If you are a project manager (PM) who wants to advance your career and take on more leadership responsibilities, you might be wondering how to leverage your PM experience to transition to a leadership role. In this article, we will explore some of the skills, competencies, and strategies that can help you make this move and demonstrate your potential as a leader.
The first step to transition from a PM to a leader is to understand the difference between the two roles and how they require different mindsets and behaviors. A PM is primarily focused on managing the scope, schedule, budget, quality, and risks of a specific project, while a leader is responsible for setting the vision, direction, and goals for a team, department, or organization. A PM is more task-oriented, while a leader is more people-oriented. A PM follows the plan, while a leader adapts to the changes. A PM reports the results, while a leader communicates the value.
1. Remember that what gets you here won't get you there (mindset change). 2. Look over the balcony instead of dancing on the ground (perspective change). 3. Stay humble (Leverage the Taoist way of thinking).
1.A leader is aware of his people strengths & leverages such strengths with appropriate opportunities 2. Leader - Instills Hope and thrives in creating possibilities ,PM generates fear and drives compliance 3. A successful leader once stood up for a team mate who was seen as a low performer and turned him to be a successful performer. How was this possible ? While the low performer had a dutiful supervisor who sent performance memos to improve performance, the leader heard his team member and encouraged the low performer to learn from his failures. Today the low performer is transformed into a top rank achiever. The difference was really in the way his talent was spotted and leveraged and set up for success.
Transitioning from a performance management role to a leadership role requires leveraging your experience in performance management to demonstrate your ability to lead and inspire teams. Here's how you can use your performance management experience to make that transition: 1. Develop strong interpersonal skills. 2. Showcase your ability to set goals and expectations 3. Demonstrate your analytical and data-driven mindset. 4. Emphasize your problem-solving abilities 5. Highlight your communication and presentation skills. 6. Showcase your ability to handle change and adaptability. 7. Seek opportunities to lead projects or initiatives
A PM could benefit from being unemotionally involved in day to day leading of the people. A leader could be quite emotionally attached to value creation and leave casuals in the process.
I can use my current PM experience to transition to a leadership role by highlighting my recent project management skills such as planning, organizing, and problem-solving. Additionally, I can showcase your ability to lead and motivate teams, communicate effectively, and make strategic decisions. By demonstrating how my PM experience has prepared me for a leadership role, I can position myself as a strong candidate for leadership positions within the organization.
The second step to transition from a PM to a leader is to develop your soft skills, such as communication, collaboration, influence, emotional intelligence, and coaching. These skills are essential for building trust, rapport, and engagement with your stakeholders, team members, and senior management. As a leader, you need to be able to communicate clearly and persuasively, collaborate effectively and constructively, influence others to support your vision and goals, empathize and understand the emotions and motivations of others, and coach and mentor your team to grow and perform.
When people become first-time managers, there's a great temptation to use authority too much. Authority can yield compliance, but rarely commitment. Great leaders inspire others, build trust, help others develop themselves and their careers ... it's those things that drive commitment.
As we grow, the commonly stated 'soft skills' are no more just soft skills but clear behavioural indicators and key skills as we navigate our corporate careers while driving results.
The known "soft skills," which are essential for navigating corporate careers and achieving objectives, become more than merely soft abilities as we mature.
??% agree that PM require life skill capabilities added to project management competency. Personally, I dislike the term "soft skills". It is never soft. Communication, problem solving, influencing, issue clearing are very hard because: ?? No two humans are the same ?? There are many biases that get in the way of humans working with each other. ????I recommend the term "life skills" as it is not industry specific and can be used for personal and work. Additionally, life skills unlike soft skills ??Require framework and process for consistent repeatability (habit formation) to deliver predictable results ??Allow the life skills teachable and transferable via the framework and process
The third step to transition from a PM to a leader is to expand your scope of work and involvement beyond your current project and role. This means taking on more strategic and cross-functional initiatives, volunteering for new challenges and opportunities, and networking with other leaders and influencers in your organization. By doing so, you can demonstrate your initiative, creativity, and problem-solving skills, as well as your ability to think strategically and holistically, and to align your work with the organizational objectives and values.
In my experience as an HR executive, the first few months of the transition are best used for observation. This allows time to understand the needs of the business so that you can build rapport with your new colleagues and develop a strategic plan aligned with business goals. Moving into leadership is less about what you want to do, and more about what you can contribute for the overall success of those around you and the company.
Agree with Kay's remarks about taking time to observe. The amount of time one should spend in observation mode depends on the size and complexity of the organization. What a new leader does next depends on the goals: is there a strategic imperative like operational efficiency, improve revenue, control costs, etc.? Taking the time to learn about the work and the people will help a new leader understand the AS IS situation, and shed light on what changes are needed for the TO BE.
Remember that being an individual contributor and a leader are two different skill sets so you will need to not only expand the scope of technical work but learn and master the new skill of team management/ leadership.
The fourth step to transition from a PM to a leader is to seek feedback and mentorship from others who can help you improve your skills, competencies, and performance. This includes asking for constructive feedback from your peers, managers, and clients, as well as seeking mentorship from experienced leaders who can offer you guidance, advice, and support. By doing so, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, learn from your mistakes and successes, and gain insights and perspectives from others who have been in your shoes or have achieved what you aspire to.
If your organisation has any formal processes/ trainings in place, leverage them including any opportunity for cross functional projects. As this helps build and bring in fresh perspective which is often missed amidst the rigour of the day to day..
Additionally very important to leverage the innate strengths as PMs of orchestrating tasks and people around a common goal, and keep it as the base for oneself as a leader. Bringing together different parts and perspectives is something PMs do day in and day out, while holding people accountable, as a leader anchor on these core strengths one posses as a PM.
The fifth step to transition from a PM to a leader is to showcase your achievements and accomplishments to your stakeholders, managers, and potential employers. This means documenting and highlighting the results and outcomes of your projects, the value and benefits you delivered to your clients and organization, and the impact and influence you had on your team and others. By doing so, you can build your credibility, reputation, and visibility as a leader, as well as showcase your potential and readiness for the next level of leadership.
The sixth and final step to transition from a PM to a leader is to keep learning and growing as a professional and as a person. This means staying updated and informed on the latest trends, best practices, and innovations in your field and industry, as well as pursuing continuous education and certification in relevant areas. It also means reflecting on your experiences and lessons learned, seeking new challenges and opportunities, and embracing change and uncertainty. By doing so, you can maintain your competitiveness, adaptability, and resilience as a leader, as well as your passion and curiosity for your work.
Agree with all steps, but to me the heart of all those shared is to observe and listen not just with ears but with all senses possible on what skills gaps they have and how to continuously build up competency in your team members to allow them to do and achieve what normally as an effective and efficient PM you are able to do on your own. Humility is the key less of yourself and more of your team members within all circles that affect the growth of the company or organisation and not just for a project or assignment, but strategically pursuing the mission of the company or organisation to the industry or nation it serves. To summarize: Observation, Listening, Continuous Improvement of the Team, Humility, Strategic, and Mission-driven.