Leadership, mentoring and coaching-other key project management skills

Our series of articles about key project management skills now reaches leadership, mentoring, and coaching. Leadership, mentoring, and coaching constitute key project management skills, since you can’t lead a project to great success, unless you have them.?As a project coordinator/manager, leader/ director/ chief of party, you must possess those skills. Otherwise, a project you are leading will only register a little success. “I praise and reward loudly, I blame softly,” once stated Catherine the Great/Catherine II of Russia. She reigned as the Empress of Russia for more than 3 decades.

The quote by Russia’s former empress contains both leadership, mentoring, and coaching techniques we’ll come back to soon. Unfortunately, most managers/directors don’t know or apply those skills. To be enlightened on it, you can read articles on these links: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/effective-communication-still-problem-despite-being-ndabananiye/?trackingId=uvzUvK5jTYyxFSNEglczIQ%3D%3D , and https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/pillars-leadership-business-peaceful-environment-ndabananiye/?trackingId=kedoEnj%2FRtmN6pjXcxgSNQ%3D%3D

Leadership

Leadership is a broad field. It consists of a plenty of attributes. Some of them are honesty, fairness, integrity, empathy, conflict transformation skills, commitment, vision, confidence, effective communication, motivation and inspiration, positive attitude, respect, sincere support for creativity, and innovation, as well as mentoring and coaching.

Let me attempt to simplify or facilitate the understanding of leadership. It’s a sphere which involves all behaviors/attributes you practice toward other people, prompting them to feel so exalted/ elevated that they voluntarily follow you. Those are behaviors allowing others to be comfortable, fulfilled/delighted, and to grow both mentally and professionally. Any qualities, behaviors or talents you have which permit comfort, fulfillment/delight, and growth for others are your leadership attributes.

That’s why all the enumerated features like honesty are leadership attributes. When you possess them, you generally enable others to be comfortable, fulfilled/delighted, to grow, and voluntarily follow you.

I use the term ‘generally’ because not all people can always feel they are benefiting from your leadership qualities. For instance, if you’re an honest manager, there are people whose benefits you can threaten. Those include people like those who would aspire to bribe you. As a person with honesty, integrity and fairness, you won’t accept the bribe. Thus, those people won’t feel comfortable. They will feel you are hindering their growth, success and fulfillment.

But, they will be deceiving themselves. I’ve observed that no fulfillment emanates from wrong-doing. Success and fulfillment result from hard work, and the leadership traits. If you disagree with me, you can conduct your own research objectively. You will substantiate me. There are even words in a story which prove that no joy proceeds from wrong-doing. It instead ignites the lack of inner peace. It's inner peace which forms a huge factor of fulfillment. The words are at the end of the story. To read it, avail yourself of this link: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/success-story-non-violent-approach-conflict-scheme-two-ndabananiye/?trackingId=itv1X4VORbQ%2FMD1tSMi6XA%3D%3D

Motivation, Inspiration& Integrity

The project mentioned in the cover photo employed me 2013 to 2016. I most often address it. It’s a project which has really pleased me the most, owing to its success and nature. There are other projects in which I was engaged in the past which were really successful. But that one prevails over them. It’s been implemented by Search For Common Ground and Haguruka NGO, under the leadership of Landesa and funding from USAID. It was executed in Kayonza and Nyagatare Districts in Rwanda.

I applied the afore-mentioned leadership skills in the project, so that they have actually fulfilled a major role in the success. But I’m going to quickly address motivation, inspiration, and integrity. I have dealt with most of the remaining attributes in various editions in this newsletter. If you’ve not read them, you can find them in the newsletter.

Motivation, inspiration, and integrity feature among the greatest techniques to lead, if they’re not the first ones. It’s here ‘motivation& inspiration’ Catherine the Great’s quote ‘I praise and reward publicly’ comes in. Recognition and appreciation of a person’s actions and achievements are excellent techniques which motivate and inspire people to become more, dream more, and do more. But, don’t conceal/keep your appreciation toward the person’s excellent work. Instead tell it to them, and even in the presence of the colleagues.

