I am blowing the virtual dust from the old blog to open discussion on my latest project. Well, to claim ownership I am being somewhat presumptuous.
It is Prudence Clarke, Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and
Roger Thornham to whom most of the credit should go for their extensive research and development to date.
In simple terms, too many Project Managers are struggling with leadership, whether it be managing stakeholder expectations, negotiating with suppliers and contractors or raising team morale when the project has gone off the rails.
Prudence and the team have been grappling with this reality for 7 years, combining university and industry research to boil down those few factors that differentiate Project Managers from Project Leaders. Before going into these, I’d like to take a moment to consider the issue.
As a jobbing PM and PM trainer and consultant, I know this is an issue. There is a real deficit of leadership behaviour on projects. I believe there are a number of factors at play here.
Often, PMs become PMs because they were good at something else, software development, quantity surveying, forestry, you name it. This comes about through a misguided, (although usually well-intentioned), belief that project management is a fair way of promoting a subject matter expert into a wider role. Project management is of course a huge change of scenery from being the specialist in a niche.
One of the best presentations I’ve ever seen is by
Benjamin Zander please indulge when you have a spare 20 minutes or so.
The bit that 
really stayed with me was when he says that, as the conductor, he leads the orchestra but makes no noise. He positions leadership as coordination, guidance, a focal point, but not running round and trying to play all the instruments. Project Leadership, we have found, requires Project Managers to come out of the pit, and to keep everyone, players, composers and audience alike, delighted with what is going on. This is hard.
I also find that PMs are usually selected from the mid regions of the organisational structure yet the outcomes they need to achieve require the engagement of those higher in the food chain. When sponsorship is weak (which it so often is) PMs have little or no chance to influence the right people in the ways they need to.
Lastly, projects are about “change”. Of course introducing change at almost any level creates a range of behavioural responses, not by any means all positive. It takes real leadership talent to deal with humans when they are expressing conscious and sub conscious resistance. All this also takes place in the pressure-cooker environment of balancing time, cost and quality parameters.
So, the result of our research has been to describe 7 facets of personality that create the basis for effectively leading projects, the difference between project management and project leadership. These are the facets we need to understand in order to elevate the role into a significant change catalyst and leader of business progress.
Our facets are a direct descendent of the
“big five” personality traits which have been updated and adjusted to reflect contemporary project leadership challenges.
So the 7 facets are:
- Pragmatism – goal-oriented, focused and determined completion of tasks
- Creativity – seeking novel solutions to old issues
- Positive intolerance – taking tough decisions to get projects achieved
- Stability – effective performance under pressure
- Communication – clear and effective articulation of any issue to any audience
- Motivation – of self an others in the project, especially when times get tough
- Group orientation – collaborating with others to improve project outcomes
Of course these headings can be, (and have been), deliberated and adjusted indefinitely. However we agree, from our extensive review of 100 years of leadership literature and, possibly more tellingly, repeated consultation of industry leading Project Managers, and the refinement of that consultation, that these fit the current picture.
Both training and consulting on project matters, I know first hand that the behavioural side of the job is given a second class status in comparison to technical tools. (Even those are patchy at best). However, from my own background in rehabilitation, I have always contested that “soft skills” are always the hardest to improve and embed.
So I am using this blog to canvas opinion on the facets – your views as to their relevance and experiences of where they have been applied, or where a deficit in one or some have costed the project.
I will use my next 7 blogs to unpack these facets a little further. This supports the work being done on the new PM specific psychometric that has been developed in accordance to the research with my business partner and web specialist
So, over to you, what are your first impressions? 
Sounds interesting, Spencer. Positive Intolerance sounds meaty: is that a new word for “Assertiveness”?!
Looking forward to hearing more detail.
Very interesting post, from my experiences as a project team member, project manager and on occasion, project sponsor, the leadership aspect of PM’s is something that is virtually always overlooked when appointing and rewarding PM’s, employers usually look only for someone who looks like they can deliver, whether they do it with a happy, motivated and engaged team or a scorched earth policy of brow beaten and subjugated personnel is a real secondary concern. It is only when companies try to conduct successive projects with the same PM that the leadership characteristics manifest since the good leaders are the ones people will work for on future projects, and of course, when the pressure really comes on, in a tight labour market, good leaders keep their people whlie “managers” tend to see their people disapear into other companies or teams.
Hi
After reading your blog, I would like to add that for me it is often understated that it is people that deliver projects and not systems or methods they are only tools to support us mere humans. People need to be led. Regardless of project management that has always been the case. Therefore if you look at great leaders and their common trates I believe there in lies the answer to the perfect project manager. Remembering it is the people that need to be motivated to deliver.
Hi
Good stuff. It is refreshing to see some clear lines drawn for areas that are little acknowledged. Frequently leadership manifests in having clear vision across tension lines, and the ability to provide common sense guidance or solutions in situations that are unknown or unclear. These positions, even where they represent the most positive pathways of the time, can be hard to maintain if hierarchy interferes with the project. And also where ‘ideas’ must be balanced against the detail of ‘doing’ under pressure.
Hi Spencer,
An interesting and thought provoking post!
From my experience as a project and programme manager, as well as a member of other project teams, I think you have covered the broad areas of project leadership. These facets are rarely recognised by senior management, they themselves may not have these leadership qualities!
Project Managers are more than just managers, as you say they need to be leaders, to keep stakeholders happy whilst rallying the troops to deliver the project. PM’s need to be the central controlling hub, and leadership is essential to this, as is a well disciplined, trained and coordinated project team – tools help, but personalities and determination are critical.
I wonder if there is an 8th facet? Process – the ability to follow processes and structures, but also knowing when to bend the rules to get the project done.
Look forward to reading your future posts on the facets.
Regards,
Ed
I stumbled upon your site browsing Yahoo and just wanted to take some time to say thanks for the informative post you have shared.
This leadership “stuff” is what it’s all about, and, two observations in that regard: First: The old adage of being careful who you promote to department head, as, you might just get a lousy manager (leader), and loose an excellent technical expert. This is the same issue for project management and project managers, for the same reason. Second: I don’t think anybody is really teaching leadership, except perhaps the military. Can it even be taught, or, do we just bring out whatever is “in there”? In a college course on business, I remember the professor talking about taking skills required for the job and dividing them into learnable (on the job) and must come with the person (can’t be learned?). Thinking back, I know he never said leadership, but I’m not sure that isn’t what he really meant. Last thought on that subject: Some of the more prestigious MBA programs require industry experience, with references. My take: What better way to guarantee you only graduate leaders, than to guarantee you only enroll leaders! Lots of technical stuff to learn, but this whole leadership thing remains elusive. There’s a lot of technical stuff to do as a project manager (I’ve spent a career leaning how to automate all that minutiae… read more here: http://www.executingyourvision.com) but at the end of the day, that’s not the key. The key is “working through people” to get the job done. It’s dealing with the uniqueness and complexity of people, and its leadership. Your post is right on target.
Hey Joe
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I have to contend that behaviours that end up with people doing more for you, willingly, can be honed and developed (or I’m out of a job). I certainly believe, from acres of evidence, that some have a deeper resource pool than others across all leadership facets and that often a person needs to find their style for leading “authentically”. They often need to dispell the myth that a leader has to be extroverted, bold and out there the whole time. More obvious leaders tend to be but that’s not the only way.
Leadership’s not for everyone however and I have witnessed quite a few casualties along the testing road of capability development!