When Being a Project Manager is Not Enough

Many leads of projects mistakenly take a more limited, myopic view, of what a Project Manager’s focus should be. A project under the control of a PM must deliver a optimum outcome with required performances in quality, timeline and costs.   
 
Besides the outcome, how you handle yourself and get to the finish line matters as well.  It could be easier to reach end state by behaving as a bull in the china shop, ignoring other priority projects/programs in the organization, and micromanaging people to bring about a controlled outcome.  However, there is a price to pay for putting your head in the sand.
 
A 12/28/15 article by Shane Vaz in PM Time for Project Managers.com titled “ Forget Project Management and Embrace Project Leadership” makes the assertion that the title of Project Manager, misses the boat. What is really required is a Project Leader.
 

• Guide from the front
• Realizing the potential of your team and getting the best from them
• A manager manages the team by bending it to the project. A project leader will allow the team to bend itself to fit the project.
• Will not box the team into pigeon holes to get a project delivered
• Allow the team to make the decisions and hold each other responsible for those decisions
• Sees the strengths and weaknesses of a team and feeds those strengths while dealing with weaknesses head on
  

 
This is not about treating a team with brute force for their own good. But rather, leverage their strengths while building in them the accountability for results understanding the required criteria.
 
I am not supporting blind faith in the abilities of a team, but rather emphasizing that the team will take more responsibility for results, if they are allowed to own solutions and outcomes vs. strictly follow orders. Be a Project Leader.
 

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