People · Topic 3 of 7
Leading the Project Team
Servant leadership, leadership styles, team development stages, motivation theories and building empowered teams in predictive, agile and hybrid projects.
- 5 min
- Servant leaders serve the team first by listening, protecting and clearing impediments.
- Tuckman's stages are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
- Match the style to the situation: directive for crisis or new teams, facilitative for skilled ones.
What it is
Leading the team means creating the conditions in which a group of different people can do good work together. It goes beyond assigning tasks. The leader sets direction, builds trust, removes obstacles and helps people grow.
Project managers lead in predictive projects, and servant leaders, coaches and scrum masters lead in agile ones. The skills overlap heavily.
How it works
Servant leadership
A servant leader puts the needs of the team first. The leader listens, shares decisions, protects the team from outside interruptions and clears impediments. The idea is that a supported team performs better than one that is merely directed.
This style is central in agile work, but it is useful in any approach. It does not mean the leader has no authority. It means the leader uses authority to help the team succeed.
Leadership and management styles
Different situations call for different styles. A competent leader moves between them.
| Style | What it looks like | Fits when |
|---|---|---|
| Directive (autocratic) | Leader decides and tells | Crisis, inexperienced team |
| Facilitative | Leader guides discussion and removes blocks | Skilled team, agile work |
| Democratic | Team votes or shares in decisions | Buy in is important |
| Laissez faire | Leader leaves the team alone | Highly expert, motivated team |
| Transformational | Leader inspires change and higher goals | Change programs, innovation |
| Transactional | Leader rewards and corrects against agreed standards | Routine, well defined work |
Stages of team development
Teams usually pass through five stages, described by the Tuckman model. Knowing the stage tells you how much direction and support to give.
| Stage | Behavior | Leader focus |
|---|---|---|
| Forming | Polite, uncertain, dependent on the leader | Give clear direction and purpose |
| Storming | Disagreement over roles and methods | Manage conflict, coach |
| Norming | Agreements settle, trust grows | Encourage and reinforce habits |
| Performing | High output, self directed | Delegate, remove barriers |
| Adjourning | Work ends and the team disbands | Recognize results, capture learning |
Teams can move back a stage when someone joins or leaves, so the sequence is not strictly one way.
Motivation
Several theories explain what drives people, and the exam tends to test the main idea of each.
- Maslow: needs form a hierarchy, from basic physical needs up to self fulfilment.
- Herzberg: hygiene factors such as pay and conditions prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators such as achievement and recognition drive satisfaction.
- McGregor: Theory X assumes people dislike work and need control, while Theory Y assumes they seek responsibility.
- McClelland: people are driven by achievement, power or affiliation.
- Expectancy: effort rises when people believe it leads to a result they value.
Emotional intelligence and empowerment
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and manage your own emotions and those of others. A leader with this skill reads the mood of the team, listens actively and responds with empathy.
Empowerment means giving people authority over how they do their work. In agile teams, self organizing groups decide how to deliver, while the leader protects that freedom.
Representing the voice of the team
The leader also speaks for the team in places the team does not attend, such as meetings with the sponsor and governance bodies. This means relaying the team's concerns and needs, negotiating realistic capacity and deadlines, and shielding the team from outside demands that would disrupt its work. The leader reports the team's views accurately, even when they are unwelcome, and then feeds decisions back to the team.
Diversity and inclusion
Teams contain people with different backgrounds, cultures, experience and skills. A leader gets value from that mix by treating differences as an asset rather than a problem.
- Build cultural awareness, for example around language, working hours and communication habits.
- Create psychological safety, so that people can voice ideas, doubts and mistakes without fear of blame.
- Invite every perspective, including quieter members and people working remotely.
- Assign work by strengths and development goals, not by assumptions about a person.
Team charter and tailoring
A team charter or working agreement sets values, ground rules, communication norms and decision methods. Teams usually write it together, which builds ownership.
In hybrid projects, the leader may direct more at the start, then hand more control to the team as skill and trust develop.
When a scenario describes a team in the storming stage, choose answers that coach, clarify roles and manage conflict rather than answers that simply give orders.
What to remember for the exam
- Servant leaders serve the team first by listening, protecting and clearing impediments.
- Tuckman's stages are forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
- Match the style to the situation: directive for crisis or new teams, facilitative for skilled ones.
- Herzberg separates hygiene factors (prevent dissatisfaction) from motivators (create satisfaction).
- Theory X assumes control is needed, and Theory Y assumes people seek responsibility.
- A team charter is built with the team and records norms, values and decision rules.
- Self organizing teams choose how to do the work, while the leader supports them.
- Recognition should be tied to real contributions and given in a way the person values.
Common mistakes
Treating servant leadership as weak leadership. It still sets direction and holds people to commitments, but it does so by enabling the team.
Using one style all the time. A new team needs more structure, and an expert team needs more freedom.
Ignoring the storming stage. Conflict at this point is part of normal development, and avoiding it slows progress.
Mixing up hygiene and motivators. Raising pay can stop complaints but may not raise motivation.
Assigning work to an agile team. In self organizing teams, members pick up work themselves.
Do not choose an answer that has the manager personally fix every team problem when the situation points to coaching the team to solve it.
Check yourself
What does a servant leader do first?
Serves the team by listening, removing impediments and enabling people to do their work.
In which Tuckman stage do disagreements over roles and methods peak?
Storming, where the leader should coach and manage conflict.
What is the difference between hygiene factors and motivators in Herzberg's theory?
Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction, while motivators such as achievement and recognition create satisfaction.
Topic 3 of 7 in People
Test yourself on People
The full PMI PMP question bank has 1,463 questions, with timed practice exams and an explanation for every answer.
This study guide is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by PMI. Vendor names, certification names and exam codes are trademarks of their respective owners and are used for identification only.