Project Management Leadership: Building Creative Teams, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3

Project Leadership BoK

Learning Outcomes

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

• Understand the project leadership body of knowledge.
• Understand how the project manager establishes a vision for the project that inspires the project team.
• Understand how the project manager can empower the project team.

Project leadership is a process by which a project manager can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of the project team towards accomplishing the project objectives. The bodies of knowledge all have definitions of project leadership as part of the human side of project management. It is, therefore, essential that the project leader understands the characteristics and features of these definitions as they underpin the project leadership body of knowledge.

This chapter will introduce the project leadership definitions as a broad introduction to the subject area before expanding leadership traits, leadership behaviors and leadership styles in the following chapters.

The project leader’s challenge, particularly project managers who are studying for certification, is to understand how the bodies of knowledge define leadership.

1. What is Project Leadership?

The following bodies of knowledge have similar definitions outlining the meaning of project leadership.

The APM BoK 6ed (2012) defines Leadership as: The ability to establish vision and direction, to influence and align others towards a common purpose, and to empower and inspire people to achieve ...