Stepped into a new leadership role? Want to make the most of your opportunity to lead a project team? Read about the 10 great leadership skills for project management.

A great number of projects fail. Among the many reasons, lack of effective leadership is one important reason. Before we dive into the 10 great leadership skills for project management, let us look at the statistics to understand the gravity of the situation.

As per the Project Management Summit survey, the failed projects cost Euro 580,000 on an average in Ireland alone. This research, involving 407 professions from various sectors, found that one-fifth of the projects taken by Irish organizations have failed recently.

Now, every failing project means a lot of hard work, money and time going down the drain. The above mentioned survey also highlighted the loopholes. The major reasons for failure are communication and organizational problems, scope changes, poorly defined objectives, etc.

Poor resource planning and lack of involvement of team members are other important causes.

The question arises, what difference can the right leadership skills make?

Well, a great leader can change the game because he believes in inspiring and not controlling. A leader works for passions and not for a paycheque. A leader works with a vision.

You might think but I am already passionate enough but still failing. What about that?

Well, the right intentions have to be matched with the right skillset. This is what I am going to reflect upon in this article. The objective is not to stay a manager but to become an effective leader to take every single project to success.

10 Great leadership skills for project management.

Have a Project Success Criteria

Most leaders define success at the beginning of a project but they never define failure. Successful leaders throw the guesswork out of the window. They clearly define ‘what success looks like’ and ‘what failure looks like’ for every project.

Now, success and failure can have different definitions for different projects. It might be ‘delivery on time’ for some or ‘delivery on the budget’ for some other. For some, success might mean great quality work and happy customers irrespective of the time taken.

Project success criteria is a standard to judge a project in the end. Project success criteria help develop a vision in team members as to what matters for our stakeholders as a result of which engagement improves and the possibility of failure decreases.

Network and learn

In today’s world, trends change super fast. So, staying updated becomes all the more important. Working in isolation can not make any leader competent enough to outshine others.

Networking is super important to collect fresh knowledge and develop a vision regarding project success. Project management conferences are a great way to meet people from your field and learn new skills and thought processes.

There are conferences happening in 2020 on project management. Attending such networking and learning events helps leaders grow in challenging environments. Strategic project management, economic outlook, and industry performance remain the highlights of such conferences.

Clarity and communication are vital

Great project leaders are great communicators. They make sure that they stay updated on all the project processes at all times and assist accordingly. While status meetings are one way of staying informed, great leaders never hesitate to make the most of a sound project management solution.

A project management software becomes a single source of truth for the entire project team. All project tasks, roles, progress status, files, documents, discussions, etc. can be found in one central place. Clarity about roles and responsibilities becomes effortless.

At the same time, team members do not need to fall in email chaos for communication as a project management solution facilitates that through features which can bring the entire team together at any time.

Nurture a shared vision

For effective project management, the ability to understand and convey a ‘bigger picture’ of the project is important.

A great leader can articulate this vision in a clear and effective way such that team members can understand and onboarding becomes easier.

Technical expertise

Technical expertise is a highly valuable leadership skill. When you know the in and out of the working of various teammates, you can understand their challenges and problems better.

When a leader understands the technical intricacies of the job, they can make effective decisions when it comes to scheduling, planning and selecting the right tools.

Optimism

A project never progresses smoothly all the time. There would be times when you will be in a tight spot. But great leaders do not shake the confidence of their project team by acting nervous.

They rather always exude optimism which lets the team concentrate better and work and live through odd times efficiently.

Effective delegation

While delegating duties might seem a “boss like” job but it involves a high amount of responsibility. Any miscalculation in this area can lead the entire project into the abyss.

Great project leaders can very well understand the potential, weaknesses, and strengths of all individuals and allocate tasks accordingly.

A proper project planning becomes important before delegating tasks. A Gantt chart can make the planning process very easy. It gives a timeline view of the entire project. Managers can visualize the overlapping tasks, the free and the overly tight schedules and allocate tasks accordingly.

Set the example

Being a leader, you should be the best example of dedication, hard work, and discipline. Making big speeches and then shirking duty yourself will lead to lost respect and lost performance.

Great leaders are the best players their team can have and they lead by example. This makes a lasting impact on your team and they will not mind walking the extra mile for a project which has an impeccably hardworking leader.

Your passion for your project should reflect through your actions and not words. This kind of passion is definitely contagious.

Care

This might seem too basic a trait to mention but it is something that can distinguish between a great leader and just a manager. Great leaders are empathetic towards their team members.

They do not treat their teammates like working machines. Rather, they make sure to provide a work-life balance to their teammates. That makes better work relationships and increases engagement.

Integrity

Integrity is the ability to live by a good value system. Being a leader, you have to manage, supervise, delegate, and solve conflicts. To execute all this effectively, you have to have certain principles that you always follow.

Your integrity is defined when you treat everyone with the same logical approach. Great leaders have great integrity such that everyone gets equal opportunity and equal treatment irrespective of any outside constraint. This brings a great amount of respect for the leader among team members.

These are some of the most valuable leadership skills for project management. Do let us know which one of these is your biggest asset as a leader and what you learned from this read.

Author Bio:

Vartika Kashyap is the Chief Marketing Officer at ProofHub. She has been one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2016, 2017 and 2018. She is also a contributor at Business.com, The Next Web, YourStory, and Huffington among others. Her articles mainly revolve around productivity, leadership, and common workplace events. She also loves to read and travel to new places.

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