Angela Hemmrich Project Leadership potx

February 2011 presented by
Angela Hemmrich
Project Leadership
Project leadership is a difcult functional, psychological and political process.
This white paper shows you how to master it.
Project Leadership
page 2
“Organising appropriately
can limit the chaos and
ensuing uncertainty with
guiding structures“
1. Introduction
Project work involves handling complex tasks within an interdisciplinary
team over a limited period of time. Project leadership is therefore a
“temporary leadership task“. Being a project leader means being a manager
— from both a professional and a personal perspective. Cooperation within
the project team is important; people from different departments and levels
have to work together on an interdisciplinary basis to attain the project
goals.
This is no easy task — different views on goals, procedures, priorities,
formalities and departmental etiquette make cooperation difcult. The
project leader’s task is to reconcile the divisive professional and personal
needs while, in many cases, having no managerial responsibility for the
project team members.
This task is all the more challenging when the team members are also
physically separated from one another — a “virtual team“ or “remote team“.
The specic leadership requirements for projects are:
Dealing with complexity: What is part of the project assignment and what
is not? Which aspects do I need to take into account? What impacts do I
need to consider from a business, personal, organisational, professional
and technological perspective?

Shaping innovative processes: How do I engender a creative project
atmosphere? How do I ensure that the people involved will not resist new
solutions? What support is available to the project during difcult phases?
Dealing with uncertainty: How do I respond to uncertainties caused by
complexity and innovation within the team? Do I go for “revolutionary”
or “evolutionary” solutions? Whom do I need to inform and how? How
do I organise development and introductory phases? How do I deal with
unclearly formulated goals, new requirements and delaying factors?
Implementing a specic project organisation: Within a secure
framework, innovation and creativity can also create chaos. Organising
appropriately can limit the chaos and ensuing uncertainty with guiding
structures: phases, work steps, result specications, dened procedures,
methods, tools and reports, as well as rules and standards for teamwork
and discussions.
Leading an interdisciplinary team: How do I bring the often-unfamiliar
employees together as a team as quickly as possible? Who should take on
which functions and tasks? How do I promote synergy effects? How do I
best involve part-time employees? What role should I take when managing
specialists?
Dealing with structure and creativity: The key question for project
leadership is this: How do I balance structure and freedom so that creativity
ourishes and chaos diminishes? Order is the love of reason; chaos is the
passion of fantasy.
Project Leadership
page 3
“Treat your employees
as equal partners
in the project”
2. Project leader versus line manager
Project leaders generally have no disciplinary authority over their project

employees, only functional and/or planning authority. This means that, in
their role as a manager, they must be considerably more attentive and
sensitive than people in a line manager role must be.
The main differences between a line manager and a project manager are
outlined below:
Line manager vs. Project manager
Inuence through
formal authorisation ◄─►
Inuence through
interaction between manager
and employee
Based on a relationship
dened by the organisational
hierarchy
◄─►
Based on a relationship
that comes from trust,
support and credibility
Inuence through
the relationship of
hierarchical positions
◄─►
Inuence through
the relationships
between people
Inuence through the right
to make decisions and
acceptance of authority
◄─►
Inuence through

commitment, cooperation
and ability to inspire
Inuence through
control and power
◄─►
Inuence through
relationship quality
Authority limited by
the hierarchy ◄─►
Authority possible up,
down, across and outside
the hierarchy
Project leadership involves a challenge that every project leader should
be aware of: Although I do not have the authority a line manager has,
as a project leader I can still inuence others through my behaviour and
leadership style.
The following points for managing well have proved very helpful in
practice:
• Treat your employees as equal partners in the project.
• Focus on your own role as a manager and let your employees handle
the functional tasks independently as much as possible (even if you
believe you can do better yourself).
• Involve your employees in your deliberations, plans and decisions.
• Create a foundation for trust and cooperation within your team right
from the start.
• Lead using strong social skills to compensate for a lack of authority.
Project Leadership
page 4
3. Tasks of the project leader
Project leaders are responsible for the overall operational leadership of

a project. They are responsible for achieving the goals within the agreed
schedule and economic parameters.
A project leader’s responsibility can be divided into various levels:
Overall operational leadership of a project
Employees Goals, results Resources
Environment
Choice,
consultation
Clarication
of goals
Planning
Information to
client, steering
committee
Team leadership
Managing
achievement
of goals
Controlling,
monitoring
Management
consultation
Partial
management of
employees
Checking,
accepting
results
Post-controlling
Transferring

