By Jessica Pearman

Project Managers often engage with Organisational Leaders at their organisation, since organisational managers are usually sponsoring the strategic projects that they are working on. As part of their governance function on Steering Committees they need feedback about the projects that project managers are responsible for.

The question is: “What does organizational leadership have in common with project management?”

First, you need to know what the term, organizational leadership, really means.

Organizational leadership is both a description of a position and a requirement in business, in government, in academia, and in non-profits. OL serves to create a unifying source of vision, coordination, and support in achieving an organization’s mission

OrganizationalLeadershipEDU.org offers a more in-depth definition of what exactly organizational leadership (OL) is and how it’s used. And it offers an important set of resources for understanding how OL is viewed and taught today, and how project management is both part of it and a unique domain that benefits from it.

Project management itself is a sort of leadership position. But the values and education in the field borrow from the toolbox of leadership skills and project managers use the very same types of skills that are taught in organizational leadership training:

• Communications
• Creativity
• Analysis
• Problem solving
• Motivation and management

At the same time, project management is itself a critical skill that is taught in every organizational leadership program. The essential ability to make the trains run on time, to delegate and communicate, to plan and adjust, is critical to accomplishing anything of importance today.

This intersection with leadership functions becomes even more important when you get into the realm of project management.

Devolving decision making and empowering teams to rapidly iterate toward larger organizational goals absolutely requires strong mentoring and interpersonal leadership skills. It’s melding together the fields of project management and organizational leadership more closely than ever. And that means that project management professionals and organizational leaders each benefit from more familiarity with the details of both roles.

Reasons for Project Managers to consider Organizational Leadership training

The shift in many industries to online, or virtual, project management consulting has put a new emphasis on leadership skills for project managers. It’s one thing to organize and manage a team all working under one roof. As many PMs have learned, however, it’s quite another to forge the same connections, keep accurate tabs, and coordinate between a team scattered across a dozen locations or even different time zones.

When everyone on the team is just a job title and a picture in a Zoom or Teams window, communications and motivational skills need extra depth.

It can be acknowledged that project leaders already exercise many OL skills and take on key leadership traits. And organizational leaders lean heavily on the kind of practical tools and techniques that were pioneered in project management.

Differences

In most cases, the difference between them is simply one of scope. Organizational leaders need a broad vision of their industry and the environment it operates within. They come up with big plans that account for all the pieces on the board, and they have the communication and team-building skills to get an entire company behind them to execute those plans.

Project managers tend to focus more on the details of execution, reporting progress, updating Gantt charts, or calculating burndown and running stand-ups if practicing Scrum. They report into senior leadership, but may not spend time worrying about larger concerns of markets or budget.

Organizational leaders have to keep the big picture in mind. They have to understand not just how projects in their own organization are progressing, but how those projects fit into the larger scope of market, the economy, and technical and social evolution. They make the hard calls on killing and cancelling projects, initiating new ones, and distributing resources to their best effect.

Yet project managers are business leaders in their own right. The position is rarely the last stop on their career path. With a demonstrated ability to pull a team together, to plan and achieve goals in the face of adversity, project leaders are already training for top jobs, even if they don’t realize it.

So the formal education that can come along with a degree in organizational management can be the perfect next step for a project manager moving up in the world.

Find answers to all your Organizational Leadership questions

OrganizationalLeadershipEDU.com revolves around understanding the skillsets that effective modern leadership takes, and how to cultivate them. It offers:

• Write-ups that outline the career paths for organizational leaders in dozens of different industries and specializations
• Specific degree and skill development tracks useful for any leadership role
• A deep dive into the skills that build organization leaders themselves
• Ways to fine-tune your own continuing education in leadership theory and practice

There’s even a resources page for degrees specific to project management leadership roles.

It offers resources that build your understanding of the science of leadership itself. It’s a critical first stop on your leadership degree planning. It guides you through the many choices on offer. Frequently asked questions cover topics as diverse as the 7 common leadership styles, change management, corporate social responsibility, extrinsic motivation, and strategic communications. Regular blog posts on OrganizationalLeadershipEDU.com keep readers up to date with the latest developments and newest areas of interest in leadership education.

Making Planning for your own leadership education easy

Beyond giving you a clear picture of the best and most affordable schools in the country offering organizational leadership degrees, the site also breaks down the different degree and certificate options that are open to you. It’s important because organizational leadership has become highly specialized to different industries.

A nurse manager aspiring to higher qualifications and more senior leadership roles is looking at a far different degree track than an education administrator—your educational plans have to match your career goals.

You will find a breakdown on how each different concentration or degree type is used in the field. It includes critical pieces of information like:

• The type of coursework you can expect
• Common internship or practicum options
• Information about capstone project or thesis expectation
• Different degree levels and their uses in each field or industry
• Accreditation considerations to look out for
• Cost data for each degree
• Jobs that you will qualify to fill and typical salary levels you may achieve

It also delivers carefully curated lists of schools and programs offering those degrees. You can find options not just in every category of concentration or major, but also those that fit different budgets and career stages. You’ll find degrees that can be completed fully online, through traditional on-campus classes, or those with a hybrid option that combines both formats.

You’ll also find that not only have the editors at OrganizationalLeadershipEDU.org identified and classified the very best bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in OL in the country, but that they have also put together a list of the most affordable options. So no matter what your budget, your project management specialty, or your industry, you will find the best options to fit your needs.

If you aren’t already incorporating an understanding of organizational leadership, and some of the techniques developed for the field, in your own Project Management work, it’s time to start. If you are thinking about aspiring to senior management levels in your organization, or raising the profile in your consulting business, a degree or certificate in higher education may be just what you need.