The Crucial Role of Silent Leaders to your Project’s Success
A cohesive and collaborative team can make or break a project, and the linchpin of such a team is effective leadership and a healthy working culture. In this post, I explore the concept of ‘silent leaders’ - the cross-cutting, resourceful, unspoken heroes of your project’s success.
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At the heart of any successful project is a leader who embodies certain characteristics essential for team resilience and productivity. And when I say leader, I don’t necessarily mean the individual highest on the org. chart. While it could well be your Managing Director, your VP, or your C-Suite leader — in that case, consider yourself lucky — it could also be your seasoned project manager, your early career employee or your EA working well outside the scope of their role. Regardless of title, this individual usually holds the explicit or not-so-explicit responsibility as the key cross-coordinator keeping the ball moving forward. Throughout my career I’ve seen these individuals acknowledged, applauded, and at the same time wildly undervalued. For this reason, I call them ‘the silent leaders.’
To clarify, these leaders are anything but silent. They’re usually doing the most communicating, for example, making sure stakeholders have the most recent project status report, flagging project risks down the road while proposing solutions, and connecting employees doing similar work in separate departments, who should be but aren’t yet collaborating together.
Over the last decade, I’ve noticed that these individuals have a few common characteristics, which when compiled culminate in what I’m dubbing ‘the silder leader’s archetype.’
The Silent Leader's Archetype
Humility and Willingness to Get Hands Dirty: A silent leader is not confined by titles or hierarchies. They are willing to roll up their sleeves and engage in tasks that others might deem beneath their position. By demonstrating humility and a hands-on approach, they set a tone of collaboration within the team.
Secure. Let me say that again. Secure: A silent leader is secure in their abilities but remains adaptable. Instead of feeling threatened by the intelligence of team members, a silent leader fosters curiosity. They are not afraid to admit when they don't have all the answers and are open to learning from their team. They recognize that diversity in thought is an asset and actively seek to understand different perspectives. This blend of curiosity and vulnerability drives innovation, fosters trust, and encourages a culture of continuous improvement.
Transparency & Absence of Gatekeeping: Transparency builds trust within the team. Leaders who facilitate success do not hoard information or create barriers within the team. Instead, they prioritize clear and open communication, ensuring that information flows freely. This transparency extends to decision-making processes, project timelines, and potential challenges, allowing the team to address issues collectively.
Empowerment and Advancement Opportunities: Genuine empowerment is a cornerstone of effective leadership. Successful leaders create an environment where each team member feels valued and is given opportunities to grow. This includes providing mentorship, guidance, and creating pathways for advancement within the organization.
Autonomy and Ownership: A silent leader empowers individuals by giving them autonomy and ownership of their work. They trust their team members to take the lead on certain aspects of the project. This not only enhances individual growth but also leads to a more dynamic and agile team that’s willing to embrace leaning into their genius and learn from failure when it happens.
Shared Vision and Mission: A successful leader instills a shared sense of vision and mission within the team. When everyone understands the overarching goals and values, they can align their efforts cohesively. This requires not only communication but consistency. Shared vision and consistent tangible actionable goals act as a guiding force, helping the team stay focused on the end goal. (highest priority?
So why am I harping on about silent leaders? Because their versatile and highly useful archetype is rare in my opinion and once you find them — recognize them — promote them — provide them with a career ladder that allows them to continue to grow with your organization.
if you don;t know how to help them leverage thei rgenis even more, find someoe who does and
Over the last few years in particular, despite their silent successes, I’ve watched these individuals fall by the wayside and more often than not, it’s because they aren’t being given the guidance or mentorship needed to continue to grow with you and your organization
promote them, recognize them
A leader who embodies humility, curiosity, empowerment, and transparency pave the way for a resilient and high-performing team. Coupled with a culture of collaboration, shared vision, and individual autonomy, this leadership approach becomes the driving force behind successful ventures.
Remember, technically anyone can ‘lead.’ Anyone can be named, in title, or through hierarchy the ‘leader.’ But what makes a real leader, and what’s probably driving your project success right now, are the ‘silent leaders.’
To cut
(I’m drawing primarily on my experience watching
I once worked with a mid-level career professional who built, launch, and scaled an entire enterprise’s impact measurment framework with sheer grit alone; a more seasoned product owner vision, track, and coordinate all external vendors,
This leader is not hindered by ego, instead choosing to prioritize the success of the team over personal glory.
Proactive
Excellent foresight
Resilience
Sincerely.
-A self-proclaimed Silent Leader :)
(I draw on my experience working with a mid-level career professional who built, launched, and scaled an entire enterprise’s means for evaluating it’s outcomes in under a year; a more seasoned product owner who vision cast, track, and coordinate an extremely weedy government ___, and an EA hold up the scheduling, cross-coordination, agenda setting, and gut checking for almost an entire C-suit and others, with their sheer grit alone,
, a chief of stafff, and more).