Back to the project, I used to intensely appreciate Community Resource Persons [CRPs] for every work, they’d just performed, how small it was. I would express my praise to the CRPs individually and reiterate it in our planning meetings. When you thank a person for small work done, it enthralls them and compels them to work a lot harder to accomplish excellent achievements.

That’s what has occurred to the CRPs, actually contributing to the success of the project to a very high extent. It’s even asserted by different people including Local Authorities. An example is an executive secretary in a certain sector of Kayonza who expressed me his amazement in November 2015: “I ask myself strategies and tactics you use to motivate these CRPs so that they are considerably committed to the work; I’ve not comprehended it yet really! We really are also mobilizers but we have not gotten to that level yet. Another fact which has always amazed me is that I have not yet learnt any conflicts which your project has failed to resolve in our sector.”

I decide not to reveal this official’s name, because he told me so in qualitative research. Professionally, I’m prohibited to identify him since I’ve not requested him for permission. Had he said it in an event or a success story, I could now disclose his identification.

The project peacefully resolved 404 out of 720 disputes pinpointed in the two districts: Kayonza and Nyagatare. It did so for only 18 months of field work. It’s these CRPs that were on the front line of peacefully handling the land-based disputes in their territories. This number doesn't contain disputes situated in other fields than land. It means the CRPs have resolved more than 404 disputes.

It’s not only that official who has been astonished at the CRPs’ work.?But also the US Embassy to Rwanda, the US Congress, and the Kayonza District Authorities have. The former Ambassador to Rwanda-Erica Barks Ruggles, a US Congressional Staff Member on Appropriations Committee, and the then Kayonza Mayor- John Mugabo met in Kayonza with the 'heroines'. The event materialized on 15th October 2015.

Mugabo stated “I thank our women, you are heroines. These women are helping us a lot; they are peacefully resolving disputes which would hinder our development because a society with disputes can’t climb out of poverty. The project has benefitted on both sides: CRPs and citizens.”

I have used a number of techniques, to stimulate the CRPs’ heroism. The techniques include integrity, and appreciation which have instilled motivation in them. My effective and efficient weapon in motivating and inspiring them was that I always informed them and reaffirmed them that they were extremely valuable to the project, and that I considerably recognized their devotion/ commitment/sacrifice.

The motivation eventually developed inspiration among the CRPs. In fact, motivation and inspiration, though sometimes used interchangeably, differ. Motivation is created by external factors, like rewards, praise/recognition, and even punishment. Fear of the latter one can induce to do or not to do a certain thing. In this regard, the punishment intervenes as your motivation.

Inspiration is created internally- it’s nurtured by an individual. The CRPs fostered inspiration, owing to the motivation. Inspiration is also strengthened if the individual possesses inbuilt traits buttressing the field of their inspiration. There are people naturally delighted to see others living together peacefully. These people are easily inspired to intervene in conflict transformation projects.

Tom Popomaronis’ article about the difference between motivation and inspiration on the website, Entrepreneur [ www.entrepreneur.com] also provides its contribution to distinguishing the two aspects. “A recent email conversation with Sam Taggart, founder of The D2D Experts, went a long way in clarifying the crucial differences for me. ‘Motivation is a push factor’.?

"It’s an outside force that is compelling you to take action, even if you don’t necessarily want to. Inspiration, on the other hand, is more of a pull or driving force. It’s something that comes from within that gets us to proactively give our best effort. When someone is inspired, they’re with you for the long haul.”

To exhibit integrity, I led by example. For me to render the CRPs committed to the project, I was the first one to be committed, so that they might emulate me. It was always easy for me to persuade them to work hard, since they could themselves observe my hard work. I could work on a dispute with the CRPs from the morning to the night when I visited them. There are times I joined a CRP at 10hAM in a community dialogue to amicably handle a dispute, and we reached 7hPM with little success. It therefore obliged to return there, until the dispute was successfully resolved.

