Many years ago, the young Badger and some others were injected into a major, fixed-price, software development project to turn it around. It was seriously off the rails. Shambolic planning and poor processes meant deliverables were missed or late, some design aspects were problematic, and much of the code produced was poor quality. The large project team was demoralised and in need of effective leadership. The company was haemorrhaging money and the client was considering termination and litigation. In the face of potential reputational and financial disaster, the company decided it must sort the mess out rather than fight a costly battle in court.
Shortly after the Badger and others were injected, the company CEO called us to his office to introduce our new boss, the senior Project Director newly assigned to lead the recovery overall. The Project Director, recently back in the UK after two years in the company’s USA subsidiary, was burly in stature, had a voice that shook the ground when they spoke, and a stare that injected fear. They brimmed with self-confidence and were lyrical about how they had turned around other projects. The Badger thought that his new boss would be a challenge, and so it proved!
The following day the Project Director called the entire project team into a conference room to introduce themselves more widely, talk about their approach to the task in hand, and to answer questions. They spoke for half an hour, during which the atmosphere turned from one of quiet optimism, to one of abject gloom and disengagement. The room full of intelligent software professionals did not react well to the Project Director loudly proclaiming, in finger-jabbing mode, that a) they were a problem, and b) being told repeatedly that it would be ‘my way, or the highway’ in the future. The Badger, who winced many times while his boss spoke, lost count of how many times this phrase was repeated. No one asked any questions, and as the team left the room afterwards, a software engineer told the Badger that ‘the highway’ seemed a good option, because they’d no idea what ‘my way’ was, and that even if they did, the Project Director wasn’t a person they’d go the extra mile for.
All leaders, of course, have a ‘my way, or the highway’ streak, but in this case the over-zealous public exposure of it turned what should have been a motivational call to arms into a disaster. The best leaders choose their words carefully when speaking to those whose support is needed in order to convert difficulties into successes. Preaching ‘my way, or the highway’ loudly and continuously comes with the danger that the good will needed from a team to overcome problems deteriorates rather than improves. Frequent articulation of ‘my way, or the highway’ is thus simply a marker that there’s danger ahead…and that ‘the highway’ might actually be a good option!
