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‫Before we dive deeper into this topic, let me take a minute to tell you a story.

‫Several years ago, the company I worked for was in the process of implementing a new call center management

‫platform to support the growing pool of customers.

‫Since Bob, the call center manager, fully understood the need of the customers, the senior management

‫team decided to put him in charge of the project.

‫Bob, full of excitement, started scheduling meetings and getting the ball rolling, immediately making

‫decisions on every aspect of the project.

‫However, he quickly ran into serious problems, causing the project to come to a screeching halt.

‫And that's putting it mildly.

‫Tempers are flaring.

‫People were walking off the project.

‫The company was losing money each day.

‫It was just chaotic.

‫Let's look at how this happened.

‫On this implementation, Bob had to work with all the groups that ultimately touched his customers directly

‫and indirectly, he had to gather data, solicit feedback, work with and gain the involvement of many.

‫To make the project a success.

‫He had to work with the IT department, customer service, the operations team, the service and repair

‫team and the customer contract department to make certain that all service level agreements were upheld.

‫So what happened?

‫After working with the call center software vendor and putting together a detailed project task list,

‫he started barking orders to each of the department heads and demanding tasks be done within the allotted

‫time.

‫You see, Bob really needed it to install and test the platform alongside the vendor.

‫He needed the collaboration of the customer service department to better understand the escalation process

‫that needed to occur in the system for it to be timely.

‫He needed to involve the operations and service departments to ensure that their processes were not

‫resulting in customer issues and therefore causing an increase in call center call volume.

‫Lastly, he also needs to have the service level agreements department in his corner to help monitor

‫any potential contractual issues that could have resulted from the new system.

‫That's a lot of moving parts that required lots of focus and collaboration.

‫The problem was that Bob was an amazing conventional leader, but he had no idea or understanding of

‫how important it was for him to take on a lateral leadership role instead.

‫Yep, you guessed it.

‫He forgot he wasn't their boss.

‫Unknowingly, Bob failed to create a shared understanding of the project scope, future vision and goals

‫of the organization.

‫He failed to involve the project team members and solicit their input and collaboration from the onset

‫of the project.

‫He also failed to generate trust by valuing everyone for the expertise they each brought to the project.