Distributed Management and Leadership

Sometimes project management activities are shared among a project management team, and project team members are responsible for completing the work. There are also situations where a project team may self-organize to complete a project. Rather than having a designated project manager, someone within the project team may serve as facilitator to enable communication, collaboration, and engagement. This role may shift among project team members.

Servant leadership is a style of leadership that focuses on understanding and addressing the needs and development of project team members in order to enable the highest possible project team performance. Servant leaders place emphasis on developing project team members to their highest potential by focusing on addressing questions, such as:

• Are project team members growing as individuals?
• Are project team members becoming healthier, wiser, freer, and more autonomous?
• Are project team members more likely to become servant leaders?

Servant leaders allow project teams to self-organize when possible and increase levels of autonomy by passing appropriate decision-making opportunities to project team members. Servant leadership behaviors include:

• Obstacle removal. Since it is the project team who generates the majority of business value, a critical role for the servant leader is to maximize delivery by removing impediments to their progress. This includes solving problems and removing obstacles that may be hampering the project team’s work. By solving or easing these impediments, the project team can deliver value to the business faster.
• Diversion shield. Servant leaders protect the project team from internal and external diversions that redirect the project team from the current objectives. Time fragmentation reduces productivity, so shielding the project team from noncritical, external demands helps the project team stay focused.
• Encouragement and development opportunities. The servant leader also provides tools and encouragement to keep the project team satisfied and productive. Learning what motivates project team members as individuals and finding ways to reward them for good work helps keep project team members satisfied.