Leading with Humanity: Project Manager

as Project Leader in the Age of Artificial

Intelligence Disruption
Durga P Phuyal, PMP, PMI-ACP - August 18, 2020

Abstract
In this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, managing projects
successfully is a tough job. It requires project managers to have both leadership and
managerial skills. Leadership is not limited to having technical and communication skills. There
are many mixed sets of skills combined with leadership and team management that are
continuously evolving. As the effectiveness and performance of project managers are
determined by the performance of a project team, it is essential to focus on team building and
developing activities throughout the project life cycle. Modern project managers ought to go
beyond the command and control and silo mentality to remain relevant in what the Project
Management Institute (PMI) calls The Project Economy―an atmosphere where people have
required ”power skills” and capabilities to turn ideas into reality in the age of artificial
intelligence (AI), automation, and digital transformation. This article will cover the key skills that
project managers must hone that will not be replaced by AI disruption, and calls for the
transformation from project manager to project leader.

Introduction

Modern Project Managers as Project Leaders

People often use these two words “management” and “leadership” interchangeably. However,
there is a significant difference between them. According to Zaleznik (2004), a managerial
culture emphasizes rationality and control. Leadership inevitably requires using power to
influence the thoughts and actions of other people. Similarly, in Peter F. Drucker’s words,
“management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” (2020). Furthermore,
Drucker explains that leadership is not about money, title, or power; rather, it is responsibility.
Though there are many differences between management and leadership, organizations need
both managers and leaders, and project managers need to have managerial leadership skills
not only to survive but also to thrive in the competitive marketplace. In this modern era, project
managers are project leaders with some managerial skills.

The PMI Talent Triangle®

The PMI Talent Triangle® reflects the fact that project management is not simply about hard,
or technical skills, such as being capable of tailoring processes and tools that best fit the
project size and severity, scheduling, budgeting, and so on. While technical skills are key to
project management, they are simply not enough. According to PMI, project managers must
have mastery over the Talent Triangle―a combination of technical project management skills,
leadership capabilities, and strategic and business management expertise―to stay relevant
and highly competitive in the marketplace.

• Technical Project Management Skills: Technical skills include project management

methodologies and frameworks, such as agile, waterfall, incremental, iterative, and
 adaptive or hybrid; they are also related to the domain expertise, project life cycles,
requirements gathering, scope management, configuration management, change
management, tools and techniques, and so on.

• Leadership: Research shows project managers need to have some executive skills,
such as effective communication, decisiveness, business acumen, strategic thinking,
and visionary leadership, to deal with the C-level and high-end people with great
impact.

• Strategic and Business Management Skills: This is the process of developing and
implementing strategies to achieve long-term goals and sustain competitive advantage.
Project managers are required to be visionary leaders and strategic thinkers to meet
the organization’s strategic objectives―from project through program through portfolio.
Business-oriented skills such as regulatory compliance, business acumen, and benefits
realization analysis are business skills. Project leaders are required to genuinely
empower the teams to accomplish the strategic objectives of the organization.

On the other hand, AI no longer only belongs to the realm of science fiction, but is also
affecting the everyday work of the real world. The project management domain is also being
disrupted through its impact as planning, scheduling, and tracking are fully automated. That’s
good news, isn’t it? But what about the future of project managers? How does AI impact project
management? How is human emotion and creativity leveraged to prepare for the disruption?

Leading with Humanity in Disruptive Technology and Automation

So, what are the leadership and human skills project managers should be honing? Whether in
terms of customers or internal team members, putting people first is the humanistic approach
that rejects the mechanistic approach to managing the project, which considers team members
as machines, forcing the team to meet tight deadlines. Mastering human skills enables us to
emphasize the importance of the humanitarian aspects of management and performance. The
common shared soft skills include communication, active listening, problem solving,
interpersonal and team skills, conflict resolution, facilitation, negotiation, and the like.

It is the responsibility of project managers to use the most sought-after human and leadership
skills to be effective project leaders.

Empathy: Empathy is deeply rooted with human emotions and is considered to be one of the
power skills. No matter how advanced the robots may be, they cannot tap into the emotional
state of human beings. That’s the difference between human and artificial intelligence.
According to Brené Brown (2018), empathy is not connecting to an experience, rather it is
connecting to the emotions that support an experience. As leaders, project managers should
inject intrinsic motivation into team members (people) via emotional awareness rather than
authoritarian controls as with programmed machines. People do not build relationships with
machines―people build relationships with people.

Effective Communication: In times of crisis, communicating effectively is the primary

responsibility of leaders. John Ullmen, an executive coach, prioritizes the notion that leaders
communicate to motivate and inspire others. He asserts, “If a leader can't get a message
across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn't even
matter. Make your message matter. Communicate to motivate. Add inspiration to information”
(Ullman, 2019).
Project managers need to engage and empower team members, stakeholders, and customers
with a key focus on project vision. While high-level external and internal communications will
come from the most senior leadership, leaders at all levels throughout your organization will
also be required to communicate. This requires a planned approach.

