As with all aspects of projects, leadership styles are also tailored to meet the needs of the project, the environment, and the stakeholders. Some of the variables that influence tailoring of leadership styles include:
- Experience with the type of project. Organizations and project teams with experience on a specific type of project may be more self-managing and require less leadership. When a project is new to an organization, the tendency is to provide more oversight and to use a more directive leadership style.
- Maturity of the project team members. Project team members who are mature in the technical field may need less oversight and direction than project team members who are new to the organization, the team, or the technical specialty.
- Organizational governance structures. Projects operate within a larger organizational system. There may be the expectation that the organizational leadership style of top management is recognized and reflected in the team’s leadership. The organizational structure influences the degree to which authority and accountability are centralized or distributed.
- Distributed project teams. A global project workforce is more common today than in the past. In spite of the best efforts to connect people virtually, it can be challenging to create the same level of collaboration and relatedness that is achieved when working face to face. To minimize the pitfalls of distributed project teams, technology can be used to increase and improve communication. Examples include:
Ensure there are collaboration sites for working together.Have a project team site to keep all relevant project and project team information available.Use audio and video capabilities for meetings.Use technology to maintain ongoing contact, such as messaging and texting.Build in time to get to know remote project team members.Have at least one face-to-face meeting to establish relationships.
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