Project Manager: Leader or not?

The answer to this question depends on the internal flows of each company. Some companies consider project managers as leaders; some don’t. Let’s check why project managers sometimes do not need leadership skills and when they are necessary.

Passive Project Manager

I can think of only about two cases when a project manager could not be a leader. The first one is a project manager for fully automated processes. There are projects without human interaction, fully automated projects, and projects that consist of only one person: the project manager himself. Such projects have a team that includes only the project manager, and obviously, there is no space to apply any leadership skills.

The second case is the project when the leader’s role is played by somebody else, let’s say project lead, system architect, or senior manager. The project manager in such teams usually plays an exclusively operational role and is involved in the team only as a regular member.

Being a project manager at one such project does not mean there is no point in showing leadership skills. Being proactive, showing enthusiasm, and improving the project could show the management that the project manager has the potential to become a leader, that can lead to a promotion.

Project Manager as a Leader

True project manager leaders usually are working in big teams with lots of people. Such project managers can handle administrative activities, organize internal and external meetings, handle the financial part, and do all other typical things.

As leaders, though, such project managers can be concentrated on the social part of the teamwork. They can motivate people, check and resolve multiple complaints, handle interpersonal conflicts, and in general be responsible for the soft skills side of the team.

One more critical aspect of project managers with leadership skills is shielding the team from the negative influence. It could be filtering all the unnecessary anger and complaints from escalations. It could be wrapping the interaction with 3rd party teams to minimize the meeting time. It could even be organizing team buildings or events to encourage the team’s spirit.

Which one is better?

Both these approaches make sense, especially if they are properly used. Passive project managers are great for maintaining multiple automated projects with minimum or no human interaction. Project manager leaders can truly lead the team to the goal and help them in every way possible.

However, leadership skills are always come in handy in various situations. For example, unusual or force-major activities usually need the ability to think outside the box and organize people. So, even though you may not need leadership skills for your regular activities, they can still help a lot.

These are my thoughts on project manager leadership skills. Don’t forget to think ahead before starting a project, find a good project manager, and chase your dreams!