Musings on project management: Organization by coercion

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Organization by coercion

"It is impossible to organize an army solely by coercion. At least some of the commanders and soldiers must believe in something ...."

From the book "Sapiens" by Harari

Fair enough

Now, consider that wisdom rewritten in project team terms:

It is impossible to organize a team, and expect productive outcomes, solely by top-down direction. At lease some of the team leaders and team members must believe in the team's mission and the leader's vision

And, I submit, to be believed begins with being believable. A play on words, to be sure, but somewhere between the banal and "pie in the sky" an innovative vision and reasonable path forward must be evident:

In pictures for the visualists
In words for the readers
In person for those that are attracted by charisma to a cause

If there's to be sacrifice, then an appeal to and wrapping in a higher calling--'duty, honor, country' in the military--not just money, will be in the mix. I think we all know that money speaks, but only so loudly. After a certain volume, it's "the other stuff" that makes up the culture and value system that motivates.

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