Proactive leadership and strategic alignment to drive better outcomes in complex projects
Am I involving teams enough in the vision and goals of digital transformations and bringing leadership along in the execution? As a program manager, I’ve realized that a creative, collaborative, and goal-driven culture are essential for success.
Reflecting on my role as a program manager in digital transformations, recent projects proved that leadership and culture are pivotal. Sharing the vision and goals with teams can’t just happen at the start but needs to be an ongoing effort throughout the journey. Equally important is keeping leadership and teams aligned, ensuring everyone — including myself — remains focused and proactive in achieving our goals. Am I doing enough as the program manager to lead this effort and step up when I see things derailing?
In a website migration project, I encountered a situation where the lack of a unified vision and strategy, combined with a culture of resistance instead of collaboration, was stalling progress. The design, content, and development teams were working in silos, disconnected from the project’s overarching purpose. While developers believed they were executing a CMS migration, the design team was focused on a complete website overhaul, and the content team simply hoped for better tools to manage content. Without a shared vision, each team pursued its own goals, leading leadership to inadvertently set itself up for disappointment.
It reminded me of the principles discussed in “Leaders Go First” by Simon Sinek, where he emphasizes that true leaders prioritize the well-being of their teams and lead by example. I observed how leadership that prioritizes applying pressure over fostering collaboration can significantly hinder progress. When the leadership’s focus is misplaced, it becomes challenging for external partners like me to navigate effectively.
Often, missed deadlines and inefficiencies are symptoms of a larger problem: decision-makers become too removed from the actual work.have noticed the need to generate more interest in the products during demos and to encourage more active involvement in decision-making during sprints and backlog refinements. It’s akin to installing a new kitchen in your home – who wouldn’t want to check if the sink works or the cabinets are hung straight? Reflecting on this, I realized that my emphasis on process had overshadowed the need for a broader strategic view. Effective leadership means proactively addressing challenges, not just reacting to them.
These experiences have prompted me to reconsider how I fulfill my role. I recognize the importance of taking team members with me on our vision and goals to foster alignment and engagement. Additionally, I find myself questioning whether I should have been more assertive with the steering committees or demanded greater accountability from decision-makers. This introspection reveals a tendency to balance complacency with a facade of diligence. I need to act more decisively when things go awry and fully commit to my advice.
Ultimately, merely sending out invoices isn’t enough for me. My goal is to drive meaningful improvements within organizations by enhancing teamwork, fostering enjoyment, and bringing out the best in everyone. By embracing the principles of effective leadership from Sinek’s book, I strive to be a leader who prioritizes alignment and a shared vision. I aim to cultivate an environment where collaboration flourishes, and everyone feels engaged and valued. Together, we can create a more creative and fulfilling work atmosphere that empowers us to achieve our goals.
The Leader to Be was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
