Leading from the Trenches – 5 + 2 Tips for Standing Out on Any Project

Photo courtesy of World War I Color Photos

Scot Herrick (@scotherrick on Twitter) wrote an interesting post last week on “How to make yourself the de facto leader on any project”.  In this post, he offers five tips to stand out as an individual contributor on a team project, most of which involve just doing the basic blocking and tackling for team meetings that often gets overlooked:

1.       Do your work (seems obvious, but too many get wrapped up in what’s next, instead of what’s now)

2.       Be prepared for all meetings

3.       Know everyone’s position on issues

4.       Offer an agenda if no one has one (related article of interest – How  to Hijack Someone Else’s Meeting – “Hijack” is a bit strong for this context, but the idea of controlling the agenda is valid)

5.       Offer constructive suggestions behind the scenes

As an enhancement to #3, I’d also suggest helping to drive pre-reviews with key stakeholders who are not on the core project team before formal reviews.  This helps ferret out objections in time to address them and makes these stakeholders feel a sense of ownership and participation in the project, thus building momentum for the approvals you need in the actual review.  I had a manager once who, while weak in many other areas was phenomenal at doing this, and project reviews almost always went off smoothly (though, in retrospect, the project should have been stopped much earlier than it eventually was).

I’d also like to offer up two additional tips for leading from the trenches on a team project:

1. Be vocal at team meetings.  Even when you are not right, being willing to speak up on key issues shows a sense of confidence and enthusiasm for a project.  Too many meeting participants are wall flowers; provoking conversation on key topics is a critical leadership skill that anyone can practice.
2. Take an opposing viewpoint when “groupthink” has set in.  If you get the sense that agreement is coming too easy and contrary opinions are not being aired, don’t hesitate to take on a contrary position. I have often taken positions that I don’t actually believe in order to make sure debate on key points occurred in meetings.

Obviously, when taken to extremes the last two tips can be counterproductive, but in general project participants are too passive in engaging on key points and provoking debate.  A healthy dose of skepticism is an important element in any project. When done properly, more options and alternatives are considered and better results are achieved.

Do you have any additional tips for leading from within?

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