Power by the Hour: Unlocking Impact in Complex Program Delivery

Written for International Centre for Complex Project Management (ICCPM) Connect Edition

Preamble: I recently wrote a Linked-In article about Power by the Hour. It was written in a different context to project leadership, but after it was published, it made me think.  There were so many parallels between that and what it takes to unlock impact in complex project leadership that it was a light bulb moment.  This article refines that thinking and applies it to complex project leadership.

Introduction

Right now, program delivery is being tested like never before. Whether it’s systems, infrastructure, or transformation, the operating environment is noisy, resource-constrained, and in constant flux. Leaders are being asked to create clarity and certainty – but the environment is foggy, political, and full of inertia.

But complexity is not solved by working harder or simply admiring the problem. Instead, progress is achieved through focussing energy where it matters. That’s the essence of what I call Power by the Hour – a delivery mindset rooted in maintaining momentum, being innovative, nurturing culture, and the idea that every moment matters.

Power by the Hour is about leadership – from wherever it sits. The challenge is to create traction, not noise, because activity isn’t the same as effectiveness.

What is Power by the Hour?

At its core, Power by the Hour is about intentionality. It’s the ability to use time surgically by focusing on what actually moves the dial rather than just watching the dial. Not everything matters equally, and in complex environments, any distraction is expensive and wasteful. Leadership means making the trade-off decisions clear and anchoring others in purpose.

This concept is not about the project job title. It’s about project behaviours. And increasingly, the modern project professional must know when to press forward, when to reorient, and how to recover fast when the unexpected hits – because it will. Managing risk is real work – because in complex delivery, risks aren’t naively avoided, they’re realised.  You need to be prepared to tackle it, head-on.

Power by the Hour is also about legacy. You know someone has made an impact when capability stays behind long after they’ve moved on. Their fingerprints are in the uplift, not the churn. They’ve left something strategically better, and a true step-change that gazumps what was done before.

The Golf Lesson and the Piano Teacher

Let me explain with two quick analogies.

The Piano Teacher: Their job isn’t to stay forever. It’s to build fluency, confidence, and independence. Success is when they’re no longer needed. That’s what effective delivery leaders do – they coach, enable, and then step out of the spotlight to allow others to shine.

The Golf Lesson: You can spend an hour with your local pro or an hour with the world number one. Same time block, but a very different shift in performance. In delivery, it’s not the hour that matters – it’s the impact within it.

These aren’t just stories – they’re reminders that the value of time is measured by movement, not minutes.

In Dynamic Environments, Leadership Shifts First

In real delivery environments, success doesn’t just depend on technical plans – it depends on how people lead under pressure. In complex settings, pressure is the new norm.

This is where traditional tools start to fray. You can have the plan, the governance, the dashboard – but if the culture is misaligned, or the team’s stuck in learned helplessness, nothing moves. That’s when project leadership kicks in.

You’re no longer just driving the project activities – you’re reading the room, managing invisible politics, and aligning people’s efforts despite the ambiguity. It requires leadership without formal authority, influencing others without any badge, stick, or scary Gantt chart. It’s about being decisive while knowing when to sit in the silence and listen with both your ears and your eyes – that’s the artform of modern project leadership.

This kind of leadership demands a focus on project culture first – because culture is the true foundation of complex project delivery.

Culture: The Operating System of Complex Projects

We talk about culture like it’s a soft skill which is somehow easy. Yet in delivery, it’s often the hardest and most challenging and imprecise variable in play.

This matters as culture sets the tempo, bandwidth, and trust levels across a program. When culture is fractured, even the most well-planned projects will stall. Yet when culture is aligned, progress can happen with surprising trajectory.

From my experience there is a quiet truth: You can’t deliver transformation – and in practice, every project is one, even if only in mindset – without knowing what it is you’re actually transforming. I’ve found that the first thing that needs to shift is mindset – away from polishing inputs towards a focus on delivering benefits and the outcomes required. That’s why leading culture isn’t a job just for the change and people professionals – it must be embraced by all the leadership team as it’s the most fundamental enabler for unlocking success.

Modern project professionals get this. They model behaviours early, build shared language, and walk alongside change practitioners – and all the other experts necessary – not behind them.

It’s About Keeping Above the Noise

Complex delivery is a leverage game.

You win by creating traction, unlocking movement, and focusing effort where it multiplies.

Often, what a seasoned project leader brings isn’t just task progress. It’s the ability to spot patterns, sidestep the worst of risks, and subtly guide decision paths through a quiet phone call. These things don’t show up in the project schedule – but they’re the difference between stalled and shifted.

Most overlook the simple leverage from their trusted networks. Great delivery leaders draw from people who’ve done it before, across different systems and situations. That quiet yet strategic nudge, that shared experience, that early warning – they save time, reduce noise, and keep things real. It reminds me of great ship driving – a small course adjustment early avoids a collision late. Leaving it too late means your energy is no longer on the destination – you’ve lost sight of the goal, and you are then flung into reactive-mode.

Practices That Create Power

So, what practical strategies do I suggest for complex project leaders? Here are ten leadership delivery behaviours that help generate disproportionate impact in dynamic environments:

• Lead With Authenticity: Be real. Don’t confuse image with impact. People trust authenticity over perfection.
• Manage the People Journey: Map where people are – emotionally, politically and personally – and tailor strategies to keep them with you. Lead them through storms when they occur.
• Be Surgical With Time: Prioritise what creates movement. Learn to say “no” to the rest. Even create a parking-lot of less important things to do when you’ve finally nailed the important things.
• Anchor to Outcomes: Keep healthily questioning: What are we trying to shift? Are we still solving the right problem? Have we meaningfully moved the dial?
• Fix the System, Not Just the Symptoms: Don’t pour effort into workarounds. Aim for root cause movement. Be brave enough to optimise the system; to look past the symptoms on the surface.
• Allow drift in the Plan, but always Hold the Intent: Stay adaptable, and allow for drift by building it into your plan. Mission clarity and success is about defining a wide-road not a fine line. Sometimes precision is the enemy – but at 30,000 feet, even a smudge will look like precision. Further, a map is not reality; just an abstract repetition of it.  But that map sure helps!
• Use Your Network Wisely: You don’t need every answer. But you need to know who’s seen it before – and who’ll give you the honest version. Truth can sting, but you must confront it to transcend into having true impact and cut-through.
• Influence Without Authority: Navigate stakeholders with intent. Know their equities; speak to their drivers; be surgical in the use of both their time and your time.
• Model Culture, Don’t Just Talk It: Start with what we can control – how you behave and treat others. Walk your talk. Culture spreads by authenticity and proximity.
• Leave Something Meaningful Behind: Complex programs will keep going after you go. Your legacy is what they keep using after you’re gone. To me, I really hope that I always leave behind the right mindset. What’s yours?

Final Thoughts: It’s What Gets Moved, Not Just What Gets Done

In complex projects, time is the most blunt instrument unless it’s respected. Time must be directed with purpose. Power by the Hour is a reminder that intentionality matters. That complex project leadership isn’t about motion – it’s about momentum.

To me, this is what real complex project leadership demands. It shapes culture,  walks tall through ambiguity and uncertainty, and designs and builds trusted systems that still work even when you’re no longer in the room.

And that was the lightbulb moment – realising the same strategic patterns and impact drivers apply. In the end, it’s not the hour that counts; it’s what you moved with it.

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