Key takeaways
- You manage tasks but lead people; leadership is about attitude, behaviour and emotional intelligence rather than job title.
- Mistake one is managing tasks at the expense of leading people; regulate your own emotions and build real relationships.
- Mistake two is chasing the urgent over the important; firefighting feels heroic but crowds out planning, risk work and defining how the team works.
- Mistake three is believing you must know and do it all; know enough to question and build credibility, then listen and ask.
- Ask more open questions and ask people you respect what you should start, stop and continue doing.
About this episode
"You manage tasks but you lead people."
As a project manager, you lead projects and teams. Or do you manage them? What is the difference, actually? And will knowing the difference help you to be a better project manager? In this episode, Brett speaks with internationally recognized project leadership coach, trainer and consultant Susanne Madsen. Their conversation focuses in on a topic that many PMs and managers tend to focus in on: How to be a great leader. They also discuss Susanne's book The Power of Project Leadership, which is now in its second edition and is up for a PMI award, and the themes within, including:
- Leadership vs. management
- The path to leadership
- The mistakes project managers make:
- Encouraging leadership
- Finding time to level-up
Resources discussed in this episode: