The Leader's role in projects, programs and portfolios

This article analyses the role of the leader in projects, programs and portfolios. It takes a closer look at how to be a good leader in the respective categories.

The article starts by defining leadership. this is done by looking at the difference between leaders and managers, leader core competences, transformational leadership, working with a team and some reflections on manipulation. By doing so it goes from general towards more concrete leadership theory.

The Article then investigates leadership in projects programs and portfolios. Leadership is particularly important in project since the leader works directly with people. Programs require good leadership too because they need a clear vision and someone to pass it on to the workers. Lastly it has also been shown that good leadership on portfolio level is found to have a positive and significant influence on the projects. It is therefore clear that good leadership can have a big impact on the performance of the projects, programs and portfolios and should be prioritized.

Leadership

Leaders and managers

Figure 1: On the horizontal axis is time spend on the four managerial tasks and on the vertical is the manager position.

The person in charge is often referred to as both manager and leader. This can lead to the thinking that managing and leading is the same thing. This is, however, not the case. Whether an organization refers to the person in charge as leader or manager often depends on what field the organization is in. Organizations that work with people e.g. the military and most non-profit organizations often refer to the person in charge as the leader. Businesses on the other hand often refer to their top person as a manager.

It is interesting how organizations, that work with people, are more inclined to use the term leader, while organizations that work with creating and selling products often use the term manager. Figure 1 has a business perspective since the people in charge are described as managers. It describes that the higher the person is in the company the less leading the person does and the more planning, controlling and organizing. This shows a shift from working with people on the low level and working more with processes in the higher levels.

Many have summed up the differences between managers and leaders through the time. An example can be seen in the table below. This table shows clearly that the manger focuses more on the technicalities and the leader more on people. The manger's focus is on the practical, he makes the system and tells people when and how things are supposed to be done. He is the one that makes the plans and makes sure everything is done accordingly and makes sure things doesn't stop.

The leader on the other hand is the visionary. The leader makes change happen and inspire the workers to move forward and further. While people listen to the manager because of his authority they listen to the leader because of his influence. In short, the leader is more defined by his personality and the manager more by his actions.

Manager	Leader
Technical	Visionary
Plans	Inspires
Focuses on system	Focuses on people
Has authority	Has influence
Asks how and when	Asks why
Knows how it's done	Shows how it's done
Says "I"	Says "we"
Does things right	Does the right things

Leader core competences

What is a good leader then? It is not new to analyse what makes a leader good or bad. Already in 500 BC both Confucius and Aristotle were looking into it. In more resent time six different schools of leadership have risen. They emerged in the 20th century and are as follows:

1. The trait school
2. The behavior school
3. The contingency school
4. The visionary or charismatic school
5. The emotional intelligence school
6. The competence school

The last one of these, the competence school, incorporates elements from the previous 5 schools and may therefore give a more complete picture than the other 5.

The competence school looks at leaders from three different intelligences. The first is the intellectual intelligence (IQ). This includes firstly critical analysis & judgment, secondly vision and imagination and lastly strategic perspective. The second intelligence is the managerial intelligence (MQ). This intelligence includes engaging communication, managing resources, empowering, developing and achieving. The third intelligence is the emotional intelligence (EQ). This intelligence measures self-awareness, emotional resilience, motivation, sensitivity, influence, intuitiveness and Conscientiousness.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is about getting the followers to see the big picture. By showing the importance of the assignment and how the individual contributes to the organization the follower will then be more motivated towards their work.

To be a transformational leader the person has to

1. make subordinates aware of the importance and necessity of their job in relation to the organization
2. make the subordinate aware of their own need for growth, development and accomplishment
3. motive the subordinates to work for the organization as a whole and not just for themselves.

The really fascinating thing about transformational leadership is that it can circumvent hierarchical links. It can actually have an effect on the lower levels of the organization even though it is performed by a leader in the top.