results into
practice
Conict
management
Quality
assurance
Ensuring
acceptance of
results
Clarication of project objectives and constraints: The project leader
carves out a realistic project assignment by participating in the goal-setting
process, conrming the goals’ feasibility and considering the account
objectives, timeframes, resources and other parameters.
Selection of project employees: The project leader selects employees
in consultation with the relevant line managers. Before this takes place, a
realistic time and cost estimate must be made and a requirement prole for
the employees drawn up. It is important to realistically assess whether the
workload for each individual is feasible.
Leadership of the project team: The leader leads the team in such a way
that the goals are achieved within the agreed timeframe.
The leader leads the team in such a way that the goals are achieved
within the agreed timeframe. Communication and information form the
project’s central nervous system. The project leader sets up the information
pathways so that everyone affected by the project is informed about goals,
procedures, intermediate results and nal results in accordance with their
responsibilities.
Project planning: The project leader plans the schedule in cooperation
with the team members and, if applicable, with any other people involved
— including the client — and then translates these plans into internal and
external tasks.

Systematic project steering and control: The project leader checks
progress, deadline compliance, budgets and interfaces on a continuous
basis with an eye towards results and processes, as this is the only way to
continually make improvements.
Informing the client and steering committee about progress: The
project leader reports the progress or status of the project to the client or
project steering committee at dened points in time (milestones) or when
the situation requires.
Project Leadership
page 5
“Project leadership
can be a difcult
functional, psychological
and political process.”
Conict management: The project leader acts as a conict manager
by identifying disputes and opposition within the team or project
environment as early as possible and then formulating solutions
together with the conicting parties.
Lessons learned: The project leader performs a nal evaluation that
takes the entire project history into account in order to promote further
project work and process learning within the company.
Conclusion of a project: The conclusion of a project takes place in
consultation with the client, and the project leader informs everyone
involved. The project does not end until the results are ofcially
accepted by the line or put into practice. The project leader then
ofcially releases his employees from responsibility for the project.
These diverse requirements and tasks can be allocated to three areas,
which call on the following leadership skills:
• Functional
• Organisational

• Social
4. Roles of the project leader
Project leadership can be a
difcult functional, psychological
and political process. The
project manager must lead the
team appropriately (internal)
and ensure acceptance for
the project in the project
environment (external) while
also considering the project’s
marketing. A project leader
therefore has different roles
to assume, depending on the
situation:
• The role of the expert/specialist — sharing expertise relevant
to the project, which decreases as the size and complexity of a
project increases
• The role of “salesperson” — representing the project externally
• The role of organiser — applying and implementing project
management methods
• The role of coach — turning the project employees into a team
4.1 The expert/specialist
• Oversees the project scope
• Conveys functional knowledge
• Keeps own specialist expertise up to date
• Solves functional problems and develops innovations
• Focuses on processes and optimises them continually
• Uses learning opportunities to expand specialist expertise
4.2 The “salesperson“

• Presents the project to management
• Reports to the customer and the steering committee
• Fosters good customer relationships
• Represents the project internally and externally
Coach
Expert /
specialist
Organiser
“Sales-
person”
Project Leadership
page 6
“While project leaders may
be able to handle many
areas of responsibility
themselves for small
projects, large projects
necessitate delegating
the functional tasks
and coordinating work
processes and results.”
4.3 The organiser
• Designs processes and draws up schedules
• Keeps track of deadlines and results
• Formulates and establishes methods
• Coordinates different activities and resources
• Chairs teams
• Creates suitable working conditions
• Resolves organisational problems
4.4 The coach

