Once upon a time, there was an ERP project that needed to be implemented professionally. Hence, the CEO invited three promising project managers to her office to interview them and decide which of them should lead this important project.
The first project manager stepped forward, and the CEO asked him how he intended to lead his potential team. The manager held his head high, his accurately tailored suit did not have a single wrinkle (rumor had it that he had an employee dedicated to daily steaming), and replied in a firm voice:
“Without proper structure, the project cannot develop! I will ensure a clear distribution of roles, set clear deadlines, and maintain transparent communication. Every team member should know their responsibilities and respect the set time frames. I will provide a clearly defined project plan that will keep us perfectly on schedule.”
The CEO nodded, but with a small smile she thought back to the last time she had been promised a so-called perfect plan…
Now the second project manager stepped forward. He had vigorously shaken his head at the answers given by the first interviewee and was now running his fingers through his disheveled hair. He moved forward with a spring in his step and began to lecture with grand gestures:
“Such rigid structures only restrict the team and lead directly to burnout! I promote utter freedom; I always give my team space to develop, get involved, and express themselves creatively. The project can only be successful if everyone is motivated enough, and actually wants to work together!”
“This is insanity!” interrupted project manager number 1. “Without structural leadership, the project will descend into chaos! The tasks need to be defined and allocated explicitly, elseways the team will behave like a headless chicken!”
“Your stubbornness is stunting your team members’ productivity!” protested project manager number 2. “You have to give your people free rein, otherwise they’ll lose motivation! What’s more, freedom allows them to adapt much better to the dynamics of the project. Your bureaucracy is only a noose around their necks!”
“You just want to shirk responsibility,” growled manager number 1. “Leadership means setting a clear direction — not letting everyone do whatever they want until they turn Slack into a dating app!”
“With your petty obsession with bureaucracy, you’re stifling creativity before it even has a chance to blossom!”
Gradually, the argument heated up. Managers 1 and 2 hurled increasingly vicious insults at each other (“Excel Taliban!” – “Post-it Hippie!”). Someone threw a flipchart across the room, another threatened with the force of a process description. A dramatic battle cry rang through the room: “Agility or death!” which was answered with a well-placed blow with a laptop.
The CEO watched the whole thing with raised eyebrows, and finally sighed in resignation. While the two managers danced around each other with red faces, she waved the last candidate over to her. Both left the meeting room discreetly, and closed the door, while inside a whiteboard was already being misappropriated as a shield.
“Well,” said the CEO, “that was very… edifying. Tell me, what do you make of the whole thing?” The last candidate smiled mildly, placed his fingertips together, and said:
“Honestly, I think there’s something to both concepts. Though the two of them in there” – he nodded toward the meeting room, which was still rumbling with noise, and from which a muffled “SCRUM is not wrestling!” could be heard – “are making the mistake of believing that freedom and structure are mutually exclusive. Structure gives the team direction and a clear view of the goal, but viable solutions only emerge when you allow some leeway. Conflicts always arise in one way or another; it’s almost a law of nature. The important thing is to cultivate a sustainable balance between order and flexibility.”
The CEO smiled approvingly, and nodded.
“That,” she concluded, “sounds like a sensible direction.” There was a loud crash, someone had evidently knocked over the coffee machine. “On a further note,” she added, glancing at the smoke now billowing out of the conference room, “you should always have a good exit strategy.”
