. My hope was to impress senior management
enough to reconsider replacing me. They never reconsidered, and I'm so
grateful they didn't. We first raised eyebrows when my weekly meeting
notes revealed multi-million dollar cost savings from a relatively small scope
of work. The financial appeal was only exceeded by the caliber of the project team and credibility of the
details in the plan, carefully crafted to address concerns anticipated by senior
managers in different departments. Executive approval brought visibility
and kicked activities into high gear. As we consistently exceeded
commitments, credibility grew even more. We met each week to plan and
analyze. We did so with progressively
increasing vigor until a year and a half later when the results gave us all plenty
to be proud of. From our experience there were many valuable lessons
learned, and the time had come for the world to know.
Countless success stories
of leaders at the bottom abound unbeknownst to us. Are you holding back a success story that others can learn from? Take time out to put your leadership from the
bottom story in writing. Have friends
review and comment. Allow me, colleagues or friends to support you in publication.
