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8 Traits of Top Project Managers - Part 1
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The Power of Process: How Bad Project Management Kills Great Ideas
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The Benefits of Virtual Project Management
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Lessons Learned and the Project Council
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Is Loyalty a Virtue?
November 27, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: HR Management, People Issues, Project Management Musings
Is Loyalty a Virtue?
By Barry Otterholt
The simple answer is yes. Loyalty allows staff to presume support from the project manager, even through trying times. And trying times are typical of projects, where people are routinely expected to push themselves beyond their comfort zone. Loyalty allows the project manager to presume stability and resourcefulness from staff, even through these same trying times when a project stretches the skills and emotions of the staff.
In one extreme, lack of loyalty causes staff to be very cautious for fear of being made a scapegoat. With this culture, staff don’t take needed initiative to solve problems. And they don’t raise legitimate issues, opting to wait for them to become problems that can be tied to somebody else.
In the other extreme, unquestioned loyalty causes staff to take inappropriate risks that cause a backlash later in the project when the cost of cure is high. In this environment staff can be heard rationalizing their actions by stating that the project manager, to whom they have such loyalty, requires it. Even when true, this degree of blind loyalty brands the individual as a “Yes Man”, and discredits him or her in the workplace.
I remember a story set in the Boardroom of Toyota, where the Board Members were gathered together to discuss an idea presented by the Chairman. As the story goes, the Chairman presented his idea and asked for opposing views. Hearing none, the Chairman adjourned the meeting without a vote. Surprised, one Board Member asked why there would be no vote, to which the Chairman replied “No one has a perfect idea, and this is too important to wait for the market to tell me what was wrong with it”. Toyota has proven to be a good company, and regardless of the accuracy of the story, the moral is clear:
Loyalty is a virtue until it quells needed debate.
Loyalty occurs over time, by surviving critical tests together. It is not gained merely from authority. The ability to talk candidly and share different points of view are key ingredients of loyalty.
Barry Otterholt, CMC, PMP
Barry Otterholt has been a project management specialist and coach for the past 30 years. He is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and a Project Management Professional (PMP). He works with both public and private sector companies in the USA, Europe and Scandinavia. Mr. Otterholt was a Director with Microsoft, a senior consultant with Deloitte Consulting, and a COO with a nationwide consumer electronics enterprise. In 1988 he founded Public Knowledge, LLC to provide independent management and operational support to the public sector. More recently, he founded Stouffer & Company, LLC to provide as-needed project management services to fill an obvious skills gap in both private and public sectors.
Mr. Otterholt is an adjunct professor teaching project management at Northwest University. His essays on project management have been published in PMI newsletters. His runs a blog, Project Management Essays, where he muses about various project management topics.
Mr. Otterholt is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) and the Project Management Institute (PMI). He has a BA in Accounting and Computer Science and an MBA in Business Administration. He lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.
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