What Type of Project Manager are You?
What Type of Project Manager are You?
Project managers fall into different categories, according to their style of leadership and understanding what your style is puts you in a strong position to positively influence the outcome of your project by making changes to reflect the make-up and personalities within your team.
Project management styles are referred to under a number of different names but essentially fall into three main types:
An autocratic project manager follows the more traditional authoritarian style of leadership, where the manager takes responsibility for the majority of decisions and leads the team from the front, deciding who does what when and taking an overseeing view of the project as a whole. This style of management is effective where there are tight deadlines and a need for tight control of project progress but team members can feel disenfranchised with no feeling of input into the decision-making process and, effectively, being told what to do.
An authoritative project manager is one who is, often, a technical or subject expert, confident in their knowledge and is able to command respect from their team members through this knowledge and experience. This style of management sees the project manager encouraging and mentoring team members to improve their skills for the benefit of the project and the wider organization. Team members are engaged positively and encouraged to share their views and opinions. This style is not to be confused with the autocratic authoritarian style.
A democratic project manager co-ordinates their project team to make decisions through consultation. A democratic project manager shares responsibility amongst team members rather than leading & directing them. Decision making can be a slower process through the wide team consultation that needs to take place in this style of distributed responsibility. The project can sometimes suffer, too, without a leader who is ready and able to take those more difficult decisions. Team morale, however, is generally kept high and creative thinking often flows from the positive environment that is fostered by this management style.
As a successful project manager, you need to be able to adapt your style to suit the project and your project team, to keep them motivated and productive in their work, rather than assuming one-size fits all!
Work out, first of all, what your natural style of management is. Look at your skills and consider how easy it will be for you to adapt your natural style to incorporate other approaches. Take time to understand the individuals within the team and let the dynamics of the combined personalities dictate your style. Mix and match features from the different basic style types to develop an approach to team management that will suit your team.
The different management styles should be one of the tools in the project manager’s toolbox to help ensure successful delivery of your project.
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