• Agrees on goals
• Delegates responsibility and authority
• Helps people help themselves
• Inspires others to focus on goals
• Promotes acceptance of change
• Provides appropriate information
• Gives constructive feedback
• Resolves conicts
• Contributes to employee development
• Maintains open dialogues
• Listens actively and asks questions
• Persuades others
• Provides support and eliminates hindrances
• Embraces new ideas willingly
• Correctly assesses the potential of employees
• Brings a team together and aligns it with a shared goal
The balance of the different roles depends primarily on the scope of the
project and the given situation. While project leaders may be able to handle
many areas of responsibility themselves for small projects, large projects
necessitate delegating the functional tasks and coordinating work processes
and results. The role of the specialist then recedes into the background,
while the leader’s qualities as an “organising supervisor“ or “supervising
organiser“ become very important.
This shift in the understanding of roles requires that the leader understands
well the nature of the task as well as the people involved and their
relationships with one another.
Key elements of constructive leadership are:
• Setting clear and transparent goals (project goal, responsibilities)
• Providing the necessary working environment (rooms, resources, time)
• Assigning and setting tasks in a precise manner (responsibility, results,

deadlines)
• Ensuring the ow of information (team meetings, reports, informative
literature)
• Making and reviewing agreements
• Fostering good relationships (open communication, feedback,
recognition)
• Involving the employees in decisions (participation, consensus-building)
• Conducting discussions with a focus on goals and relationships (asking
about opinions and interests, emphasising key points, summarising
results)
Project Leadership
page 7
“If the leader does not trust
employees, then there is
no genuine cooperation,
leading to a poorly
respected leadership style.“
5. How to lead
Which leadership style is suitable for such a large range of tasks and
complexities?
Leadership style is often interpreted as the behaviour of the leader.
Personal characteristics play only a very minor role; the attitude towards
the employees and the project has the more decisive impact. If the leader
does not trust employees, then there is no genuine cooperation, leading to a
poorly respected leadership style.
Instead, an attitude characterised by openness, interest and appreciation
towards people and their ideas will promote sincere teamwork. This means
the leader should not avoid conict but confront it with curiosity. After all,
projects can only be successfully completed as a team.
Caritative

Cooperative
Laissez-faire Authoritarian
Focus on employees
Focus on tasks
Low High
Low High
5.1 Styles of leadership
In principle, there are four different leadership styles, which focus on either
tasks or employees.
5.1.1 Laissez-faire leadership style
The laissez-faire leadership style allows the employees a great deal of
freedom. They determine the work, tasks and organisation themselves,
and the ow of information is rather haphazard. The line manager does not
intervene, neither supporting nor reprimanding employees.
The advantage of the laissez-faire leadership style is that this freedom
allows employees to work independently, preserving their individuality.
This is suitable for highly developed employees who can handle the
responsibilities and for situations where creativity is required (e.g., during
the brainstorming process for the development of a new product).
If this leadership style is applied throughout, however, the lack of discipline
risks disputes over responsibilities or even disorder and chaos. It can also
result in rivalries and quarrelling, leading to small, divided groups where
outsiders are disadvantaged and the weaker groups are left by the wayside.
5.1.2 Authoritarian leadership style
The line manager passes on instructions, tasks and directives without
asking the employees for their opinion, expecting almost unconditional
obedience with no dissent or criticism. When employees make mistakes,
they are reprimanded rather than supported. An example of an authoritarian
or hierarchical leadership style can be seen in the military.
Project Leadership

page 8
“Used in appropriate
circumstances and for
limited periods of time, the
authoritarian leadership
style is enormously
useful for critical or
even emergency project
situations.”
The advantages of the authoritarian leadership style are that decisions are
made quickly, responsibilities are clear and the leader has a high degree
of control. This type of leadership style also improves efciency within
an organisational unit, at least in the short term. However, performance
increases of this kind cannot be maintained over longer periods of time.
The disadvantages include a lack of motivation among employees, limited
personal freedom and mistakes made by overburdened line managers. It
can also create rivalries between the individual employees and prevent the
discovery of new talents. With a strictly hierarchical leadership style, chaos
may ensue as soon as an important decision-maker is absent.
Used in appropriate circumstances and for limited periods of time, the
authoritarian leadership style is enormously useful for critical or even
emergency project situations.
5.1.3 Caritative leadership style
The caritative leadership style focuses on the human element. This type
of leader shows benevolence, composure and friendliness and considers
everything from the perspective of cooperation. Employees are given
freedom, and the leader has trust in their abilities, encouraging and
supporting them in their tasks.
Used in appropriate situations, this leadership style is useful for developing
and fostering employees with potential. It is also helpful when employees

