When I was first promoted to managing people, I was fortunate to work for a big bank. Fortunate because they had a leadership training program. There we learned how to deal with both project and people problems – and how often they are intertwined.
Most of the startups I’ve worked for since don’t offer very much training. Leadership is admired and promoted. However, no matter how cute, funny, or cleverly worded the emails, “leaders” who ping people Friday asking about project status are signaling a red flag of poor management skills.
This is so because project management is far more than leadership. It requires organizing the people and the work. It also requires controlling for progress. No amount of emails (or task management software) can make up for disorganized people and/or lack of resources. If someone wants to be a leader, then they must own the fact that it’s their job to get people and resources organized. If someone else does that, they are not the leader (regardless of title).
Note: Misusing task management tools such as Wrike, Asana, or monday.com is not leadership, either. One can create to-do lists and assign people all they want, but if there is no clear agreement on roles and responsibilities, they are missing the all-important aspect of organizing for success.
Originally published by me as a LinkedIn in 2018