Working with a team

The leader’s goal can be summarized in one sentence; to deliver results through others. To achieve through others the leader is very dependent on the team. Therefore the first important skill for a leader is to make his team. The leader has to find members whose personalities complement each other and who can work together at the same time. There are many tools that can be used to help in this process; one is the Belbin's team roles. This tool has nine different roles that often emerge in group work. A test will show the participants which roles they are most suited for. Using this tool the leader can find teammates that complement each other and make an effective team.

When the team is made the process of delivering through others begin. To deliver through others the leader must define the task at hand, give feedback and coach the team. The leader is supposed to be the one with the overview of the situation. Having the overview makes it easy to define the tasks to be done. When the tasks are carried out the leader should then give feedback to the team members. This will help them grow and learn from their experience. In the end it is the leader’s job to coach and empower the team so they become independent and start finding their own solutions to the problems.

Reflections on manipulation

Leadership is the process in which one person exerts influence over other people. Since this is the case, manipulation often becomes very tempting to leaders, however, since the leader often is accepted by his integrity this is a dangerous pitfall.

From personal reflections I have come to the definition of manipulation as trying to make others dependent on oneself. The manipulator wants the manipulated to come to him for their opinion. The manipulator works to become a bottle neck that removes all unwanted information and perspectives. The goal of the manipulator is to become the one source of "truth" for the manipulated.

The opposite of manipulation then becomes education. While the manipulator tries to make everyone dependent on himself, the educator tries to make the follower independent. The educator wants to give the followers the best he has so that the followers themselves can explore new perspectives and information. According to this thought, the educator’s greatest joy will be to see the followers surpass himself and become independent.

Projects, programs and portfolios

To handle projects, programs and portfolios I have chosen to split them up and handle them separately. The setup is the same for all three, first there is a short definition, then an explanation of the leader's role and lastly the practical application.

Projects and leadership

Project definition

The project is a onetime change oriented assignment. It is something that falls outside the normal routines of the organization. To handle this, the organization often sets up a group. The group is normally comprised of members from different places in the organization since the assignment often affects more than just one area in the organization. A project has a concrete frame. It has a set time limit and a limited amount of resources. The project focuses on delivering the agreed "product" within the limits given.

The leaders role in projects

Small projects are often done by groups therefore the leader of a project is found as the leader of the group. For big projects or super projects where more than 100 or even 1000 of people work the leader has more interaction with the leaders of different areas in the project.

The role of the leader then is dependent on the size of the operation. If it is a small project it is possible for the leader to meet all the involved people and be a leader to them. In a big project the leader's role becomes more that of a leader of leaders. According to figure 1 a leader will spend more time managing in super project.

Practical applications

In small projects the ability to form an effective team becomes key to the success of the project. This is where it is most important for the leader to know how to make the team so it will work the best.

A study that eamanied the different competences of a leader was made to find out if there was a trend for successful project managers. The study was done by using some questionnaires and it got 400 usable responses. The study found 4 common factors for the successful project leader, critical thinking from the intellectual intelligence (IQ) and influence, motivation and conscientiousness from the emotional intelligences (EQ).

From this it is clear that if a leader has these four core competences the size of the project does not matter. The project can be big or small but the leader will still be well suited to handle it. However, the kind of project may have an influence since different projects require different core competences. The table below shows some of the more specific requirements in some of the major areas.

Table over the needed leadership competences for the best performance in the different projects.

Programs and leadership

Program definition

A program is a collection of projects that share a common goal. The projects in a program will together fulfill the goal that was set from the start. Often the projects in a program are of similar type or they support each other, therefore they are also dependent on each other. This could be the case for some projects that can first start when others are done. The entire Program can, however, finish without all the projects in it being a success. This is possible as long as the overarching goal of the program has been achieved. The program has an end term and when that is reached it is done.

The leaders role in programs

The program is lead by a program group that focuses on the goal for the program. This group can be comprised in different ways. For small programs it could be a leader for the program working with all the project leaders and forming a team with the. For big programs it is better to have a program group that all focus on the end goal. If it is a program with many big projects there is a project group instead of a single project leader. In these cases it is often a big program so there is also a program group.