encounter difcult situations in their personal life (e.g., the death of a close
family member).
5.1.4 Cooperative leadership style
The line manager involves the employees in operational processes.
Discussions are permitted, and functional support is expected. When
employees make mistakes, they are generally not reprimanded but rather
given assistance.
The main advantages of the cooperative leadership style are the high level
of motivation among employees, the development of creativity and the
reduced strain on the line manager. In addition, the working environment
is mainly pleasant, and the leadership style can be maintained for a long
period of time without any change in the employees’ efciency. However,
decision-making is slower in comparison with the authoritarian leadership
style.
As a project leader, I can increase motivation by appreciating the different
abilities and needs of my employees, something that is achieved through
discussion and observation. The project leader thus demonstrates an
interest in the employees while outlining the scope of their activity and
informing them of their work and tasks.
Leadership of this kind involves nding the right role and position for
all employees, ensuring that they are given sufcient recognition and
appreciation. Everyone has a suitable role that can be accepted by others.
So leadership should work in two ways: Involve individuals in such a way
that they use their unique knowledge to benet the project (promoting
individuality and motivation), and ensure they integrate into the team
(distribution of roles and cooperation). The cooperative leadership style
encompasses both, making it the preferred style. In different phases of a
project, it may be necessary to shift your leadership style as appropriate.
• Startoftheproject:
In this phase, focus on employees, as team building is very important.

The project’s results depend to a large degree on smooth cooperation.
• Conclusionofaprojectphase:
At the end of a dened project phase, focus on tasks, because specic
results are required by dened points in time (milestones). The focus on
employees may have to take a back seat for a while.
“The cooperative leadership
style encompasses
both, making it the
preferred style”
Project Leadership
page 9
• Projectconclusion:
If the project is progressing well, consider changing to more of a
laissez-faire style towards the end, as the project employees usually
know what needs to be done and what matters by this point.
From these examples, you can see that each leadership style has its
merits when appropriate. The project leader should be procient in all the
leadership styles so as to be able to use them when the situation requires.
5.2 Situational leadership
When you are managing individual employees, situational leadership
depends on not only the employee’s current circumstances but also his or
her level of development. As your project progresses, apply an authoritarian,
cooperative, caritative and nally a laissez-faire leadership style.
The red arrow in the illustration follows the leadership style progression
as the employee develops from a dependent to a highly independent
employee.
In summary, it is important to take the following four factors into account
when deciding your behaviour as a leader:
• Your own personality
• The relevant situation

• The group as a whole
• The individual
3. Caritative:
• Inform and enquire
• Encourage employees
to produce solutions
and decisions
• Check results and give
feedback
2. Cooperative:
• Inform
• Give clear instructions:
who, what, when, how
• Explan and discuss
• Exert high degree of
control
4. Laissez-faire
• Inform and transfer
responsibility
• Allow employees
control
• Encourage employees
to report problems
1. Authoritarian:
• Inform
• Give clear instructions:
what, who, when, how
• Allow no discussions
• Maintain control
Leadership effort

Employee’s level of development
Low High
Independent Dependent
5.3 Leading virtual teams
Leading virtual teams can be problematic because of its inherent remote
nature. The team members work independently at separate locations,
making a large number of decisions themselves. As a result, you need to
adapt your leadership approach to virtual teams, because:
• Existing structures and processes in virtual teams are highly
changeable.
• Formal arrangements need to be avoided.
• You cannot use directive forms of leadership.
• The employees have a high degree of self-responsibility and self-
leadership.
Project Leadership
page 10
Leading virtual teams involves managing complex tasks, primarily
coordinating and chairing processes. The following leader characteristics
are needed:
• Organisation and coordination skills
• A focus on results in both thought and action
• Technical interest and understanding
• An interest in the work and the people
• A high level of exibility
• A willingness to take risks
• Diplomacy skills
• A high degree of sensitivity
• A willingness to trust and cooperate
• Endurance
• Tolerance

• Resilience
As the employees are working at separate locations, often in different time
zones and organisations, you — as a manager — cannot assume the usual
conditions for teamwork apply.
When leading virtual teams, you should ensure that all possible avenues of
communication are used effectively. In addition, you need to initiate face-to-
face meetings between team members. This allows social relationships to
develop, giving the team members a higher level of identication with the
project and team.
When leading any project, you need to weave all the different threads of the
project together. This is especially important as a virtual team leader, who
must always act as the project’s centre, even if the team members have
a great deal of freedom in their decision-making. The leader is the point
of contact for everyone and should therefore ensure there is meaningful
documentation and complete information ow, both internally and externally.
It is particularly vital that virtual team managers set up project rules right
from the start (e.g., how feedback is given, how conicts will be dealt with,
in what form and how often reporting should take place). All this can easily
be achieved in a project kick-off meeting, where the employees also benet
by getting to know one another.
6. Team development and cooperation
Being able to achieve the project goals depends, rst and foremost, on
the cooperation of the employees. A team that focuses on the goals is
considerably more productive than a team that has to expend its energy
solving interpersonal problems is. The manager faces the enormous
challenge of initiating and formulating this necessary development.
Assembling individual employees into a state of optimum cooperation
as a high-performance team is a long journey, one also called the “team
development process”. In many cases, when team development is left to
chance or when the project members are never able to mingle, the project

fails due to interpersonal factors.
The team development process can be divided into
four phases.
6.1 Orientation phase (forming)
At the start, the team members generally view one another guardedly, and
their discourse is aloof and polite. Bear in mind that some team members
may already know each other, while others may be complete strangers. You
have the role of a host at this point.
“Leading virtual teams
involves managing complex
tasks, primarily coordinating
and chairing processes.”
“In many cases, when
team development is left to
chance or when the project
members are never able to
mingle, the project fails due
to interpersonal factors.”
Project Leadership
page 11
6.2 Conict phase (storming)
After initially establishing a team, a phase of turbulence and confrontation
follows. Differing opinions and views collide as everybody tries to assert
themselves. Privileges, status and roles are redistributed among the team
members, usually accompanied by conicts that may simmer beneath the
surface.
6.3 Organisation phase (norming)
Once the team members have claried their relationships, they can focus on
the project goals. Procedures are established for distributing tasks, working
methods and team communications. The team cooperates and establishes

standards, leading to a feeling of cohesion, trust and team spirit with a very
strong sense of solidarity — although this is often accompanied by a sense
of separation from those outside the team.
6.4 Productivity phase (performing)
The roles within the team have been accepted, the tasks distributed and the
interpersonal problems resolved or largely eased. The basis for constructive
cooperation has been created, and the team is now fully focused on the
project goal. The project processes are optimised — perhaps incorporating
outside ideas — and the team can perform their tasks productively,
creatively and exibly with everyone able to rely on each other.
The following advice may be helpful in practice:
• Behave as you would previously have liked your project leader to
behave.
• Secure a budget that allows for a face-to-face event where the
members can get to know one another.
• Follow all four phases of team development — do not skip a phase.
• Be sensitive by taking the worries and concerns of your team members
seriously.
• Use feedback as an important leadership instrument.
• Do not suppress conicts and differences of opinion, because they are
important for team development.
• Address difcult phases openly and look for solutions together with your
team.
7. Pragmatic keys to success through
good leadership
The following methods have proved very effective for ensuring the success
of a project:
• Agree upon project goals with everyone involved and outline project
prospects together.
• Maintain a cohesive strategy and vision from the start.

• Mobilise employees by allowing initiative to emerge through interaction,
sparking enthusiasm through inspiration and positive feedback and
illustrating your values through consistency and clarity.
• Empower employees through coaching.
• Perform regular team checkups — take a look at team development.
What has happened? What topics are currently relevant for us? What
questions and situations will we encounter? How are the individual team
members doing?
• Value what your team does.
• Balance recognition and criticism (positive and negative feedback).
• Don’t just step on the accelerator — sometimes you need to brake as
well (making demands and allowing breaks).
• Protect your employees from all angles.
“Do not suppress conicts
and differences of opinion,
because they are important
for team development.”
“Mobilise employees by
allowing initiative to emerge
through interaction, sparking
enthusiasm through
inspiration and positive
feedback and illustrating
your values through
consistency and clarity.”
Project Leadership
page 12
These keys to success in turn place specic demands on the manager’s
character:
• Be able to make personal contact.

• Be credible and authentic. (Practise what you preach.)
• Know your own strengths and weaknesses.
• Control yourself (self-management).
• Use your natural authority and bring out your best.
Leadership means exerting an inuence that comes from within you! You
don’t need to be perfect, but you do need to develop your strengths and
compensate for your weaknesses.
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The author
Angela Hemmrich has worked for many years as a project management
trainer, consultant and coach. She previously worked as a project leader for
organisational and plant construction projects.
presented by
008EN_WP/2011-10-25