Effective eGovernment Leadership

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U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program

Characteristics of an Effective Project Leader

Personal Humility

Demonstrates a compelling modesty,shunning public adulation; never boastful

Acts with quiet, calm determination, relies principally on inspired standards, not inspiring charisma to motivate

Channels ambitions into the Department, not themself; sets up successors for even more greatness in thenext generation

Looks in the mirror, not out the window, do apportionresponsibility for poor results, never blaming otherpeople, external factors or bad luck

Professional Will

Creates superb results, a clear catalyst in the transition from good to great

Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results for the Department, no matter how difficult

Sets standard of building an enduring great Department;will settle for nothing less

Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for success of the Department – to other people, external factors and good luck

Source: Jim Collins, Level 5 Leadership: The triumph of humility and fierce resolve, Harvard Business Review, jan 2001

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U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program

Basic qualities of leaders are vision, energy, authority and strategic direction, but to be an truly inspirational leader, you need all four qualities below:

1. Reveal your weaknesses

By revealing a weakness you establish trust among your followers by showing your not perfect. Beyond creating trust, communicating a weakness also builds solidarity between followers and leaders. One other advantage to exposing a weakness is that it offers a leader valuable protection. If you don´t some weakness observers may invent one for you.

2. Become a sensor

Inspirational leaders can sniff out signals in the environment and sense what is going on without having anything spelled out for them. But sensing can create problems. In making fine judgements about how far they can go, leaders risk losing their followers. Another risk is that by definition sensing a situation involves projection and sometimes when a person projects, his thoughts may interfere with the truth.

3. Practice tough empathy

Tough empathy means giving people what they need, not what they want. At its best, tough empathy balances respect for the individual and for the task at hand. Tough empathy also has the benefit of impelling leaders to take risks. People that really care about something are more apt to use tough empathy. They don´t just play a role but they truly care passionately about the people and the work.

4. Dare to be different

Inspirational leaders capitalize on what´s unique about themselves. The most effective leaders deliberately use differences to keep a social distance. The differences can be everything from dress style to handshake. Anything can be different the important thing is to communicate it!

Qualities of Inspirational eGovernment Project Leaders

Source: Goffee & Jones, Why should anyone be lead be you? Harvard Business Review, sep-oct 2000

All four of the qualities are necessary for inspirational leadership, but you can´t use them mechanically, they must be part of your personality. So the challenge for prospective leaders are for them to be themselves, but with more skills. They need to come up with a personal style that works for them!

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U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program

Source: Goleman, Daniel, Leadership That Gets Results, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000

Coercive

1. Immediate compliance

2. -Do what I tell you!

3. Drive to achieve, initiative, self- control

4. In a crisis, to kick start a turn- around, or with problem employees

5. Negative

Authoritative

1. Mobilize people toward a vision

2. -Come with me!

3. Self-confidence, empathy, change catalyst

4. When changes require a new vision, or when a clear direction is needed

5. Most strongly positive

Affiliate

1. Create harmony & build emotional bounds

2. -People come first!

3. Empathy, build- ing, relationships, communication

4. To heal rifts in a team or to moti- vate people dur- ing stressful circumstances

5. Positive

Democratic

1. Forges consen- sus through participation

2. -What do you think?

3. Collaboration, team, leadership, communication

4. To build buy-in or consensus, or to get input from valuable employees

5. Positive

Pacesetting

1. Sets high standards for performance

2. -Do as I do, now!

3. Conscient- iousness, drive to achieve, initiative

4. To get quick results from a highly motivated and competent team

5. Negative

Coaching

1. Develops people for the future

2. -Try this!

3. Developing others, empathy, self-awareness

4. To help an employee imp- rove performance or develop long- term strengths

5. Positive

1. The leader’s modus operandi, 2. The style in phrase, 3. Underlying emotional intelligence competencies, 4. When the style works best, 5. Overall impact on the climate

Different leadership styles are necessary in different cases in order to effectively impact the drivers of climate. The key

to switching leadership styles is emotional intelligence.

Leadership That Gets eGovernment Results

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U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program

Emotional intelligence – the ability to manage ourselves and our relationship effectively –

consists of four fundamental capabilities.

Self-Awareness

• Emotional self-awareness

• Accurate self-assessment

• Self-confidence

Self-Management

• Self-control

• Trustworthiness

• Conscientiousness

• Adaptability

• Achievement orientation

• Initiative

Social Awareness

• Emotional self-awareness

• Organizational awareness

• Service orientation

Social Skill

• Visionary leadership

• Influence

• Developing others

• Communication

• Change catalyst

• Conflict management

• Building bonds

• Teamwork and collaboration

Source: Goleman, Daniel, Leadership That Gets Results, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000

Leadership That Gets eGovernment Results

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U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program

Source: Eisenhardt, Kahwajy & Bourgeois III, How Management Teams can have a good fight, Harvard Business Review July-Aug 1997

Six tactics for managing interpersonal conflict Strategy

• Work with more, rather than less, information and debate it on the basis of facts

• Develop multiple alternatives to enrich the level of debate

• Create common goals so everyone share a vision• Inject humor into the decision process

• Maintain a balanced power structure• Resolve issues without forcing consensus

Focus on issues, not personalities

Frame decisions as collaborations aimedat achieving the best possible solutionfor the company

Establish a sense of fairness and equity in the process

Managing eGovernment Project Conflicts

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U.S. Department of Agriculture eGovernment Program

Source: Eisenhardt, Kahwajy & Bourgeois III, How Management Teams can have a good fight, Harvard Business Review July-Aug 1997

Approaches that help generate constructive disagreement within a team

1. Assemble a heterogeneous team, including diverse ages, genders, functional backgrounds and industry experience

2. Meet together as a team regularly and often

3. Encourage team members to assume roles beyond their obvious product, geographic or functional responsibilities

4. Apply multiple mind-sets to any issue

5. Actively manage conflict

Managing Project Conflicts