Look For Business Wisdom When Staffing Your Next Project

Written by Mike Shapiro | | August 18, 2015

Once in awhile you read something that really stands out — for clarity, impact and brevity — and usefulness in everyday project work.

Joel Petersen’s recent article — How Pop Culture Gets It Wrong About CEOs — describes the kinds of wisdom he says great managers possess.  And the best part is that leadership is not just for CEOs and the “senior leadership team,” but can and should be found everywhere in the organization, at all levels.  Being on the lookout for these behaviors can help you find the right people to head up important projects.   Who have you seen at your workplace that does these things:

  1. Demonstrates an ability to look ahead and suggest features in products and services customers might want, rather than building things for the market solely as it looks today.
  2. Makes planning a dynamic process, continually making adjustments along the way in the allocation of time, money and people, rather than becoming a prisoner of the original plan,
  3. Uses a combination of accumulated knowledge and pure curiosity to make meaning of new information, rather than falling victim to “been there, done that” thinking or of raw naiveté.
  4. Knows which people have certain skills and has a way of making work assignments that take maximum advantage of those skills.
  5. Can always be counted upon to “get stuff done.”
  6. Looks for opportunities to pitch in to help others.
  7. Makes everything he or she touches work better.
  8. Passes the Doorway Test.  (When you see them coming, do you anticipate a constructive and beneficial interchange?)

Can’t think of someone right off hand?  That’s not surprising if you haven’t been thinking about leadership this way and really looking for it.  The good news is it’s not too late.  Look at the projects you’ve got going right now.  Got a new one starting up?  Put someone on it, and let him or her know you’ll be looking for these qualities as the project progresses.  And then help that person tap into the very behaviors you’re looking for!

These attributes possessed by CEOs and people in the top echelons of management — these components of “business wisdom” — can be a valuable template to identify and help develop people in your organization to take on positions of greater management responsibility.