If you’ve ever led a large project, you know that project leaders do a lot more than plan, organize, control, coordinate, and budget. While such activities are important and must be done, project leadership goes beyond those functions. In other words, leadership involves more than being logical, analytical, and sequential - that is, it’s more than simply applying the mental thought processes originating in the left side of the brain.

Leadership takes on a holistic perspective by including the “people side” in project management, and it embraces the future rather than preserves the status quo. Thus, leadership is dynamic rather than static. It involves looking at the present and determining the steps to move on to some desired future state.  Leadership, not surprisingly, requires being results-oriented. By developing a vision and goals, the project leader gives the team a sense of purpose. The leader also helps align people and other resources to focus on achieving results, thereby increasing project efficiency and effectiveness. Consequently, the emphasis is on what and why rather than how. At all times, judgments are based on the big picture, which is the vision.

Leadership embraces change

Project leadership means constantly asking, “What are we doing? Is that the only way to do it? Can we do it better?” Questioning the status quo is characteristic of leadership. It requires viewing a constantly changing environment while pursuing the vision. This emphasis on change, therefore, requires a willingness to adopt new processes, procedures, and roles if they will more efficiently and effectively help attain the vision. Flexibility and adaptability are two characteristics of good leadership.

Leadership means the ability to motivate

Contemporary leadership theories and practices emphasize the people side. Leadership entails active listening techniques in conflict management, “reading” people to understand their messages and motives, negotiating through open communication, and “thinking outside the box,” all in an effort to attain the vision.

From a motivational perspective, leadership is getting people to perform enthusiastically, confidently, and in a highly committed way. It implies delegating, empowering, coaching, building trust, handling diversity (people from different cultures and disciplines), laying the groundwork for creativity, and facilitating performance.

Leadership involves communicating

Communication is not just giving effective presentations; it is also listening to the “want to hears” and the “need to hears.” It requires communicating laterally and vertically in a manner that is open and engenders trust. It means being open and honest at all times—that is, creating an atmosphere of trust, where hidden agendas and dishonesty have no place. All decisions and behaviors are of the highest ethical standards, to ensure credibility and trustworthiness up, down, and across the chain of command.

Leadership is communication

Leadership requires a constancy of purpose

Project leadership means keeping the vision in the forefront of everyone’s mind by continually asking the question, “How will this help to achieve the project goal and vision?” That translates to being results-oriented and aligning responses and processes in a focused, disciplined manner.

Leadership sometimes involves taking calculated risks

Leadership sometimes involves a willingness to take smart, calculated risks. Leaders look for better ways not only to conduct business but also to take action. They embrace ambiguity and complexity in a manner that fosters innovative ideas and solutions to achieve the vision. They build cohesive teams that have synergy.  They are proactive, not reactive.

Leadership means facilitating performance

Team members share information and other resources in a way that encourages cross-functional participation. Leaders build an atmosphere of trust and mutual support, emphasizing relational rather than hierarchical interactions and directing team energy toward achieving the vision. Thus, leadership means facilitating rather than impeding performance. Leaders help people do their jobs in a positive, not negative, way. They remove obstacles to performance, not create them. They secure the resources. However, they do more. They can maneuver through the “halls of power,” network with key players and interact with the customer to ensure the satisfaction of all requirements and specifications. In addition, they can be political if it furthers the interests of the project.

Leaders put the customer first

They strive to understand everything about the customer - for example, needs, tastes, and relevant market conditions. The customer is king and drives the vision; without that focus on the vision, the project can become impractical or get out of hand.  That all said, smart project leaders, know when to listen to the customer and when to act in the customer’s best interest and question their plans and needs.  A project leader recognizes that he and his team are the experts brought in to serve the customer.