Project management is a team work and projects are successful when this team work is performed with zeal. Though there are many more variables for project’s success, the leadership of a project management professional is constant.
The one question which arises here is whether the leaders are born or they are made. From the examples of exemplary leaderships in all types of industries, it can be concluded that the leaders are born but the inborn quality which they possess should be nurtured by mentors. The leaders are made as well but again there is that little difference of imbibed quality and possessed quality of leadership.
A Project Manager has a huge responsibility of not only making the project a success but also to make the team members equally satisfied with the work they have performed. The interpersonal skills like leadership, influencing skills along with decision making skills which they possess plays an important role.
Leadership
Leadership is defined as the action of leading a group of people or having capability to do so. It is said correctly, that a person leading a group of people or having a capacity to lead is said to have leadership quality. Let us say, you have a team and the team leader or a Project Manager who is not very proactive, he rather gauges his every move carefully and does not take any decisions without consulting his team. Do you think the project manager has a leadership quality. Well, the leadership style he possesses is different than that of a common perception of a leader.
There is a misconception about the leadership quality possessed by the people at key positions. In this article, several leadership styles are discussed in detail
Popular Leadership Styles
Autocratic
We see a lot of autocratic leaders around, leaders overpowering their team are called as autocratic leaders. In the past the world has seen autocratic leaders like Adolf Hitler.
Bureaucratic
These types of leaders more often go by the book. They are people of rules and for them it is essential that their staff should follow all the rules explicitly.
Democratic
A project manager with democratic leadership style always consults the team members before taking important decision.
Charismatic
Charismatic leaders lead teams with lots of enthusiasm and their main aim is the drive others in the right direction. Obviously, they exhibit high levels of energy.
Laissez-faire
The project manager possessing this type of leadership style lets the team work on its own. He demonstrates full confidence in team’s capability.
Servant Leadership
These types of leaders are not recognized as such and hence categorized under servant leadership style. This type of leadership comes under bottom up consultative leadership styles.
Task Oriented Leadership
As the name specifies, the task oriented leaders are more focused on accomplishing the tasks on hand.
Facilitating Leadership
Leaders should be good facilitators. A good facilitator is a combination of a person having good interpersonal skills with enhanced leadership qualities. When the Project Manager facilitates team members it is more likely that the team members would contribute more to the team and to the project.
Transformational Leadership
It is said that the transformational leaders are the natural leaders. Transformational leaders are the best when it comes to boosting performance of team members. These leaders are equipped with relevant types of mechanism for achieving their vision of a project. Transformational leader is also attentive to the progress of a team member, encouraging the team member to take further challenges and is quick to identify team’s strength and weakness.
These are some of the leadership styles which you can identify in people surrounding you. A smart leader is the one who changes his style according to the situation.
So, have you identified your leadership style yet?
The article is published here “http://blog.simplilearn.com/project-management/leadership-styles-which-one-do-you-exhibit-as-a-project-manager”
Snehal Joshi 