In management, whether leading a project, initiative, program, or unit, two primary leadership approaches often come into play: leading tasks and leading people. Each method has its unique strengths and challenges, and understanding the differences between them can significantly impact the success of your work. But how in the world is the other one so hard to understand, specifically when leading projects and initiatives? Especially when in practice, the distinctions between leading projects and managing business units or areas are minimal, aside from the deadlines.
Leading Tasks: Focus on Deliverables
We all know task-oriented leadership focuses on completing specific tasks and meeting deadlines through detailed planning, organizing, and control. Key aspects include setting clear objectives, creating project plans, monitoring progress, and addressing issues swiftly. While this approach is straightforward, measurable, and often used by consultants, its heavy focus on tasks can lead to team burnout, stifle creativity, and neglect morale.
Call it what you will, but this is still the traditional way of leading in many organizations. It is easy to measure, easy to follow, and easy to judge and criticize. We like to buy this service when we ask a consultant to take over a project. My argument is that this way of leading won’t give you the best results in the long run.
Leading people: Focus on the team dynamics.
Leaders who adopt a people-oriented leadership approach prioritize the key characteristics of people-oriented leadership, which involve building strong interpersonal relationships and trust within the team, understanding and addressing personal and professional needs, focusing on personal growth and development, encouraging and inspiring the team to perform at their best, and promoting a collaborative environment where everyone feels valued and heard. There is no news there, either!
For me, people-oriented leadership is a long-term strategy for developing autonomous teams and fostering their growth. While it requires more time for relationship-building and addressing individual needs, it doesn’t detract from maintaining project or BU/BA direction and focus. Problem-solving highlights the difference: task leadership manages tasks, while people-oriented leadership excels in collaboration, trust, and adaptability, making it better for tackling complex issues effectively and sustainably.
Why People-Oriented Leadership is still Rare and Hard to Understand
Sadly, despite its many benefits, people-oriented leadership remains less common and harder to grasp. Task-oriented leadership delivers immediate, visible results with deadlines and task completions, while the perks of people-oriented leadership take longer to show and are tougher to measure, often seeming too soft.
There’s immense pressure to conform to group norms. Adding that most leadership training programs emphasize task leadership components, skills like empathy, active listening, and conflict resolution get less focus. Cultural norms in many organizations prioritize hitting goals and deadlines. Leading tasks seem more straightforward because leading people involves handling complex emotions and dynamics, which can feel more challenging and less concrete.
It’s not all black and white; the best leaders know how to blend task-oriented and people-oriented styles based on the situation. However, I believe a leader with a people-oriented approach will be a huge asset in the case of long-term projects, innovation, or high-level change management initiatives.
People-oriented leaders are still underrated and highly underestimated!
Leading tasks and leading people are two distinct but complementary approaches to management. In a hectic environment and in a position where you are accountable, it’s human that you’re tempted to question the methods yet unknown to you. But the higher your organizational hierarchy, the more you need to embrace people-oriented leadership skills. In my experience, most understanding, recognition, and tolerance of different approaches come through people-oriented leadership. Be the C-suite leader or not, you can’t be an expert in every field but you need to recognize the value of diverse leadership styles and foster an environment where different skills and perspectives are valued.
Next time someone is pushing your buttons with their seemingly too-soft behavior, try to look at the outcomes and results and think if they are just doing the job with a different approach instead of trying to change them and driving them away. Today, unfortunately, and regardless of what the corporate strategy and value document states, the work of many people-oriented leaders still seems like a job similar to that of a cleaning lady: often overlooked and taken for granted. You don’t notice how and what they do until their work goes undone, and the absence becomes glaringly apparent.
Be the leader your team chooses again and again.
Regardless of corporate strategies or values, change takes time. If you’ve spent your career mastering task leadership and don’t possess the DNA for being a people person by nature, becoming a people-oriented leader takes time and effort and won’t happen overnight. Recognize and nurture different talents and appreciate those you don’t fully understand. Strive to be the leader your team repeatedly chooses, regardless of where your career takes you.
PS.
Leading People does not equal being a People-person.
Before someone gets an idea, let me point out that in my thoughts, leading people doesn’t equal or require automatically being a people person. Leading People indicates effective leadership, which involves using interpersonal skills strategically to manage, motivate, and develop a team. It requires a balance between being supportive and focusing on achieving business outcomes. Being a people person can enhance leadership by building trust and bond, but it does not automatically translate to a team’s strategic management and development 🙂
