Leadership styles and development
Effective leadership is critical to have successful projects. A project managers leadership style has significant impact on the project, the team’s motivation and productivity and the overall performance. Different leadership styles can be used, as not all projects are the same and the teams involved are different in every project.
Self-awareness and self-reflection are some of the most important competencies a leader can have. When it comes to being a good leader, understanding one-self and understanding the people that must be lead is crucial. Being self-aware can potentially lead to understanding of behaviours and initiate useful changes to enhance leadership skills, such as learning to keep calm in stressful situations and enhance communication with stakeholders. Better communication applies to the team as well. Understanding the members of the team and knowing how to communicate with each sets a good work environment for successful projects.
Leadership development is the practice of preparing and improving future and current leaders, to lead their teams efficiently and effectively. Furthermore, leadership development is an investment in the organisation’s internal growth. Good leadership leads to many different benefits, and no matter what the desired goal is, developing the necessary skills to reach the goals can significantly improve the productivity and morale towards the organisation. This article will describe applications of leadership styles in a project context. Furthermore, a discussion of the different tools that can be used for developing leadership skills. Potential limitations of the different leadership styles and tools will be discussed lastly.
Projects are temporary and do not provide a long timeline for continuous leadership development. The project team is assembled to focus on the objectives of the project, and not the leaders improvements. Thus, learning the art of leadership prove to be challenging.
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Leadership styles
Project managers are expected to be leaders, but project management and leadership are two different things. The most effective leaders are both good leaders and successful project managers. Successful project managers deliver successful projects – they develop their skills through experience in doing their type of projects. On the contrary, successful leaders are courageous, ambitious, confident, and self-aware. They continuously develop the strengths of themselves and their project teams [1], The performance of both project managers and leaders are measured in the performance of the team, making it even more important for project managers to develop leadership skills.
| Leaders | Managers |
| Innovative | Administer |
| Seek challenges | Seek to maintain the status quo |
| Think long term | Think short- to mid-term |
| Motivate and inspire | Control |
| Worry about doing the right things | Worry about doing things right |
| Have a wide circle of influence | Have limited influence |
A leadership style refers to the approach that a manager or leader takes to provide motivation and direction to their team and achieve project objectives. There are numerous leadership styles available, each tailored to suit the leader's personal style, team dynamics, and project requirements.
However, each leadership style has its own set of strengths and weaknesses that can influence its effectiveness in various scenarios. Therefore, when choosing a leadership style, it is essential to consider the specific situation and context, such as the project type, team culture, and individual characteristics of the team members. The selected leadership style may need to be adjusted depending on these factors to ensure optimal outcomes.
The six leadership styles by Daniel Goleman[2], are shown below with their strengths and weaknesses.
| Leadership Style | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Coercive | Effective in emergency and crisis situations | May lead to resentment and mistrust among team members |
| Authoritative | Provides clear direction and vision for the team | May not be effective in situations where team do not share vision or values |
| Affiliative | Promotes a positive work environment | May be inefficient in situations withouth a clear direction |
| Democratic | Encourage open communication and collaboration among the team | May be time-consuming and slow in decision-making |
| Pacesetting | Effective in situations where team is competent and motivated | Can lead to stress among team members |
| Coaching | Development of team members | Require skillful leader |
A seventh common leadership style is situational leadership. It is a leadership concept that argues that there is not just one leadership style that works for all conditions. Therefore, it is a flexible style where the leader must adapt to the situation and the individuals on the team to be able to lead in the most optimal way at all times, [3]. As this style assess the maturity level of the people within the organisation and the current project situation, it is a difficult style to master. The leader needs to be able to understand the people involved at a high level and be able to adapt both to the individuals and to the project, meaning the leader must master several leadership styles to be successful.
Leadership Theories
Leadership theory describes how and why some individuals become effective leaders. Leadership theories generally focus on the individuals personal traits, such as confidence and charisma, while others focus on the individuals behaviour, such as decision-making styles, communication skills and motivation skills.
Trait Theory
Several different studies have been conducted in the attempt to map what the essential traits are to become an effective leader, although specific personality traits does not necessarily guarantee development of a successful leader. Trait theory is one of the earliest approaches to understanding leadership. It seeks to identify and measure the traits that are needed in order to better understand what makes a good leader.
Behavioural Theory
Leadership Development
Skills and competencies
Each leadership style emphasises different skills and competencies a leader must exhibit to be considered an effective leader. PMCD is a framework for defining, assessing and developing project manager competencies. It defines key competencies that impacts a project managers performance </ref> https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/project-manager-competency-development-framework-7376 Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag. They can be grouped into six units representing competencies:
- Achievement and action
- Helping and human service
- Impact and influence
- Managerial
- Cognitive
- Personal effectiveness
Each of these units are broken down into more elements reflecting the skills or behaviours related to the competency.
The 'Achievement and action' cluster defines leaders as task-driven. Their main priority is to complete the project. The competencies related to this is therefore concern for order, quality and accuracy, as well as the ability to initiate action and seek information. The 'Helping and human service' cluster deals with people. The competencies described are customer service orientation, implying a desire to help others, and interpersonal understanding. The 'Impact and influence' cluster focus on the ability to influence people and the project. The competencies include the competence of impact and influence, which is about influencing others to have an impact. For that to be possible relationship building competencies are crucial as well as organisational awareness. The 'Managerial' cluster is considered to hold the key competencies for conducting successful projects. The competencies defined in this cluster are teamwork and cooperation, team leadership, which is defined as the desire to lead others, developing others and directiveness. The 'Cognitive' cluster defines competencies within problem analysis. The two competencies in this cluster is analytical- and conceptual thinking. The last cluster deals with personal effectiveness and the competencies include self-control, self-confidence, flexibility and organisational commitment [4].
Self-awareness is a common factor across these clusters.
self-awareness
Strategies
Leadership Challenges
Conclusion
References
- ↑ https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/essential-leadership-skills-project-managers-6699#
- ↑ Daniel Goleman, Leadership That Gets Results , Harvard Business Review 2019
- ↑ Jennifer Jordan et. al., Finding the right balance - and flexibility - in your leadership style, Harvard Business Review 2022
- ↑ Dean Gehring, Applying Traits Theory of Leadership to Project Management, PMI 2007, p.47-48
