The Power of Project Leadership

7 Keys to Help You Transform from Project Manager to Project Leader

Susanne Madsen

• Publisher: Kogan Page
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780749493257
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

WINNER: PMI UK National Project Awards 2019 - Project Management Literature CategoryProjects and work environments are becoming increasingly complex, with more stakeholders, dispersed teams and an unprecedented rate of technological change. In order to adapt to this complexity and find new opportunities to innovate and build a high performing team, project managers must shift their mindset to one of project leadership. The Power of Project Leadership explains how to generate positive results for projects and clients while growing as a leader and empowering the team to fully contribute. Now in its second edition, The Power of Project Leadership contains new interviews with successful project leaders and discusses current topics such as the psychology behind high performing teams, coaching, facilitation and conflict resolution, collaborative planning and risk management. It outlines the capabilities, attitudes and behaviours needed to become a confident, driven and focused project leader, including leading with vision, continuously improving, empowering teams, building trust with stakeholders, and using powerful techniques. With examples of the most fundamental causes of project failure and how to avoid them, The Power of Project Leadership shows how to inspire teams, add real value and deliver outstanding projects.

01

The world is changing and so must you

In this chapter you will learn:

• the differences between management and leadership;
• the three most fundamental mistakes that project managers make;
• how technological, social, cultural and economic change is affecting you and what you can do to work with it rather than against it;
• how the 7 keys to project leadership can help you break free from the management trap;
• the five areas of emotional intelligence that can help you move towards leadership.

Management versus leadership

In recent years there has been much debate on how to characterize management versus leadership. Management is said to be the discipline that specializes in maintaining the status quo, conforming to standards and organizing and directing individuals around the boundaries that have been set to achieve the task. These boundaries relate to time, money, quality, equipment, human resources and anything else that involves achieving that assignment. If you are a good manager, it means that you are good at producing a set of products and services in a predictable way, day after day, on budget and to consistent quality. It is a discipline that requires you to be rational and logical and to make use of certain skills and methods.

Leadership, on the other hand, is concerned with setting goals, making improvements to existing ways of working and motivating and leading the team to reaching this new direction. It is characterized by certain behaviours, such as sharing an inspiring vision, producing useful change, leading by example, empowering others and creating the most conducive environment for team success. Leadership is not about the specific skills you possess but about how you approach an assignment and how you relate to others.

One of the main differences between management and leadership is the way in which the two disciplines motivate people and teams to achieve objectives. Managers rely on their authority and on task-related boundaries to get work done. Leaders, on the other hand, influence, inspire and appeal to people at an individual level. They strive to get the best out of people by aligning each person’s individual objectives to those of the project and organization.

The differentiating factor between the two disciplines isn’t the level of cognitive ability or technical skills that someone has – it is to a large extent their level of emotional intelligence (EQ). Managers may have a high level of cognitive intelligence or IQ, but not necessarily EQ. They may be good at implementing effective management systems, but they aren’t necessarily good at communicating change or bringing people with them. Leaders are skilled at understanding, motivating and influencing people. They keep their emotions in check and set a great example for others to follow. Because of their people skills, their approach is often described as transformational rather than transactional. These leaders are able to build strong relationships with others, whereas people with low EQ may be socially out of touch and have problems working in teams due to their individual behaviours.

It’s difficult to imagine a great leader who doesn’t have a high level of emotional intelligence. Think about some of the leaders or role models you have worked with over the years. Would you agree that they have something over and above cognitive intelligence? The good news for all of us is that in contrast to IQ, our level of EQ is never set. Emotional intelligence is a flexible skill set that can be learnt and improved upon at any age.

Another way of illustrating the differences between management and leadership is that managers are effective at chopping down trees according to a set schedule, whereas leaders will climb to the top of the trees and may declare that they are not even in the right forest! In other words, managers are concerned with doing things right, leaders with doing the right things. Figure 1.1 illustrates the main differences.

