How Can Leadership Style Affect a Project?

As a Project Manager, you will no doubt have your own style of leadership which helps you to deliver your projects consistently successfully, on time, and within budget. Good project management involves being able to adapt favourably to any given situation and take advantage of opportunities presented to you, which is, of course, influenced by your approach to leadership. It is, therefore, useful to have a basic understanding of the most common types of leadership styles , allowing you to change your technique and style depending on the time constraints and other factors for any given project.

Many business thought leaders have developed leadership theories that can be used to analyse the way you work and help you grow as a professional Project Manager. One of the oldest situational theories was developed by a psychologist named Kurt Lewin in 1939, whereby he identified three key styles of leadership.
Authoritarian Leaders

As an authoritarian leader, you will be clear about the tasks, boundaries and expectations of your team. You will be likely to hand out tasks but will not be involved on a team level – instead, taking the role of autocrat.

Pros: If you are required to deliver a project within a very short timescale, this style of working leaves little room for error.
Cons: creativity and innovation become stifled. If the project you are working on is longer term, you will likely be creating an uninspiring work environment for your project team, which may lead to resentment and be counter-productive to your leadership.

Democratic Leaders

If you are a democratic (or participative) leader, you will not only be clear about your project’s priorities and key deliverables, but will also leave room for creativity within your team, involving them in the decision making process. You will listen to and value your team’s input, but will ultimately have the final say-so on any decisions.
Pros: if you are able to encourage creative thinking and problem solving from your team whilst retaining a firm handle on budget, costs and general project oversight, it will enhance the value of the end deliverable, as well as create an enjoyable working environment.
Cons: it may not be the right approach when time restraints are very tight.
Delegative Leaders

This style is sometimes described as laissez-faire, since it adopts such a relaxed attitude. A delegative leader will hand all responsibility for goal setting and management to the project team, allowing them to make key decisions and steer the project themselves.
Pros: the high levels of trust may motivate the team to deliver a high-quality and innovative solution.

Cons: with the lack of a leader, the team may eventually lack direction and become disillusioned.
Whatever your natural project management style, it is always good practice to reflect on the way you lead a team, considering how it may be affecting the project as well as the working environment. In certain situations, you will need to adapt your leadership style for the good of the project, as well as the team, in which case you might find one of the many project management courses available will help to rethink your personal approach to projects.