Leadership Skills for PMs: Edition 1 – Business Focus

A project manager’s job is more than just implementing project management tools and artifacts. Leadership skills play a significant role in being an effective project manager.  Based on poll results, this is the first in a series of articles on leadership skills that help project managers succeed. Because organizations launch projects to deliver value to the business, project managers need to focus on the business’s goals and strategies to lead effectively.

• Understand the business environment and the desired business value. Job #1 is supporting the project’s intention and confirming it will deliver the desired value. While that might seem straightforward, many projects don’t deliver the intended value, even when meeting the triple constraints of scope, time, and cost. For example, a project was designed to deliver a new system to increase the efficiency of product delivery. The project team accepted the scope without questioning whether it would satisfy the business need to deliver products to customers more rapidly. The new system was delivered within the triple constraints, but product delivery times were still longer than expected. What was the problem? Contracts with their shipping companies did not align with the delivery times desired by the business. Do your homework to understand the business environment and processes in place. That way, you can validate the project scope, budget, and timeframe.
• Address the project’s positive and negative business impacts. Not all projects benefit all areas of the business. I worked on a project that implemented new tools and business processes, increasing the efficiency of finance staff members. However, the payroll changes that came with the new systems and processes increased the HR staff workload. Business-savvy project managers collaborate with all stakeholders to understand how to maximize positive impacts and minimize negative ones. 
• Use business terms accurately. Using the language that stakeholders use helps confirm a common understanding of business processes and what the project will deliver. But you have to use that vocabulary accurately. A project manager who throws around business buzzwords incorrectly quickly loses the confidence of stakeholders and will struggle to engage stakeholders. Make sure the entire project team understands the terms commonly used by stakeholders so they use them accurately and effectively. Note: A future article in this series will address communications. 
• Navigate differing business expectations. Not all stakeholders’ expectations will be aligned. Addressing this situation requires recognizing potential sources of conflict that exist or could arise between different business areas. Effective communication skills are essential to facilitate discussions between stakeholders with diverse project objectives. However, reaching agreement between conflicting stakeholders requires a business mindset and, once again, doing your homework to understand the processes, strengths, and weaknesses that the project can address.
• Be politically aware. Politics exists in every organization, large or small. While good project managers don’t necessarily have to be “political animals” (scrutinizing every word for its political ramifications and choosing actions and alliances purely from a political point of view), it’s helpful to be aware of when a political hornet’s nest could be stirred up. Understanding political relationships between stakeholders also helps avoid inadvertently triggering arguments that could harm project objectives. Take time to investigate and understand what’s behind the politics in your environment.

 

Coming Up

Whether you’re a manager aiming to lead more effectively or a team member feeling stifled by excessive oversight, this conversation is for you. Join Julie Robinson and I for Office Hours on Tuesday, September 23, 2025 3pm MT, 5 PM ET where we will talk about how to improve performance by reducing or eliminating micro-management.  We’ll discuss how to recognize signs of micro-management, whether you’re dishing it out or receiving it. If you’re a manager, you’ll gain insight into the why of this behavior and what you can do to become a more empowering leader. Team members will discover strategies for regaining autonomy. You’ll come away with a handout from Julie with tools and resources to support lasting change. Click here to join!

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 97,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

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