LEGO Leadership

20 May LEGO Leadership

Project Management is a very broad career title that requires a massive amount of focus, planning, and attention to detail. A person’s ability to be properly suited to manage a project requires that individual to develop and maintain a core set of leadership skills that many are not aware of. In a typical work environment that requires a team of individuals to collectively develop and execute a project plan from thought to completion, there may be tension or confusion that arises. There may be instances of tempers flaring due to disagreements and it is the responsibility of the project manager (PM) to maintain order and achieve the objective which is to provide an MVP (Minimum Viable Product).

In attempts to simulate a project-based environment, we engaged in a group activity that required the entire group to split into 2 teams of 6 members, with the main objective of taking a list of order tickets (tasks) and creating a city made of Legos. This became an interesting task because as one could suspect, there was plenty of room for clashing personalities and high tempers which left room for mismanaged time and incomplete tasks. This was the perfect environment to simulate the tug-of-war that takes place between competing Alpha-personalities. We experienced the following situation in question:

I was allocated a team that did not agree on the best way to achieve certain aspects of the project I oversaw. They debated recommendations, timelines, resources, and each other. They disagreed so often in the beginning that the upcoming milestone/deadline was impacted. The way this situation was handled to ensure the project remained on time and in budget was by an elevated level of communication and understanding on everyone’s part. I found that information can be easily misunderstood or misconstrued when everyone doesn’t initially come to the environment with listening ears. Naturally, there will be more than one person in a room who is a natural born leader. However, sometimes a project requires a leader stepping into the role of a soldier or a “follower” until it is their time to lead. That is the mark of a great teammate. One vitally important concept to remember is that the sum of all parts make a whole. Meaning, whatever the role is you play, so long as you are contributing to the overall mission, which is project completion or the MVP, is important.

In moments of heightened emotions and confusion amongst teammates, it is important for the PM to take control and remind the team of the overall mission. If that mission is to come to completion in 2 minutes, then the deadline is the priority. If there is sufficient time to take a moment to address the issue (maybe the deadline is a day or week from the current moment) then immediately may be a better solution. Depending on the timeline to completion and severity of the miscommunication or issue, the PM will decide how to better address the needs of all parties involved. In personal experience, I have noted that listening to understand rather than listening to respond is the best way to mediate a situation dealing with miscommunication because most times, that’s what the underlying issue is; someone not being heard or someone being misunderstood.

Ultimately, miscommunications and tensions in the workplace can make for a pretty unfavorable environment. When it comes time to work on a group project or be in close proximity to someone who you may have had a negative work history with, anxiety of discomfort can arise if the previous issues have not been addressed and think about it…who wants to work unhappily??. When you have a bad history working with one member of your project team it can affect the progress of the entire project. If you ever find yourself in a situation where it could even be said you and another member of your team do not like one another, how would you handle being a project manager with someone who makes you feel uncomfortable?

In my experience, I found that personal issues and business tensions have no business mixing in the same environment. In the workplace, most discomforts are due to a lack of communication and understanding between you and your team members. Therefore, as a seasoned adult, who will work on many teams, in many environments on many projects with tons of different people, I strongly urge and encourage effective communication of our feelings and emotions without placing blame or judgment on another person. Often times, a person feels uncomfortable when they are left out which causes them to lash out. Ask yourself, “Have I included my team members? Have I heard all of their questions and concerns as a PM and addressed them accordingly? Have I done my best to provide a safe and comfortable work environment for all involved? Have I allowed everyone an equal opportunity to provide insight and feedback on the project currently being worked on?” If you have done these things, you have covered all of your bases. If you have not done these things as a PM there is probably sufficient reason for a person to feel uncomfortable.

If you ever find yourself in an uncomfortable environment, the first opportunity you are given, take it! No, don’t run for the hills, go have a conversation. Taking the time to address any underlying issues such as feeling overlooked, unheard or ignored via a conversation may provide more valuable insight and being light to the idea that most times, the other person is not trying to intentionally make you uncomfortable. If we all continue to assume “best intent”, which is something I was made aware of by an amazing mentor of mine, we would eliminate 60% of our issues before they became real issues. Assuming the worst of a situation of individual can cause you to see that person or situation for something that it’s not. Overall, communication and total communication is the key.