TABLE OF CONTENTS A project leader is that individual who leads a project during its life cycle and accomplishes the project's technical objectives on time and within budget. To lead any organizational effort, both a presence and a process are required.
They have their act together.
They are visible to the team members they lead, and are on top of everything.
They are available to their team members to listen, debate, and gather information for decision making and execution.
They are able to say, "Let's do it," when the time is right.
They are decisive, and have a track record of making and executing the right decisions.
They see the best in the competencies of the team members.
They work at making things simple, and avoid making things complex.
They are fair and patient.
They work hard in their leadership role.
Warren Bennis in "Good Managers and Good Leaders," Across the Board, October 1984, pp. 7 11, proposes a distinction between these two roles as paraphrased thusly: "A leader does the right things (effectiveness) and a manager does things right (efficiency)." Taking Bennis's distinction and fleshing it out provides the following characteristics of leadership and managership:
| Note | Leadership is the capacity to lead |
Develops and sells a vision for the project
Copes with operational and strategic change on the project
Builds reciprocal networks with relevant stakeholders
Develops a cultural ambience...
