Executive Education Program

ANALYZE   PRIORITIZE   LEAD   STABILIZE

Steering without formal authority
Lateral leadership in IT programs

Leading across projects, suppliers and stakeholders at program level

Duration: 2 days (open enrollment); 2 days (in-house)

Format: In-person; open enrollment or in-house. Groups of 10 to 15. Not recorded. Delivery in German or English; slide set in English.

Target audiences

• Program managers
• IT managers
• PMO leaders
• Interim managers and consultants who lead within client organizations without formal authority

• Program leads of large IT and transformation initiatives, e.g., ERP and S/4HANA programs
• Division and department heads accountable for cross-functional initiatives

Problem and relevance
Program leads direct people who do not report to them: across division boundaries, across supplier contracts, and across committees. Their power base is not structural but personal. Matrix organizations rarely fail because of their structure. They fail because the conflicts created by that structure remain unresolved. This is not a communication course. It is a leadership course for a leadership situation that has no formal basis.

Learning outcomes and benefits

What you will take away

• How personal power creates voluntary followership where formal authority is absent
• The sources of program-management power, and the power gap of the Program lead
• That the strongest single factor for team performance is not competence but the safety to voice doubts and mistakes
• Why influence starts with giving first, reciprocity works stronger than argument
•  Why matrix organizations fail on unresolved conflict

What you will be able to do

• Build the personal power base on which leadership without authority rests
• Lead across several project leads and steer external suppliers without contractual authority
• Work committees and steering boards, and use escalation paths in a matrix
• Understand and influence stakeholders, and lead through a crisis
• Build trust and lead across cultures

Topics and content
Two days on leading people who do not report to you. The program level is the distinguishing feature.

Leadership and power

• Manager versus leader; formal versus action competence
• Structural versus personal power; the power gap of the Program lead
• Leadership models, situational leadership, trust, cross-cultural understanding

Motivation and communication

• Motivation: Theory X and Y, Maslow, intrinsic versus extrinsic, flow, two-factor
• Performance as the product of motivation and ability
• Conflict resolution modes; active listening, questioning, feedback

Power and influence without authority

• The five bases of social power
• Influence and reciprocity: giving before asking
• Negotiating without a power position

Leadership at program level

• Leading across several project leads
• Steering external suppliers without contractual authority
• Working with committees and steering boards
• Managing escalation in matrix organizations
• Leading in a crisis

Psychological safety

• Why in some programs no one reports problems
• Building the conditions under which bad news travels

Methods
Roughly 35 percent presentation to 65 percent participant activity.

• Individual tasks and discussion questions
• Group work with worked solution slides; leadership simulation
• Case studies drawn from real leadership problems
• Peer exchange: participants bring their own situations (directing someone who does not report to them) compare approaches, and challenge each other before the frameworks are introduced

The distinctive approach

• Leadership at the program level, which the market offers on team and project level only.
• Lateral leadership at program level means coordinating multiple project leads, external suppliers, committees and escalation paths without relying on formal authority.
• Developed and delivered for a Swiss machinery group; an article has appeared on computerwoche.de.

Prerequisites

• Experience leading projects or sub-projects
• Basic project-management knowledge assumed; no certification required
• Willingness to bring one’s own leadership situations

Course lead: Dr. Christof Gellweiler, author of the IT Alignment Guide V2 and Strategic Analysis in Practice; 30 years in IT and transformation.

Scheduling and delivery: Via selected seminar providers. In-house on request.