Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Young Leaders
Young Leaders
Young Leaders
Leaders
born child. She couldn't comprehend why I was in charge.
I told her it's nothing personal and we shouldn't have any
issues if I'm able to verify her work. She agreed, but still
was reluctant.
I told my boss about my challenges and suggested I
Establishing a track record as a proven give a presentation about what project managers do to
leader while supervising staff members of ensure work gets done. After explaining the differences
varied ages can present unique management and benefits of our roles, she understood i was there to
challenges. We asked practitioners: help the team and not to impose power on them. She has
since changed her demeanor to me."
What are your best tips fo r
leading a team as a young —Yewande Akin, CAPM, information technology project
Be Assertive
Listen to w hat your team is te llin g you
and, more im portantly, w hat they're not
te llin g you.
I was once selected to manage a change management
project instead of one of my colleagues, who had more
W hat they
Personal income/rewards Employee well-being believe their
current leaders
prioritize
than 25 years of experience in the organization. I had I remember the first steering comm ittee meeting I
less than five years experience and was about 30 years attended w ith the director of one o f my previous projects.
his junior. When we arrived, the attendees assumed I was her personal
During the project, he was not actively disruptive. But assistant. Then I conducted the main project initiation
he wasn't fully engaged, either. The last straw was when presentation. Showing them my understanding o f the project
I discovered that I had been operating on incomplete dynamics and how I handled the questions that followed
information because he wasn't actively working with me. earned me the respect of the team. From that point on, I
To resolve the issue, I invited him out to lunch. I told worked well w ith the project team."
him i fe lt he was contributing the bare m inimum and
wasn't supporting me. I said I fe lt he was setting me up —Rethabile Thaba, CAPM, PMP, project manager, iSchoolAfrica,
to fail and I couldn't let that happen. We either needed Johannesburg, South Africa
to work things out together or I was going to be forced
to take action that would ensure the success of
the project. Build Trust
He admitted having feelings of resentment and we I've found that establishing a work
had a very meaningful discussion. We left the restaurant environment built on trust is the key to
Finding
w ith a tenuous agreement to better support each other. success. Ensure that your team members feel
Your Place
It didn't happen overnight, but we slowly began to trust comfortable approaching you w ith questions and concerns W h a t are y o u r
each other." about a project. leadership secrets
At a previous employer, the culture was less friendly to fo r y o u n g p ro je ct
—Andrea Emrick, CAPM, project manager, Alberta Bone managers? W h a t
younger workers. But at a relatively young age, I was tasked
d iffic u ltie s did you
and Joint Health Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Canada with training and supporting a group of mostly older program
face and h o w did
and project managers on the rollout of a new piece of software. yo u solve them ?
To earn my colleagues' trust, I went above and beyond Share y o u r tip s on
Show Your Chops to resolve their problems. More importantly, I was open and th e PMI Project,
All good leaders prepare themselves for honest with them. When I didn't know something, I quickly Program and P ort
fo lio M anagem ent
some resistance. It's im portant to take found someone who did. It worked for me because I set clear
Linkedln G roup.
charge from day one to set the tone for expectations and followed through.
relationship and communication management for the Never give up. Every project w ill have difficult moments,
rest o f the project. My approach has always been to but it's during these trying times your teammates need you
focus on the work at hand, acknowledge th a t every most—so keep pushing."
team member contributes value to the project and
maintain basic principles o f respect and hum ility in —Kristen Wypych, CAPM, project manager, Igloo Software,
executing the project. Kitchener, Ontario, Canada PM