PMcrunch

Many project managers are in somewhat functional roles where they are not neccessarily in a typical leadership positions. By contrast, other project managers are in significant leaderhsip roles where they have been given direct responsibility of the outcome of significant projects. Even with this contrast, I would argue that every project manager has the opportuniy to exhibit leadership in his or her current role. Indeed, exhibiting leadership in a current role is what will enable every project manager to advance to roles of greater responsibility.

As I think about it, there are five types of opportunities that can provide a chance for project managers to lead and exhibit leadership qualities:

1. Leadership without authority -  This situation occurs when an individual is on a project, has responsibility, but really has no direct authority over others or in decisions. However, a leader’s role is not just to make decisions or to tell others what to do. A leader’s role is also to influence others and this is the key to exhibiting leadership in a situation without authority. In your area of responsibility, you have an opportunity on a regular basis to influence decision makers and influence actors; and in so doing, you are providing leadership.
2. Servant leadership – Servant leadership describes a situation in which you are in a leaderhip role but the key to that role is really to serve others, not to simply make sure that others are doing what they are supposed to do. you are in a role where being of service to your stakeholders is the primary focus of your job. One key group of stakeholders or the members of the project team, as a servant leader you look to clear the way for them, to enable them to do their jobs, to at times provide top cover to insulate them from upper management, issues, and controversy that may distract them from their deliverables. Servant leadership is also deeply involved with the customers of the project and linking various parties together to make it all happen.
3. Push leadership – This is arguably my least favorite type of leadership but nonetheless, opportunities exist to, in a sense, push people to do what they need to do. In a sense you are shaping them. Often this type of leadership is exhibited in more authoritarian type of situations which may include the military. In this situation, you have direct reports and you need to lead them to do what they are prescribed to do in a regimented situation.
4. Pull leadership – Pull leadership subscribes to the more modern thinking that you can most effectively influence people to be motivated from within. Pull leadership refers to the idea that pushing someone to do something gets limited and short term results but motivating them from within creates long term actions and long term benefits.
5. Visionary leadership – Typically, visionary leadership is the realm of upper management. However, this is not neccessarily true and actually is becoming less and less true. Visionary leadership results from someone knowing the way and showing the way. It involves having a vision, when often other don’t, of where to go and how to get there. If you are not in an upper management position, you can actually be in a visionary leadership position if you are a frontline researcher. You actually may have the information that someone in upper management needs. You may have it in detail. You may actually be able to provide the information that supports the vision to that leader and you may able to provide it to those other stakeholders up down and across the organization.

What is the common element that it really takes to exhibit leadership skills? What it really takes is courage. It takes courage to overcome the fear of failure, the fear of embarrassment, and the fear of being looked upon and stepping out of line with regards to your role. Anyone can overcome those fears and exhibit leadership in their position.

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John Reiling, PMP
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