Figure 1.1 Management versus leadership

The traits of management are,

• Task-oriented
• Transactional
• Doing things right
• Events and tasks
• Rational thinking
• Instructs people
• Cognitive intelligence
• Relies on authority
• Push-approach
• Status quo

The traits of leadership are

• People-oriented
• Transformational
• Doing the right things
• Attitudes and behaviours
• Inspirational and visionary
• Listens and empowers
• Emotional Intelligence
• Leads through others
• Asks people
• Pull-approach
• Risk taking

As we move into the heart of this book, we will explore the differences between management and leadership in more depth and you will come to understand how these two disciplines can be combined to create the best possible conditions for you, your client and your team. Project leaders make use of both disciplines, but as you grow and develop in your career, you will likely come to rely on leadership over and above management.

It is worth emphasizing that in contrast to project management, leadership is not a destination you reach – for instance, through a specific type of job – as it is related to the attitudes and behaviours you display more than the skills you possess. In that sense it is possible for someone in a project management role to be perceived as a leader due to the behaviours the person exhibits, and it is equally possible for someone in a CEO role to be perceived as a non-leader. Leadership is not attained through a job title but through a continuous journey of introspection, observation and development.

The more-for-less culture is upon us

Traditionally, a good project manager was someone who was logical and rational and effective at dealing with events, tasks and processes. It was someone who would work to the client’s brief and use his or her authority to deliver the desired outputs. Often, this type of project manager would study best practices and company procedures so that the individual could play by the rules and ensure that the standards were upheld. By understanding how the firm operated, the project manager could blend in, adopt the company culture and ensure that his or her team would continue to contribute to the way things had always been done.

But this approach no longer works. We cannot rely on the old ways of delivering projects, as the world is becoming increasingly complex and competitive with a growing need for adaptability, innovation and better use of human resources. As one executive put it, ‘If a project manager just follows orders he is not much use to me’.1

The global economy moves in cycles of ebb and flow and every time the economy takes a jolt, we downsize and scrutinize the types of projects that get approved for implementation. Many people think that we go back to normal when an economic crisis is over, but in reality that never happens. Each downturn makes the world a more competitive place and forces us to look for new and better ways of doing business. When the economy bounces back, jobs aren’t added back into the economy at the exact same places where they disappeared. Instead, jobs are created in new areas, performing new activities. Old working patterns have been replaced by something new.

What that means for project managers is that we have to adjust to changing economic climates. Not only do we need to up our game in order to both be considered for a job and keep it, we also need to look for new ways we can deliver the same outcomes and benefits to our clients with fewer resources. Essentially, the more-for-less culture is upon us, with a demand for faster, cheaper and better-quality projects, a quest that is not without challenges. It requires that we continuously question, innovate, take risks and change the practices that are no longer serving us. As Tim Harford, an economist and author of Adapt, argues, success in our complex world comes down to how quickly we can learn from past mistakes, adapt and adjust.2

When budgets and resources are cut, our first reaction is often one of resistance. We feel that we have to compromise and that quality of the end deliverable is affected. We also have to spend more time justifying our projects and their expenditure, which can be very trying. In his best-selling little book on change, Who Moved My Cheese?, Dr Spencer Johnson writes ‘the more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it’ and ‘the quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.’3 ‘Cheese’ represents the outdated habits and benefits that we take for granted. The more attached we are to them, the more painful it is to change. The trick is to accept that things will never be the same. We have to adapt and change.

The more-for-less culture means that project managers must become more financially aware right from inception of a project through to its delivery and to the realization of the ultimate benefits. We have to be more focused on business value and see our primary role as delivering sustainable value to the company – not just completing projects on time and on budget. This means that we have to help senior managers and customers select the projects that make the most economic and strategic sense by creating a business case where every benefit is related back to a dollar figure or to corporate strategy.

In addition we have to challenge each part of the project life cycle, the inputs and outputs and the development methods we use, so that we can better understand how to work smarter. We must critically assess which new technologies and working practices we can employ, which extra benefits we can deliver and – very important – how we can better utilize the human potential of our projects....