"Superhuman effort isn't worth a damn unless it achieves results." - Sir Ernest Shackleton

Recently I wrote about project leadership vs. project management and how our role as project managers also puts us in a leadership role in many organizations. I was sent a job description for a PM that indicated that companies are seeing PMs as leaders as well as managers. The following is a portion of that job description.

·    Project team leadership skills including:

·    Estimating and setting project goals and milestones
·    Building team(s), motivating and leading team members to reach project milestones
·    Working closely with customers and vendors on project teams.
·    Keeping all team members involved, productive and challenged.
·    Sharing project information freely and on a timely basis
·    Using other resources and teams in a productive manner
·    Communicating and working with other Information Technology departments
·    Coaching and mentoring staff.

What is important to note here is that as PMs we need to understand that our role is to be a leader and a project manager. As a leader we set the tone for the team on how to get the project done. As a manager we coordinate the tasks and resources to execute the project.

Seems like a big task but as Shackleton alluded to if we achieve the results then the effort is worth it.