People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Leading Teams, with Harvard Professor Dr. J. Richard Hackman

Jul 19, 2010

Harvard professor Dr. J. Richard Hackman, a leading authority on team dynamics, offers invaluable insights into effective leadership. He discusses the misconceptions of transitioning from a team member to a manager and the complexities involved. Key topics include overcoming the leader attribution error and the significance of optimal team conditions. Hackman emphasizes understanding individual strengths to foster collaboration and the rise of collective leadership in self-managing teams. He also highlights innovative learning methods to enhance team development.

34:40

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Episode guests

Richard Hackman

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Quick takeaways

Successful leadership demands creating the right conditions for teams by establishing clear objectives, fostering an environment for collaboration, and ensuring stability.

Investing in team development through accessible learning opportunities enhances motivation and engagement, thereby encouraging a culture of continuous growth and accountability.

Deep dives

The Reality of Team Leadership

Leading teams is often far more complex than it appears from the outside. Many aspiring leaders naively believe that motivating and managing a team is a straightforward task, only to find the reality challenging when they step into leadership roles. Factors like shifting priorities, varying levels of team member motivation, and the pressures from upper management can complicate the process significantly. Successful leadership requires not just skills, but also an understanding of team dynamics and the ability to foster an environment conducive to collaborative performance.

Intro

2min

Understanding Leader Attribution and Team Performance

4min

Building Effective Team Dynamics

17min

Collective Leadership in Self-Managing Teams

7min

Enhancing Team Development Through Innovative Learning

4min

I can easily recall the days before I became a manager.

I started my career as a software developer, which by nature of how software gets created, usually meant work being done in teams. When my team leader or manager would mess up in some way, I would occasionally think, when I finally get to lead a team, I'm going to do things differently! How hard can this be?

Then I became a manager! It was then that I truly realized that it's one thing to talk about leading teams--it's a whole different deal when you have to be the leader and your team members aren't necessarily as motivated as you want them to be, or priorities change, or your senior management seems dim-witted, and you feel overwhelmed.

The truth is that leading teams well is difficult work, often under-estimated by those who haven't had to hold the reins. One of my favorite experts on this topic is Harvard professor J. Richard Hackman. In this cast I look forward to sharing a recent discussion I had with Dr. Hackman based on his book Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances. In addition, check out Dr. Hackman's book Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great.

A proven way to help engage your team members is to invest in their development. Budgets don't always allow for you to send them away for training but that doesn't mean training has to be put off for a year. Clearly you already know the benefits of podcasts. Some of the best free learning available these days comes from what you're doing right now--listening to casts such as The People and Projects Podcast.

Well, in just a few weeks we are launching Premium Subscriptions for our podcast. You and your teams will still have access to our free episodes. But we are going even further with the Premium Subscriptions to help you develop and engage your teams. Premium subscribers get access to additional content, including materials to help you facilitate a discussion with your team based on the topic of each cast. You'll also get recommendations for additional material to help you go deeper on the subject. Beyond that, Premium Subscribers are automatically entered into drawings for books and other resources. And, as a special bonus, you get free admission to webinars that I lead throughout the year. I'll tell you more in our next podcast episode.

In the meantime, thank you for joining us for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Total Duration: 34:39

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