Project management and leadership is a vital part of any organisation. It brings about various improves to any organisation, small, large, personal, profit or non-profit. The table below shows 10 examples on how project management and leadership, when done properly, improves a business:
| With project management and leadership | Without project management and leadership |
| Collaborative working | Silo working and isolation |
| Trust in the goal | Disconnection to the project goal and vision |
| Clear and concise communication to the team and Senior Management | Clouded understanding of project position and results |
| Increase in team productivity | High staff turnover and lack of motivation |
| Increase is social relationships and better life-work balance | Poor life-work balance |
| Better risk management | Lack of risk mitigation. ‘A firefighting management style take centre stage’ |
| Improved stakeholder relationships | Confrontational blame culture |
| Better monitoring of time, cost and quality | Lack of project control |
| Increase output of result delivery | ‘Just enough’ behaviour |
| Increase use of diversity which allows new ideas and perspectives to the company | People are closed to change |
It is important to understand that benefits shown above are applicable in both the short term, and long term. Often, short term benefits are more easily noticed as people often react to change. However, over time, people will naturally revert back to their old ways if the change isn’t ‘kept alive’ through proper behaviours [1]. I will be writing on how to implement change initiatives on a project later so keep an eye out.
What is the difference between Project Management and leadership?
Project management and leadership date back to, well forever. No one actually can define a time in history when the first Project Manager was appointed. But the results of project management and leadership could be taken back as far as we can think of.
Imagine you are a Neanderthal taking a few of your group on a hunting expedition, or a Senior Project Manager leading a team through a multi-million pound project. As the leader you will have to coordinate when and what you are doing, select the right team to go, communicate the plan, lead the team through the project and then review how you can improve. The skills are the same, just a different project.
The image below [2] shows an overview of the history of modern project management. This shows that modern management is still a relatively new science.
So project management and leadership, are they different? Well to know let’s compare 10 skills and behaviours, shown in figure 1.3.
| Skill/ Behaviour | Project Manager | Leader |
| Collaborative | Y | Y |
| Positive | Y | Y |
| Inclusive | Y | Y |
| Adaptable | Y | Y |
| Resilient | Y | Y |
| Approachable | Y | Y |
| Clear communicator | Y | Y |
| Trustworthy | Y | Y |
| Creative | Y | Y |
| Accountable | Y | Y |
Note: These are skills and behaviours which are considered good.
So what is the difference? Honestly, skill wise, nothing. But behaviour wise, everything. Managers are considered people who just go through the motions doing a job whereas leaders are set apart and a different breed. In actuality, leaders just exhibit the Right behaviours, whereas managers don’t. Which is one of my core areas of a Project Manager explained in my blog on How Project Management works? I will be writing on how to be a leader, not a manager so keep an eye out!
How to reference this page
- Toor, J. (2019). How project management and leadership improves a business? Available: https://pmgrowth.co/how-project-management-and-leadership-improves-a-business.
References
- Appelbaum, S., S. Habashy, J-L Malo, & H. Shafiq, (2012) ‘Back to the Future: Revisiting Kotter’s 1996 Change Model’, Journal of Management Development, 31 (8) pp.764-782
- Project Manager, (2019). ‘History of Project Management’. Available at: https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/history-project-management.