Practical applications

This stage is all about vision. Since the program has a certain goal this goal has to be communicated and shared among the entire team. It does not matter whether it is a big or a small program. It is difficult for people to own a vision that they didn’t take part in the making of. The main job of the leader is here to make people take ownership of the vision. The easiest way is by involving them in the process of getting the vision. This is often impossible in bigger companies.

Being unable to involve people in the vision process another method has to be employed to share the vision. Here the burning platform approach can be used. The approach is to make the people unsatisfied with the current situation. When they then get sick and tired of it and come to the leader and ask what they should do about it and then the leader can answer "I am glad you asked, see here, this will fix our problems". Then they will be motivated to work towards the goal and hopefully take the idea in and own it themselves.

Portfolios and leadership

Portfolio definition

A portfolio is the combination of all the different projects and programs in the organization. The portfolio does not have a goal as the program has. It is just where all the projects and programs can be found. The portfolio does not have en end term but continues as long as the organization continues. The portfolio gives an immediate picture of all the projects and programs of the organization. The advantage of a portfolio is that it can help allocate the right resources to the right projects and programs at the right time. It helps manage everything.

The leaders role in portfolios

The portfolio is often lead by a group of top managers in the organization. The leader of this group is often the CEO or the CTO. Since it is impossible to get to every single person working in every project and program the leadership role here is mainly in the group of top managers. If it is a small portfolio the leader may also have contact with the project and program leaders.

Practical applications

The CEO, who is often the leader of a portfolio management team, should use this opportunity to really get to know the team members. This can create a stronger connection in the top management / leadership of the organization and will help especially if a crisis arise. This can also make a stronger connection to the firm for the top leaders so they won't be headhunted by rivaling companies. Transformational leadership has also shown to be able to make a big difference in the performance of the projects as mentioned earlier.

Discussion

The biggest problem in looking at the Leadership of projects, programs and portfolio is the data. There have been many studies about project leaders and on projects in general but there are very few sources dealing with program and portfolio management. Because of this I have been forced to look at what leadership abilities that seem important for these topics and recommend them. This however is only on a theoretical basis. This is definitely a field that can be explored further and should be explored.

There is also a lot of controversy about the burning platform approach mentioned in program leadership. The critique manly focuses around the idea of making people unsatisfied. The argument is that unsatisfied people will just leave the job and find somewhere else to work. There is some truth in this but it is not the entire story. It is possible to point to things that aren't working properly or can be improved without going so far that people dislike the place they work in. This is the important balance.

Some would argue then that the burning platform approach is a kind of manipulation. If the definitions of manipulation and education mentioned further up is adopted then the burning platform is neither manipulation nor education, it is a tool. It can be used to educate by showing the people in the organization what things can be improved, but it can also be used as a tool to manipulate others to get them to want the same as the person in charge. It all depends on the motive behind it.

Conclusion

It is clear that the person in charge has to be both a leader and a manager at the same time. Both skills are indispensable. The value of managing is very clear and through this article the value of leadership has also been shown. Leadership can greatly impact the success of a project, program or portfolio as has been shown through different studies.

In projects the leader needs to work with the team. There he is the coach and the one who has the overview. He needs to motivate the team and challenge them to grow. In programs it is important for the leader to share the end goal. He works mostly with other leaders at this stage so he should also focus on strengthening them if the opportunity arises. Lastly in portfolio management the leader has a great opportunity to influence the other leaders in the top of the organization. He can help them get a closer tie to the organization and through that prevent them from leaving. It is also a good time to build up confidence between the top leaders and through that create a more coherent organization.

The biggest problem with this topic is the lack of information. There is much information on the project level. However, there is not much research on leadership in the program and portfolio level. Here is a challenge that should be taken seriously because the little information that is points towards big potential benefits.

Annotated bibliography

1. For project leadership see "Linking Complexity and Leadership Competences of Project Managers"
2. For more information on vision setting and sharing I recommend "vision to die for" by Bille Hybels. It is a presentation in the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit
3. For information on portfolio leadership see "Examining the role of transformational leadership of portfolio in managers in project performance"