I was enjoying an old episode of Rockford Files the other night. While in that comfortable state between consciousness and sleep, I thought I heard Rockford tell or be told that all Product Managers are Lions, Tigers, Monkeys, or Dogs. Of course I don't remember much of the theory, but it sounded good.
I figure the Lions are the noble creatures who focus on product sustainability. The Tigers are more aggressive, perhaps focusing on personal bonuses. The Monkeys can't have much decision making ability. The Dogs are much like in the Boston Group's quadrants; those Product Managers who are under performing with no hope of improvement. What do you think?
I was surprised to find out how many of Product Managers thought of themselves as "Dogs". Last weekend, at the Product Camp in Austin, TX, there was a panel discussion titled, "Product Management and Leadership within the Organization". It was voted, "Best Session". This session was chaired by Mike Boudreaux of Emerson, Derick Workman of RYMA, and Larry McKeogh of Xilinx. The session summary said the panel would address "why leadership is so important for success in product management." It was also going to discuss "how to exercise leadership to influence others in your organization".
The main points from this open session ended up being:
- Product management can't deliver products on its own. It's a cross-functional team effort.
- They can't use authority from their job title to get other organizations to do what they want.
- The value that each team member (development manager, marketing communication specialist, etc) gets from product management must be larger than the team requires.
- The pm's opinion is only an opinion unless it is backed by market evidence. Do your homework and others will have confidence in the decisions you make.
- Leadership styles should be situational. (Lot's of discussions on leadership styles)
- The "Texas Roadhouse" rule - be nice until it's time to not be nice.
- How can you exercise leadership to influence upper management? Lots of discussion on using pre-meetings to sell the project idea to each executive one-on-one. Get them onboard before the meeting. Create champions.
- Senior Executives are trying to make decisions. Empower their decision making and you will have more influence.
It seems Product Managers often find themselves trying to lead people with little or no authority. They see themselves as having all the responsibility for the product's success, but no authority to make the right decisions. You Lions and Tigers be grateful. Most of your peers feel lucky to even be a Monkey.
Speaking of Monkeys and Tigers, Monkey Video. A funny video even if you've seen it before.
Mike Hopkin's blog, Lead On Purpose addresses the Leadership Issues of the Product Manager. It's certainly worth monitoring if you're a product manager looking for leadership insight.
One alternative which I recommend is Servant Leadership. The definition of Servant Leadership on Wikipedia is one of the best. Wikipedia mentions the film The Emperor's Club as an example of what I'm talking about; certainly worth a watch. While you watch, you put it in context of Product Management. Another example of Servant Leadership can be found in this short article "How hard could it be?" ; by Joel Spolsky, CEO of Fog Creek Software.
Greenleaf.org is still the largest promoter of Servant Leadership. If you're looking for additional resources, you'll probably want to bookmark this site. Another interesting site focusing on leadership development is Leaders Direct.
There are two useful and slightly similar PDF documents you can download, one titled "Practicing Servant Leadership" by Larry Spears who is the CEO of Greenleaf.org. The other comes out of University of Nebraska, and from what I can tell is not one of the GreenLeaf members. "Becoming a Servant Leader: Do I have what it takes?"
Books on Servant Leadership that I recommend, and pass out on occasion are listed here. Prices are for comparison, actual prices may vary.
"The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership" ; James C. Hunter; Crown Business; 1998; $22.00
"Servant Leadership: A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness"; Robert K. Greenleaf, Larry C. Spears; Paulist Press; 2002; $16.47
"The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance"; James A. Autry; Three Rivers Press; 2004; $13.95
"The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle: How to Become a Servant Leader"; James C. Hunter; WaterBrook Press; 2004; $23.00
"Practicing Servant-Leadership: Succeeding Through Trust, Bravery, and Forgiveness"; Larry C. Spears, Michele Lawrence; Jossey-Bass; 2004; $27.95
An authoritative book that will help Product Managers assume a greater role in their organizations, not yet published, but coming out I believe in Q2 of 2009, from Cambridge University Press is: "Power and Interdependence in Organizations"; Dean Tjosvold, Barbara Wisse; 2009; around $110.
Many universities in the US have formed "Alliances for Servant Leadership". Indiana State University is one. They have defined a set of principles to help the servant-leader address day-to-day situations.
- Principle #1: Transformation
- Principle #2: Personal Growth
- Principle #3: Enabling Environments
- Principle #4: Service
- Principle #5: Trusting Relationships
- Principle #6: Creating Commitment
- Principle #7: Community-building
- Principle #8: Nurturing the Spirit
This may seem to be too much for some. Another very actionable approach to power that Product Managers can take is found in Dr. John E. Barbuto's paper from the University of Nebraska, "77 Ways To motivate Your Workers". Exchange the "Workers" in the title with "Co-workers" and your off and going. He creates a framework based on five types of motivation;
- FUN
- REWARDS
- REPUTATION
- CHALLENGE
- PURPOSE
The 77 suggestions to motivate your co-workers, are placed into one of these five groups; i.e.;
REPUTATION contains 20 suggestions such as,
- Give workers lots of feedback about the way they are performing.
- Give praise in front of other people (the more people that know they did well the better!).
- Make sure that you give credit to everyone that contributes (never leave people out when they make an impact).
- Give unsolicited compliments and positive reinforcement to workers for jobs with which you are satisfied.
- Tell your workers that you appreciate the work they do.
- Consider starting an employee [product contributor] recognition system (employee [product contributor] of the month, department employee [product contributor] of the month).
Under PURPOSE, suggestions such as
- Communicate the purpose of tasks being assigned.
- Make sure the company has a vision and mission that it is pursuing.
- Communicate the organization's vision and purpose on a daily basis.
- Refer to the purpose of the organization and "why we exist" when outlining strategies and goals.
- Remind employees of who depends on this organization to succeed (families, communities, industry, producers).
- Discuss why (in terms of contributing to the mission) things need to occur.
- Remind workers how their efforts make a difference for the company in its pursuit of it vision.
- Make links between their work and the company vision so they can see how they fit into the bigger picture.
- Include workers in the visioning and strategic planning process so that they feel they have a stake in the organizational outcomes.
Bottom line; the difference between the Lion, the Tiger, the Monkey, and the Dog is not what and how you eat. It's all about the Product Manager's leadership capabilities.
The Product Management Community knows the responsibility of Product Management. They also know how Product Mangers can acquire authority. Meaningful steps toward steering the activities within the innovation value chain can be taken by granting authority to the Product Manager. Product Management must effectively keep this path straight. The good news is that those who wish to help Product Mangers gain access to power within the innovation value chain can play a constructive - perhaps decisive - role in keeping that path unobstructed.