It is a coffee break and your subordinates are laughing at your jokes, they are listening with great attention to everything you say, and your smart phone is bussing with quick responses from providers. So, a normal start to the day!
But have you ever wondered why? You may feel it is because you contain immense leadership skills that make Richard Branson, Elon Musk and Steve Jobs want to take a leadership seminar from you or it may be because of your job title.
What happens when you are at the supermarket? Do the cashiers laugh at your jokes, open a new lane for you, give you discounts? Probably not. So why are you treated differently at work? It is because of your job title?
In the western corporate world, a person’s authority and power comes from their job title.
Maybe you are funny, charming and a visionary leader but probably people treat you in a certain way because you are a manager, VP, director, client contact of a multi-million dollar contract etc.
In my experience I have seen great leadership from colleagues without any management job title and I have seen shockingly bad excuses leadership from Directors.
Hopefully you can remember back when you did not have the senior title you have now and that you can remember how you were treated. How was it?
In my experience when people get a taste of power (manager, VP, client contact of a provider) it goes to their head. They remember all the times they were treated badly or talked down to by a senior manager or did not get VIP treatment from a provider. Now they can enact their revenge on the world. This is disappointing as a job title does not make a leader that people choose to follow.
It is highly likely that your colleagues follow you because it is their job or a legal contract forces them to, it is not because of the inspirational speech you gave at the last team meeting.
By now you may be asking yourself am I just complaining about how I have been treated throughout my career? The answer is yes but with a twist. I enjoy learning about leadership and seeing and understanding different leadership styles, so I can improve myself. I also enjoy coaching people who want to learn how to be good and effective leaders.
As a project manager I have no formal authority or power. My authority comes from my personality and reputation. I have an excellent track record of delivering projects on time, budget and that gives benefits. While making the project team a pleasant environment where team members can complete their tasks and are given the opportunity to learn something that could help them advance in their career.
While I have not yet got the big job title or to be the client contact of a multi-million dollar contract, so for now I can only wonder how I will be when I am in that position…
Successful International Project Management 