People want a Leader. Processes want a Manager. Great Project Management takes BOTH. Here’s what I learned from the most charismatic leader I ever worked with.

Here is my takeaway #10 from one of the most useful practical books in my field, “Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager”:

10) “Managing the process with excellence is important, but being a good leader is essential.”… “Formal authority comes from a title or a position. Giving people titles doesn’t necessarily make them good leaders.”

Note: This comes from Chapter 2 “PEOPLE + PROCESS = SUCCESS” (page 20-21)

Story time: I worked with a very charismatic individual. He looked for projects and positions he wanted to take on and people he wanted to work with, or at least have work for him, and presented ideas in a way that made you believe he, and we, could pull anything off if we followed his leadership. He made you want to work with him knowing you could succeed together.

You knew he was going places and you hoped he would take you with him. He worked hard and he worked up. In other words, he talked with persons facing problems at higher levels who let him convince them to let him take on work that was higher level than his current position.

He presented himself as a solution, as one who could lead others in that area, and he was given permissions and resources a little bit here and a little bit there. As he led different teams to success after success, he quickly moved up the ranks, to manager over a few areas, VP, and finally CEO all within a short time – just 3-5 years.

In this book the focus is on environments where there is no formal project management, which can become chaotic quickly. When there is not a formal structure for persons to manage projects authoritatively or a formal process established to follow, it is difficult for project teams to get the authority, support, and acknowledgement to regularly be successful without it becoming a sacrificial political gambit. Team’s fall apart, and individuals get all the blame or credit.

If you know better project management practices and appreciate teamwork that buoys one another up instead of cutting others down, then you owe it to your teams to use your people skills to gain audience and implement your know-how. Positive influence becomes central to forming and leading mutually beneficial project teams to orchestrate successful projects from beginning to end, again and again.

The more organizational support the better. Organizations are primarily focused on the big picture, the Vision, or the “What?” that the company wants to accomplish. Hopefully, they at least have a business process that identifies what projects the organization wants to take on. Hopefully, they are leading the way to identify what projects need to be done, so that individuals are not taking on projects the organization doesn’t sponsor.

Many organizations are good at providing a lot of autonomy to individuals and teams to self-organize as to the “How? to get there.” Unfortunately, most organizations, do not have a formal structure for project management, which leaves for a lot of ambiguity. Some are not clear about what change projects it even wants to do, let alone who to include on change teams. In these cases, you are left to figure out how to get the necessary sponsorship, or sign-off, and authority, even if informally.

This means you may be understood to be the Project Manager, but you may not be formally designated with the title of Project Manager. Even your team members may not be clearly appointed to your team. If you can, get the clear-cut buy-in necessary from your teams and the organization from the get-go, by clearly designating roles and negotiating for team member’s time on your project.

Get approved sign-off in writing in formal documents at start and upon completion. Because then and only then, will you be able to pull off fully successful projects. The larger the project (as in scope, time, cost, etc.) the greater the need for formal authorization and the less likely you can operate by influence alone.

One word of caution: The last thing you want to do is to “go rogue” and lead people away from the projects organization’s support, however good the intent. If you want to lead and manage successful projects to gain the most meaningful project management experience and advance business, make sure the people you report to understand you are leading a project. Everyone (Sponsors, Stakeholders, and Team Members) has to be on the same page at the end of the day to enable desired projects and outcomes.

PEOPLE + PROCESS = SUCCESS!