Project Leader vs Project Manager: Differences & Similarities

Both project leader and project manager roles are crucial to a project's success. If project management is your area of interest as a career, some research and introspection may be required to comprehend and decide which role is best for you. Understanding the definition of Project Management and the differences between the roles of Project Leader vs Project Manager is crucial for ensuring the success of a project, and hence can hold great importance in your project management career.

In this article, we will compare the project lead vs project manager, the project lead's roles and responsibilities, and other aspects of the differences between project lead and project manager. Check out Project Management training online to prepare for the PMP exam from experienced experts and lead project teams successfully.

Project Leader vs Project Manager [Comparison Table]

Let's compare project leader and project manager in a comparison table:

Parameters	Project Leader	Project Manager
Problem-solving	Leaders inspire others to find solutions themselves.	Managers solve the problems of others so others can work.
Risk-taking	Leaders like change, creativity, and taking risks.	Managers stick to the status quo.
Perspective	Leaders use a long-term perspective.	Managers use short-term perspectives.
Goals	A leader is focused on broadening the choices and possibilities others have.	Manager's goal is to have control and limit the choices of others.
Focus points	Leaders are more focused on the people and their motivation.	Managers focus on bettering how the team is working and monitoring their performance while their primary focus is on the tasks.
Management ways	A project leader (PMO lead) has a goal in mind that they want to achieve. They also understand how to stimulate, encourage, and inspire others.	Excellent managers can think tactically and solve problems in novel ways.
Primary Responsibilities	Their duty is to drive a project's total role and vision.	Being motivated by the tasks that must get accomplished to complete a project
Working style	When working with others, you can be more inspiring and innovative.	When collaborating with others, you should be more authoritarian and rule-oriented.

Before moving into detailed explanation of each parameter lets discuss about each role.

Who is a Project Manager?

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In essence, a project manager is a technician. A project manager is an expert who arranges, plans and implements operations while adhering to deadlines and budgets. They primarily concentrate on finding solutions to issues and ensuring the proper and efficient operation of the process as a whole. They are in charge of engaging with sponsors, clients, senior management, and their teams because they must earn and keep the trust of the project's stakeholders. Understanding the difference between leading and managing a project is crucial, as it highlights the distinct skills required in these roles.

The difference between leading and managing a project lies in focus and approach. Leading involves inspiring and motivating the team to meet or exceed project goals, driving innovation and change. Leaders empower team members to be creative and proactive. Managing, on the other hand, is about ensuring that tasks are completed efficiently and on time, tackling challenges like unknown risks and ensuring smooth execution. While leaders focus on vision and people, managers handle the logistics and risk mitigation, ensuring the project's success despite unexpected challenges. Both roles are essential for achieving successful project outcomes.

Moreover, managers must be excellent communicators. You must be able to explain goals and aims clearly to your team members while also providing status updates to stakeholders and team members. Communication as a project management skill begins with understanding and dealing with your team's various communication styles.

Who is a Project Leader?

Mixing up the roles and accountabilities of a PMO lead and project manager is common. However, depending on the management structure, managers' and leaders' roles and responsibilities may vary considerably. Regardless, there are considerable differences between the two roles, especially when considering the difference between project manager and project leader.

While project managers are concerned with the big picture, project deadlines, schedule management, and daily updates, project leaders are on the ground encouraging the project's team. A project team leader is an expert in their field who can essentially make plans that endorse project goals and lead their workers to conduct themselves efficiently.

Some companies interchangeably use the two terms. Project managers typically have less authority over a project and less opportunity to experiment with their own management approaches than project leaders do. Between the positions, there are significant yet minor changes. Project management and project leadership are fundamentally different.

Difference Between Project Leader and Project Manager

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Before going into the difference between the project manager and the project leader, we'll briefly see the project manager and project leader.

Let's compare project leadership vs project management and explore the differences between project lead and project manager. 

1. While project leaders are generalists, project managers are experts.

The project manager is in charge of organizing and coordinating the team and guarding against risks and bottlenecks. They must, therefore, be more analytical and thorough in their work.

Project managers, on the other hand, concentrate on the larger picture. Their objective is to establish a vision for the project to give the team members a feeling of direction and inspiration and to have an impact on their performance to achieve success.

2. Project managers deal with difficulties while project leaders formulate plans.

Leaders of projects are strategists. They contribute to the development of long-term strategies and concepts that motivate the project's participants to reach their objectives through their motivating attitude.

Project managers have a list of things they must complete. As a result of their ties to the schedule, they are required to handle any unforeseen problems that may develop.

3. Project leaders concentrate on the people, while project managers concentrate on the task.

Project leaders, like project managers, seek to meet goals, yet they also would like to discover ways to enhance team performances and set team goals. In this way, they foster an environment that pulls out all the best in its staff members.

4. While project managers provide direction, project leaders inspire their teams.

Project managers emphasize encouraging each team member; they are friendlier and more sympathetic and try to establish a personal connection with the project team. They hope to impact them and ensure that every team member matches their own goals and interests with those of the group and the project. This highlights the difference between leading and managing a project, where leading involves inspiring and motivating the team, while managing focuses on ensuring that the tasks are completed efficiently.

