leaders gives the team the credit

I was in a meeting with roughly 100 project managers recently. These are the leaders of a fairly large and well run business.  They were taking turns briefing the President of the company on the status of their projects.

On two instances the President stopped the meeting to give praise for projects well done. These  projects had aggressive schedules and were high profile. The projects were completed on time and the President had received great feedback from stake holders.  It didn’t surprise me that the President stopped and acknowledged the accomplishments of his people because he is a true leader.  The growth, revenue, and moral of the company reflect his strong leadership.

What did surprise me was that in both cases the Project managers never mentioned their teams, they simply took all the credit, said thank you and left it at that.  No one from one of the PM’s team was present but wouldn’t it have been a great opportunity to put in a good word for the team.  I know this team worked seven days a week 12 and 14 hours a day for weeks to make the project a success.

The second project manager had two team members in the room. What an awesome opportunity to call these two members out in front of the crowd and acknowledge their contribution.  Instead these two received no recognition.  Despite what some may say, everyone wants to be recognized, acknowledged , and appreciated.

These PM’s had the perfect opportunity to build respect, trust, and loyalty but they missed it.

Powerful leadership

Leaders give credit and take the blame; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ykCykMUcCA

If you are going to lead and want to build dynamic teams grounded in trust and loyalty give your team all the credit.  Keep empowering others, lifting others up, lead by example , and give your team all the credit.  That’s the leader who gets recognized as a winner