Leadership in Project

Management
Dr . David Ru m eser
 Lead er s vs Man ag er s

Good management brings about order and

stability by formulating plans and objectives,
designing structures and procedures, monitoring
results against plans, and taking corrective action
when necessary.
Leadership involves recognizing and articulating
the need to significantly alter the direction and
operation of the project, aligning people to the
new direction, and motivating them to work
together to overcome hurdles produced by the
change and to realize new objectives.
 Lead er s vs Man ag er s
in lig h t o f p r o ject lif e-cycle
Lead er sh ip Ch allen g es in Man ag in g
Pr o ject s
Ch allen g e 1: Man ag in g Temporary Team s

They have to recruit personnel from other

departments and manage the temporary
involvement of team members.
Ch allen g e 2: Dealin g w it h “St r an g er s”

They often have to bring strangers together and

quickly establish a set of operational procedures
that unite their efforts and contributions.
Ch allen g e 3: Sh ar ed Visio n

Project managers need to forge a team identity

and a shared vision that command the attention
and allegiance of participants.
Ch allen g e 4: Co n f lict Man ag em en t

Project managers have to encourage functional

conflict that contributes to superior solutions while
being on guard against dysfunctional conflict
that can break a team apart.
Ch allen g e 5: Man ag in g Meet in g s

They have to be skilled at managing meetings so

that they do not become a burden but rather a vehicle
for progress.
Ch allen g e 6: Dealin g w it h r isks an d
u n cer t ain t ies

Project management is about managing risks and coping with

uncertainties. It takes a leader to understand future
challenges and making sure all preparations are done
properly.
Ch allen g e 7: Co n st an t ly seein g
t h e “b ig g er p ict u r e”

Projects are the execution of strategy in order to create benefits

(e.g. revenue enhancement, cost reduction). Project managers
could be tempted to put too much focus on the outputs (e.g.
new billing system), but fail to see the “bigger picture” i.e.
outcomes.
Ch allen g e 8: Makin g d if f icu lt d ecisio n s

Decisions are often not easy to be made as they involve trade-

offs between interrelated project elements (costs, time, quality,
strategic alignment, risks, stakeholder engagement, etc.)
Ch allen g e 9: Dealin g w it h Him self /
Her self

Losing motivation. Feeling insecure. Being too technical. Failing

to trust others.
 In a n u t sh ell..

• Unique leadership challenges in projects are concerned with:

• Temporary nature of a project -> establishing quick relationships
• Diversity of stakeholders -> managing conflict of interests
• Business / strategic goal of a project -> delivering outcomes
(e.g. increased revenue, reduced costs), not just outputs (e.g.
new billing system)
• Communication needs -> managing effective meetings,
engaging stakeholders
• Risks and uncertainties in projects -> proactive risk
management
• Trade-offs in projects -> systems view (holistic decision-making)
 Implications of Organizational Culture
for Organizing Projects

• Challenges for Project Managers in Navigating

Organizational Cultures
–Interacting with the culture and subcultures of the
parent organization. Subculture refers to cultures in
each department (marketing, finance, etc).
–Interacting with the project’s clients or customer
organizations
–Interacting with other organizations
connected to the project

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill/Irwin 3–15
 Cultural Dimensions of an Organization Supportive
of Project Management

This figure attempts to

identify which cultural
characteristics create an
environment conducive to
completing most complex
projects involving people
from different disciplines

FIGURE 3.9

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill/Irwin 3–16
3M has received acclaim for creating an entrepreneurial culture within a
large corporate framework. Some of their taglines: “Hire good people
and leave them alone.” “If you put fences around people, you get sheep.
Give people the room they need.” Freedom and autonomy to experiment
are reflected in the “15 percent rule,” which encourages technical
people to spend up to 15 percent of their time on projects of their own
choosing and initiative. This fertile culture has contributed to 3M’s
branching out into more than 60,000 products and 35 separate business
units (Collins & Porras, 1994).
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

1. Systems thinking. Project managers must be

able to take a holistic rather than a reductionist
approach to projects. Instead of breaking up a
project into individual pieces (planning, budget)
and managing it by understanding each part, a
systems perspective focuses on trying to
understand how relevant project factors
collectively interact to produce project outcomes.
The key to success then becomes managing the
interaction between different parts and not the
parts themselves.
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

2. Personal integrity.
WORDS

ACTIONS
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

3. Proactive. Good project managers take action

before it is needed to prevent small concerns
from escalating into major problems. They spend
the majority of their time working within their
sphere of influence to solve problems and not
dwelling on things they have little control over.
Project managers can’t be whiners.
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

4. High emotional intelligence (EQ). Project

management is not for the meek. Project
managers have to have command of their
emotions and be able to respond constructively to
others when things get a bit out of control.
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

5. General business perspective. Because the

primary role of a project manager is to integrate
the contributions of different business and
technical disciplines, it is important that a
manager have a general grasp of business
fundamentals and how the different functional
disciplines interact to contribute to a successful
business.
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

6. Effective time management. Time is a

manager’s scarcest resource. Project managers
have to be able to budget their time wisely and
quickly adjust their priorities. They need to
balance their interactions so no one feels ignored.
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

7. Skillful politician. Project managers have to

be able to deal effectively with a wide range of
people and win their support and endorsement of
their project. They need to be able to sell the
virtues of their project without compromising the
truth.
 Leadership: 8 characteristics of an effective project manager

8.Optimist. Project managers have to display a

can-do attitude. They have to be able to find rays
of sunlight in a dismal day and keep people’s
attention positive. A good sense of humor and a
playful attitude are often a project manager’s
greatest strength.
Leadership: the 9th characteristics of an effective project manager

In a study of ninety top leaders from a variety of fields,

leadership experts Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus made a
discovery about the relationship between growth and
leadership: “it is the capacity to develop and improve their
skills that distinguishes leaders from their followers.”
Successful leaders are learners. And the learning process is
ongoing, a result of self-discipline and perseverance. The goal
each day must be to get a little better, to build on the previous
day’s progress. - The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.