Eight characteristics of a great project lead

We’ve worked with some of the best project leaders in insurance and financial services over the last decade. This has allowed us to spot the traits that all great project leads share.

Communicates effectively

It’s rare to find a job description that doesn’t require strong communication skills. But in the context of project management, what do we mean more specifically? Whilst there are a lot of people who can talk and listen, it's rarer to find people who can explain.

The PM is the bridge between the project board and the team, and as such needs to be able to connect with people at all levels. This includes the ability to articulate the project goals, break them down for the team, and explain issues and risks to the project board.

Inspires others

An effective project leader should be able to articulate and sell the vision to the team. Telling everyone the "what, why, and how" is the first step, but great project managers overcome the natural resistance to change, by engaging with the team, providing coaching and support where necessary, and continually reinforcing the benefits and advantages of what the team is going to do.

It can be easy to adopt an authoritarian top-down approach to project management, but this can store up resistance to change and disengagement. We see those with a coaching and supportive style to be more effective.

Provides motivation

Good project leaders are aware of the levers that foster a positive working environment and personal motivation. It depends on the team composition but ensuring alignment of people's individual goals with that of the team is crucial. This can include reward and recognition, self-development and learning new skills.

Promoting effective teamwork is equally important. Projects need to be trusting environments, based on mutual respect. This is earned, not given, but is greatly helped by promoting a culture which sets clear goals but does not micromanage delivery. Honest and critical assessment of progress should be encouraged, based on the rule that issues and problems are for learning and resolving, not an opportunity to punish and humiliate. The best project leaders lead by example in this regard and avoid the common mistake of holding countless meetings with a massive reporting cycle to check up on what everyone is doing.

Shows empathy

Empathy is not a “nice to have” soft skill but rather an important tool in the armoury of an effective project leader. Someone who can predict the impact of their decisions on people before they happen is going to make smarter decisions. To do this they need to be self-aware, with good control over their emotions, good at encouraging conversation and listening combined with critical thinking and judgment.

Unafraid to make decisions

Projects have constraints and therefore a critical path. To keep on the plan, decisions have to be made, sometimes without all the available facts. Decision paralysis not only impacts the schedule but can cause massive motivational issues in the team. The challenge is to make sure that more good decisions are made than bad ones. This is often where experience helps, along with an ability to digest a lot of information quickly, good problem solving, and reasoning skills.

Brings technical understanding

It is difficult to lead if you don't know what your team is talking about so successful project leaders also need to have a broad foundation in many technical competencies. The context of the project determines the weighting of technical versus leadership competencies, and the chosen delivery methodology influences the technical skillset required, but planning and risk management are common to all. If the technical disciplines and approaches around change management are absent, the project leader risks can fail to understand the risks involved and does not adequately plan and resource the change management effort.

Incentivises and aligns the interest of the parties involved

Incentivisation is often overlooked for project workers, yet it is incredibly important that they feel wanted and rewarded for good performance given the inherent uncertainty of working on a project. It's not all about cash, although part-payments or bonuses based on successful outcomes are attractive to many, including external consultants or contractors.

Softer techniques can be used to reward performance through the project lifetime. This can range from a simple thank you, through to workplace celebration when important milestones are achieved. Project work often has long hours and weekend working is not uncommon, so showing flexibility in working hours and trusting team members to manage their own time helps to generate a positive working environment.

Maintains energy

Based on the list above, you might be thinking that a project leader needs to be pretty much superhuman to be successful. Even the best-qualified people on paper might not be very strong in all these leadership qualities.

However, the one overriding quality that is crucial to project success is providing and managing team energy.

Projects can overcome massive challenges in difficult circumstances through harnessing a positive "can do" outlook. Conversely, environments where people come together, the oxygen in the room disappears and negativity abounds, quickly result in failure, along with a chorus of "I told you so".

Project leaders who demonstrate the competencies outlined above can provide energy to a team. By applying these capabilities whilst demonstrating authenticity, and fairness positively, they can deliver it.

Summary

You might have a well-articulated strategy, with defined and achievable outcomes nicely broken down into a deliverable plan. Unfortunately, that's where it ends unless you have good people to lead and execute the work. Throughout a project team, you need a good balance of experienced highly capable people, with new talent willing to learn. Different roles on the project need a different emphasis between leadership and technical capabilities, but everyone needs a minimum level of both. The team needs to be motivated and aligned to the success of the project so that individuals can see project success as being synonymous with their own. It's not an easy outcome to achieve and it requires dedicated work and energy to maintain it. Very often the difference between success and failure comes down to the selection, motivation, and organisation of the team delivering it.