The Project Manager/Leader Hybrid
SECOND EDITION
By Darrel G. Hubbard, PE
San Diego, CA, USA
Introduction
Project management matured into an internationally recognized and valued profession during the first-fifth of this twenty-first century. Professional organizations that support the field of project management have also grown and are now flourishing globally. In addition, the application of project management within the marketplace evolved from physical construction and engineering applications through information technologies and now into artificial intelligence projects. At the same time, planning and control methodologies transitioned from predictive (waterfall) to agile techniques and recently into agile/predictive/hybrid forms, and now is incorporating artificial intelligence into its management processes.
The profession has also evolved from the project manager as a first-line manager, to the program manager in middle management, to the portfolio manager in senior management, and finally to the chief project officer in executive management. During the time the profession advanced through these managerial ranks, each newer position has required more leader-type skills than manager-type skills.
We now need to explore the evolving role of project managers becoming leaders in today’s evolving marketplace. We need to grasp the impact of the dynamic shifts in the marketplace and its influence on project management leadership in the 2020s to discover how to navigate the complexities of our modern workplace and how to become a Project Manager/Leader Hybrid.
The material within this paper is organized and presented in the following order:
- Management Terms in Business and Project Contexts
- Management Concepts in Business—Seven
- Management Concepts in a Project Context—Five
- Leader versus Manager Concepts
- Power Skills (human skills) versus Hard Skills (technical skills)
- Driving the Project Manager/Project Leader Hybrid Transition
- New Role as Project Leader for the Project Manager
- Project Teams in the Project Economy
- Being a Leader in Project Management
- Power Skills are Associated with Leading
- Types of Power Skills
- Power Skills a Project Leader might Develop
- Leadership Power Skills Application
- How does a Project Manager develop into a Project Leader?
- Conclusion
Management Terms in Business and Project Contexts
For those of us who are Project Managers to determine where our profession and our personal roles are going, we need to comprehend what has transpired in the recent past within management, business, and society writ large that is leading to this newer Project Manager/Project Leader role.
To do that we first need to mutually understand the meaning of sixteen management-related concepts to understand what Project Management was, and is now becoming, in a business context.
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Editor’s note: Second Editions are previously published papers that have continued relevance in today’s project management world, or which were originally published in conference proceedings or in a language other than English. Original publication acknowledged; authors retain copyright. This paper was originally presented at the 16th UT Dallas PM Symposium in May 2024. It is republished here with the permission of the author and conference organizers.
How to cite this paper: Hubbard, D. G. (2024). Project Management Leadership Challenges in the 2020’s—the Project Manager/Leader Hybrid; presented at the 16th University of Texas at Dallas Project Management Symposium in Richardson, TX, USA in May 2024; republished in the PM World Journal, Vol. XIII, Issue XI, December. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/pmwj147-Dec2024-Hubbard-project-management-leadership-challenges-in-the-2020s.pdf
About the Author
Darrel G. Hubbard, P.E.
California, USA
Darrel Hubbard is President of D.G.Hubbard Enterprises, LLC providing executive consulting and assessment services. He has over 50 years of experience in consulting, line management, and technical positions. He has served as a corporate executive officer; managed information technology, proposal, accounting, and project management organizations; managed the due diligence processes for numerous mergers and acquisitions; was a program manager on engineering projects; was a project manager on commercial projects; and a designated “key person” under government contracts. He has also held executive positions in, and was professionally licensed in, the securities and insurance industries.
He assists organizations, as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) consultant, to achieve their enterprise’s strategic business and tactical objectives. He provides analysis of their management structures, business processes, general business operations, and project and business management capabilities, while supplying specific recommendations on business, methodology, toolset, and process improvements. Mr. Hubbard also assists companies, as an out-side third party, with the intricacies of the due diligence process in their merger and acquisition activities. He also supports companies in the managerial development and establishment of Organizational Project Management (OPM) and their Project/Program/Portfolio Organizations (PMOs) and provides workshops and seminars focusing on the business management aspects of the project management discipline.
Mr. Hubbard holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics with a minor in chemistry from Minnesota State University at Moorhead. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Control Systems in California. Mr. Hubbard joined the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 1978 (#3662), is a charter member of the PMI San Diego Chapter, and was deputy project manager for the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide Third Edition ANSI Standard by PMI. He was the Exhibitor Chairperson for the 1993 PMI North American Congress/Seminar/Symposium, is a published author of many articles, a presenter at many PMI Congresses and other Project Management Symposiums, a keynote speaker, and a guest speaker at PMI and IIBA Chapter meetings. Darrel is also a Life-Member of the International Society of Automation (ISA).
He is a contributing author to The AMA Handbook of Project Management, AMACOM, 1993 and The ABCs of DPC: A Primer on Design-Procurement-Construction for the Project Manager, PMI, 1997. He is the co-author with Dennis L. Bolles of The Power of Enterprise-Wide Project Management: Introducing a Business Management Model Integrating and Harmonizing Operations Business Management and Project Management, hardcover – AMACOM, NY, 2007; revised and retitled in paperback, The Power of Enterprise PMOs and Enterprise-Wide Project Management – PBMconcepts, MI, 2014; A Compendium of PMO Case Studies – Volume I: Reflecting Project Business Management Concepts – PBMconcepts, MI, 2012; and A Compendium of PMO Case Studies – Volume II: Reflecting Project Business Management Concepts – PBMconcepts, MI, 2016.
He can be contacted at Darrel.Hubbard@DGHELLC.com and LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/DarrelGHubbard.