Mentoring and coaching, and training

Let’s come back to the quote by Catherine II “I blame softly.’ In this adverb ‘softly’ already softens/ mitigates/extenuates the intensity of the verb ‘blame.’ When you softly blame someone, you blame them quietly. In other words, this isn’t a blame. You’re providing them with constructive feedback, to rectify certain things. It’s an act of mentoring. This quiet blame involves instructing, telling, giving feedback, advice, and directive to, sharing knowledge/skills/experiences with, a person for them to develop and grow. Coaching includes providing guidance to a person so that they may attain their objectives and achieve their full potential.

According to Legacy Talent Development [ https://legacytalentdevelopment.com], training is designed for an average learner, and the key difference between mentoring and training is the relationship. “A mentor-mentee relationship is personalized, confidential and friendly, while a trainer-trainee relationship is often impersonal, with a “teacher/student” vibe. Typically, one mentor is matched with one mentee. One trainer may be responsible for an entire group of employees. The result is that a mentoring relationship is more collaborative and transformative than a training relationship.”

“Mentoring happens away from the classroom, computer, or smart device. It’s highly individualized. Training is important for mentees and mentors, but it’s just the beginning. Mentoring partners decide after training where they want to go and the skills/attitudes/ideas to be gained. This is a huge paradigm shift!”

The Business Dictionary defines coaching as extending traditional training methods to include focus on (1) an individual's needs and accomplishments, (2) close observation, and (3) impartial and non-judgmental feedback on performance. It defines mentoring as an employee training system under which a senior or more experienced individual (mentor) is assigned to act as an advisor, counselor, or guide to a junior or trainee. The mentor is responsible for providing support to, and feedback on, the individual in his or her charge.

In her article on the blog [ https://starred.com] Elena Galli, a content and social media marketer, says that a mentor is usually a successful individual. S/he possesses a reactive capacity and shares their wisdom to provide insight and guidance, as their mentee encounters challenges along their journey, according to Galli. She adds that a mentor doesn’t always have expertise in their mentee’s field. But s/he must have an understanding of how to navigate the business in general, as stated by Galli.

Galli says “Coaches are often experts in the field they help their coachees in, which is perfect for employees and entrepreneurs with specific needs. They’re often trained and certified as coaches and possess strong process-management skills.”

Coaching someone means non-judgmentally grooming or teaching them to practice a given field. Your role as a coach is to assist them in realizing their full potential, irrespective of their level. It signifies that you don’t have to judge the person you’re coaching, based on their level of knowledge for instance. You must supervise/observe/monitor them and then show them the right way to practice.

Exercise of training, mentoring and coaching skills in the mentioned project

Training- first of all, I’ve detected that training isn’t usually enough. After training, there is a need for mentoring and coaching sessions. For instance, while training the CRPs and other staff on Conflict Transformation and Mediation Skills, I saw they really understood it.

But when it came to implementation, the CRPs particularly kept their usual conflict understanding of before the training. It was as if they had never been trained. For example, they were biased to some disputants and rushed to embark on the peaceful resolution of disputes, without having first conducted conflict analysis/investigation. It’s this technique that lays you the foundation to transform the conflict. It permits you to know all issues around the conflict, like truth and lies in disputants’ claims and positions.

It’s by working with the CRPs individually on the field [mentoring], and showing them the correct approach [coaching] that they were able to rectify all problems. In this regard, I always provided them with constructive feedback which I softly and secretly communicated to them, to remedy any deviations. Besides, I publicly highly praised the staff for any achievements how small they were, as I’ve said it above.

By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye

Experienced Journalist with a demonstrated history of working in the broadcast media industry and peace-building. Skilled in English and French, M&E, Media Production, Peace-building, Leadership, Marketing, Advocacy, and Kinyarwanda- English-French Translation. Strong media and communication professional with a Bachelor's and Master's focused in Journalism& Communication and MBA-Project Management respectively from University of Rwanda and Mount Kenya University.