Emotional Intelligence: New research shows that what has come to be known as the
emotional quotient (EQ) is more important for authentic project leaders than technical skills,
and that self-awareness is the foundation of authenticity. EQ is an essential skill set in the age
of AI and disruptive technology. Project managers should master emotional intelligence (EI)
skills to bridge the gap between human emotions and machines. According to Daniel Golemen
(2015), an expert on emotional intelligence, EI skills can be grouped into four main categories:

1. Self-Awareness: Know thyself, identifying and understanding your own emotion

that can impact your performance. Recognizing yourself.
2. Self-Management: Self-controlling and managing your emotions effectively. Skills
may include adaptability, achievement, conscientiousness, positive attitude, and
growth mindset. Regulating yourself after self-awareness.
3. Social Awareness: Recognizing the organizational environment and others. The
ability to understand the emotion and feelings of other individuals and enterprise
awareness. Gauging and understanding situations and people around you. Being
empathetic towards others.
4. Relationship Management: Finally, hone your social skills and start influencing
others. Develop others through inspirational leadership and encouragement for
teaming and collaboration, and build high-performance teams to achieve project
goals.

First, we should revamp our emotional intelligence, being self-aware, and then we become
self-confident. After that, we can regulate ourselves through self-management, and we can
easily control our emotions and become resilient and persistent. Likewise, we can build our
social awareness and can identify the emotions of team members and other stakeholders and
act accordingly. Finally, in mastering the skills such as mindfulness, resilience, sympathy, and
empathy, project managers can genuinely influence the internal and external influencers, which
can ultimately lead toward project success and customer satisfaction with highly motivated
team members. By the same token, Bill George, an authentic leader and professor at Harvard
Business School, tells the importance of leadership in times of crisis. According to George,
leaders should be authentic (2020). His approach to leadership is based on self-awareness
and authenticity.

Leadership Style
Leading with humanity in a crisis shows the quality of good leadership. Project managers are
often asked, “What is your leadership style?” There are many sorts of leadership styles that
project managers can use in a context-sensitive scenario. Nona Jones (2020), a prominent
social leader, states that if we fail to see the people we serve, we fail to lead the people we
serve. The most common and effective leadership qualities for project leaders are as follows:

Adaptive Project Leadership: The digital revolution has changed the definition of a good
leader. As fast as technology changes, project leaders must be able to respond accordingly.
According to Kelley O’Connell, senior project manager and agile coach, agile leadership is the
ultimate leadership style for leading today’s highly accomplished talents (2018). Adaptive
project leaders can better understand the customer’s need, adopt a growth mindset, and
manage cross-functional virtual teams, thereby creating a culture of continuous learning. They
can stand out as an authentic leader in the digital age.
Project leaders are adaptive, dynamic, and context sensitive. They can be directive and
supportive based on the situation. They direct, coach, support, and delegate team members in
the different stages of team formation throughout the project life cycle. They can enhance their
leadership journey and business agility through the Disciplined Agile (DA) mindset.

Servant Leadership: Project Leaders are servant leaders who serve the team and remove
impediments to team progress. They create a safe and exciting environment for the project
team, where they experiment with solutions and innovation to meet their project goal. They
should be accountable to the outcome of the project. They create a trustworthy working culture.

Modern project managers as project leaders should create a supportive atmosphere for others
to emerge as leaders. They empower the team and give the team autonomy over local
decisions. They advocate for others and are impact and outcome focused, rather than output
focused.

Planning, Coaching, and Rumbling with Vulnerability: Reaching a particular destination

requires proper planning and processes. Leaders are expected to plan, re-plan, and self-reflect
constantly in both their personal and professional life. “Leadership reflection,” occurring at a
constant pace, especially in this “brand new normal,” whether caused by COVID-19 or by
technological advancement, is a key.

Project leaders are not afraid of rumbling with vulnerability, which ultimately demonstrates a
strength, not a weakness―it reflects the genuine you, the most powerful version of you that is
what the real-world demands (Brown, 2018). Project leaders deal with integrity and authenticity
in crisis. They coach and encourage others who are not the positional leaders to step into the
leadership gap and fix it collaboratively to reach their goals. Project managers must go beyond
traditional practices now. Hence, it is necessary for them to discover their “true North,” in Bill
George’s words (2020), to thrive in VUCA world.

AI implementation needs to be extremely well planned holistically for the maximum realization
of return on investment (ROI). Jerry Kurtz, a specialist in big data and analytics, concludes
that, “No matter your industry or geography, a well-defined AI strategy that has proper
alignment across use cases, data, and governance is critical to the success of all businesses”
(2020). Planning is very important for the AI initiative and is considered the “reasoning part of
acting” (Ghallab et al., 2004). Similarly, facilitation and coaching are essential tasks that
assume greater importance in the age of digital transformation and AI disruption.

Conclusion
It is essential for project managers to be project leaders in the age of digital transformation,
automation, and AI. Along with the PMI Talent Triangle, modern project managers ought to
strive for business agility. The power skills, such as empathy, communication, social emotional
intelligence, leadership, and coaching are key to enabling them to thrive in a VUCA world.

Project leaders should take a humanistic approach to leading people rather than a mechanistic
one. Project leaders invest in self-development via continual learning and share knowledge
with others, resulting in their own growth mindset. They model the behavior that they want the
team to do. Every day, they learn something new, since the best project leaders are the
leaders who constantly develop their mental agility and boost their resilience to lead even in
times of crisis.