Depending on the needs and challenges that could develop throughout a project, project managers guide team members and give them various duties. Additionally, since they are in charge of the project's schedule, they can insist that their teams perform their tasks promptly and correctly.

5. While project leaders take chances, project managers seek to keep things the same.

Project managers' goals are maintaining the status quo and ensuring everything goes as planned. They oversee a project's scope, timeline, and quality and must give team members clear instructions to respect these resources. They are specialists because of this, concentrating on technological and logistical concerns.

On the other hand, project managers always plan ahead and create objectives. They work hard to develop fresh ideas, inspire their people, and drive innovation and ongoing progress. To increase efficiency, they want to encourage change. When comparing Project Leader vs Project Manager, it is important to recognize that while both roles are distinct, they are also complementary. When selecting or assigning a person to fill either of these jobs, an organization must take into account these qualities and responsibilities as they will undoubtedly enhance the project's overall success.

6. While project leaders strive to learn, project managers are results-driven.

The project manager's main objective is to complete the project on time and within the estimated budget. These objectives are shared by project managers, but they also look for methods to customize their management approach for each team. They set challenging team goals in an effort to find strategies to improve team productivity.

7. While project managers work, project leaders plan.

Project managers have a list of things they must complete. To ensure that deadlines are reached, project managers oversee the budget, staffing, and roles of team members. Project managers also oversee the team's efficiency, but their main focus is on inspiring the team and encouraging the development of fresh concepts.

8. While project leaders are people-centric, project managers are project-centric.

The strategies used to produce the desired outcome, a successful project, are the project manager's responsibility. Their main responsibility is to make sure the team completes the project on schedule and within budget. Project managers give the project their full attention while motivating people around them to realize their goals.

Project manager leadership skills involve motivating and inspiring teams, communicating, influencing team skills, and team building. Lead project management involves overseeing all the various aspects of a project and ensuring that the processes are carried out smoothly.

If we compare project leader vs project manager salary according to Indeed, then a project leader earns $77,996 annually, while a project manager earns $77,199. You can check out the PMP online training to ace your PMP exam with comprehensive training from experienced experts.

Project Leader vs Project Manager: Skills Required

Project Leader Skills	Project Manager Skills
Effective Communication	Risk Management
Team Leadership	Time Management
Problem-solving	Budgeting and Financial Management
Organization and Planning	Negotiation
Decision-making	Stakeholder Management
Stakeholder Management	Technical Proficiency

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Project Leader vs Project Manager: How Are They Similar?

A project leader is a professional who guides team members and makes sure a project is finished. They adore and appreciate the team by encouraging them, catering to individual needs, and providing a pleasant and effective work environment. A manager is a qualified individual in charge of leading project management and finishing tasks. Instead of inspiring the team, these experts are already in charge of maintaining order. When comparing Project Leader vs Project Manager, both roles are essential for ensuring that projects are completed on time and with high quality.

Therefore, both have been doing the work of motivating the staff members or their respective team members to perform their work qualitatively and on time. Some other features which are the same among both roles are:

• Managing and addressing their team's issues, keeping track of the progress of the work and the members' profile, and aiding in defining the project objectives, goals, and deliverables.
• Maintaining the project's budget, documentation, and staffing and ensuring everyone has a job to play; delivering updates on a project's status and potential challenges.
• Taking care of problems as they come up, finding possible dangers, and making strategies for them if they do, progress reporting and documentation to keep the team and important stakeholders informed and performing quality control checks on the finished product.
• The day-to-day technical tasks of pushing the project forward are handled by a project manager, but a project leader also leads, motivates, and inspires the team to do their best possible job.

The size of the workforce frequently determines whether these functions are distinct or interrelated. Lesser clubs have become less unlikely to have a committed "project leader" at least one with a formal title.

On the contrary hand, some teams are sizable enough to support many project leaders.

What Should You Choose Between Project Leader vs Project Manager?

After comparing the roles and responsibilities of project leadership and project management, it might not be incorrect to say that leadership is required at every step of the work. However, it is vital at first when the emphasis is on outlining the goal and inspiring and encouraging employees to maximize performance. Therefore, administrative leadership is concerned with people, team cohesiveness, trust, and communication, while project management is concerned with processes, restrictions, and resources. Due to its comprehensive perspective of the entire business, leadership is crucial in separating a project lead from a project manager.

Businesses can also use "risk brainstorming sessions" to identify potential dangers by using skilled managers and executives. It is advantageous to have several risk identification techniques to find unforeseen dangers and experiment with them.

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Conclusion

Thus, this article compares Project Leader vs Project Manager job roles and explains what a project lead or project team leader is. Even though their roles and responsibilities differ, project managers and leaders have always made plans and established objectives. They seek out novel approaches to problems, inspire their groups, and lead by example in terms of creativity and ongoing development. They want to encourage change to boost productivity.

Both roles are necessary for a particular activity since they represent distinct but connected action systems. When choosing or assigning a person to fill either of these jobs, an organization must consider these traits and functions as they unquestionably enhance the project's overall performance.

Besides, Knowledgehut has provided a new opportunity to train yourself in project management skills. To learn more, check out the KnowledgeHut Project Management training online to learn essential project management skills from experts. The course will train you how to lead project teams successfully, which will help you advance your career.