Leading From the Front as a Project Manager

This might come across as an unpopular opinion, but you don’t actually always have to lead from the front. This “Leading from the Front” concept has been a staple of leadership education throughout the years. It is needed at times, but at other times – it is not always required.

And today, we are going to discuss why.

The Traditional Concept of Leading from the Front

Alexander the Great fought right alongside his army throughout their battles. His fate was at odds during each battle, like his troops fighting next to him.

It is easy to say that Alexander led from the front.

The Marine Corps taught us as Lieutenants to lead our teams through being out front. Just like Alexander the Great, Lieutenants are known for training and fighting alongside their Marines.

Characteristics of a "Leading from the Front" Leader

Leaders who usually lead up front have a specific leadership style and characteristics. Some of these are:

Vision: Those who lead up front have a vision of where they want to go – and instead of pushing the team to get there, they show them the way.
Set the Example: When you are up front, you show how to get things done. The team looks up to you for how they need to walk, talk, and act.
Decision-Making: Being upfront puts you at the point where decisions are made, requiring effective leaders to make the decisions.
Confidence: Being upfront requires confidence. Since you are setting the vision and the example and making the decisions, the team can easily see the slightest hint of being timid or weak.

Being upfront comes with specific responsibilities. Being in the limelight means the leader must emulate what they want everyone to see.

Advantages of Leading from the Front as a Leader

Leading up front comes with its advantages. Being upfront means that you can embrace the advantages of:

Motivation: Being an active participant with the team, you can easily motivate them to keep up their effort.
Communication: When leading from the front, it is easy for the leader to communicate directly to the team, leading to easier-to-understand tasks and the ability to resolve issues quickly
Accountability: Being upfront and directly with the team, there is accountability up and down the chain. This accountability increases standards and promotes setting an example.
Relationships: Leading from the front helps build stronger relationships as leaders and teams work directly with each other day after day.

This list is not exhaustive, each leaders own leadership style dictates which advantages influence their team.

Leading from the front has proven effective for thousands of years. It is the staple for the US Military and is preached across organizations to get leaders more involved with their teams.

But is it the only way? Modern leadership theories compete with the up-front leadership style, which we will look at next.

Rethinking Leading From The Front

Limitation of Leading from the Front

There are limitations when you lead from the front. You might not see them at first, but eventually we see many leaders developing:

Micromanagement: When we lead from the front, we tend to make all the decisions since we have all the information. In turn, we start overbearing our team. We tell them where to go, when to be there, and how to do the work. We have all the info, so we are the best at making the decisions.
Lack of Development: When we micromanage and lead up front, we deny the teammates who want to grow in leadership responsibilities. Growth and development tends to get stifled while the leaders stay up front, making all the calls.

Burnout – Leading from the front involves taking in tons of information. You are the leader and you need to be in control. In turn, you take less time away (micromanaging) and no one else has grown to take over in the role – this leads to burnout.

Leading from the front comes with its own limitation. This i especially true as society keeps trying to move faster and faster to develop and use the latest technology. Which is why we need to think about a newer approach.

A Need for a New Approach?

Today’s military does not fight with swords and shields. Companies do not work with paper and pens.

No, we have adapted to the new world of tech, fast-paced work, and new ideas. This is why I say we need to look at sometimes leading from behind our teams.

Leading from Behind

In 2017, I joined the Marine Corps Tactical Training Exercise Control Group (TTECG). This unit served as the Marine Corps elite live-fire training unit. Units came to our training to test their skills and, during the high points of Iraq and Afghanistan, prepared to go to War.

I led the motor transportation section, leading a team of 7 Marines and sailors as we put Marines through an intensive month-long training exercise.

In this role, I rarely worked on the ground with my team. Instead, I sat up in the hills and watched from a different perspective – taking in the big picture surrounding the live-fire training.

Although I longed to be back in the trucks with the Marines, feeling the shock of a .50cal machine gun roaring and working through the chaos of everything going on around me.

That was not my role.

I needed to observe the bigger picture. I needed to trust in and rely on my team to make the right calls on the ground – I needed to lead from behind.

When To Use Leading From the Front vs. Behind - Situational Applications

Both leading from the front and leading from behind have their own benefits. You must find where and when leading from the front vs. behind works best for you. And for which situation do you apply either leadership tactic.

As a platoon commander in Afghanistan, it benefited me to lead from the front. As the lead instructor-trainer at TTECG, I benefited from leading from behind.

You can achieve success by both leading up front and leading from behind. The important step comes from recognizing what situation you are in.

Understanding which situation and/or predicting the scenario is coming up is a skill of a seasoned leader. However, most great leaders learn to lean on their team to determine which scenario to move from front to back or back to front.

We also need to face these challenges within project management and risk management.

Front or Back Lead Leadership for Project Managers

So, how does a project or risk manager determine when they should lead from the front or bank?

The simplest way to determine when to lead from the front and when to lead from behind is to evaluate the situation and find where your team is at.

Assess Your Teams Location in Tuckman’s Model: Evaluate your team, as they grow in maturity, you might be able to step back and let the team grow. Don’t judge this off the project phase, but on your team’s progress in becoming a high-functioning team.
Being Adaptive in Your Leadership Style: Using the Marine Corps Leadership Traits and Principles, you can learn to develop leadership tips and tricks to use within your leadership style during different times of the project.
Communicate Often: Communicate with your team; that is how you will learn what stage of the Tuckman’s Model they are in. It will also help you to coach and mentor your team in their roles, responsibilities, and focus, along with meeting your project endstate.
Support, Coach, and Guide: Leaders need to be able to support their team by leading from the front or behind. You are the leader; therefore, you must show leadership to guide the team.

Find balance in whatever approach you take. I hate using the hybrid term sometimes but take a hybrid approach between being in front of your team and being behind.

Final Thoughts

The main takeaway I want you to walk away with today is that leadership is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. To be an effective leader, you must adapt to the times and the evolving nature of hybrid work, technology, and team dynamics.

Leading from the front has been the standard – the way of working for most people and organizations. But unless you need to be visible, deal with some immediate actions, or require to be directly in front of your team, then step back.

Leading from behind offers you a way to take a step back and observe the team from a strategic position while empowering them to innovate and make their own decisions.

As project and risk managers, we must walk the line between being upfront and stepping back with our teams. Assessing their position within the Tuckman’s Model, adapting your leadership style to their stage of development, and ensuring communication between everyone is fluid. These are the ways to grow your team while not sticking to being in the front or behind – but being a good leader.

Everyone likes to talk about how being an effective leader means being up front, but I’m here to say today that that is not required. You can lead from behind – you just need to be smart about it.

A successful leader knows when to step up and when to step back and then also focuses on not just directing their team but developing them as well. And it’s hard to develop when you hover over their every last decision.

Step back, allow your team to grow and make decisions based on their analysis.

Embrace being uncomfortable; you developed the team, and they can make the right calls. In doing so, I guarantee you will be surprised by the innovative solutions they come up with to modern problems surrounding your projects and risk management.

And in turn, your framework will grow with ease and effectiveness.