Project management has begun to play an increasingly important role in organizations. Projects are identified to continuously improve the existing business performance and to prepare for the future per organizational strategy. Unfortunately, many of those projects fail.

It's my belief that if you approach a project with management, leadership and entrepreneurial mindsets, the success rate of projects will improve.

A management mindset helps project managers to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control and close projects to deliver on time, within budget and expected quality deliverables. The management mindset focuses mostly on tasks, and not much on people. Under this mindset, project managers might fail to create a vibrant or positive work environment and satisfied teams -- even though they will satisfy the customers.  

A leadership mindset helps project managers to drive the project team toward a common project goal. It also focuses both on tasks and people, allowing the project manager to create a positive and enjoyable work environment.

A project manager with both the management and leadership mindset will satisfy his team and customers, but might fail to deliver complete business value to customer. That means that although a project is delivered on time, within budget and expected quality, the customer may not feel that the value he expected out of the project was not completely realized.

An entrepreneurial mindset is like an executive mindset for the project manager. He or she would focus on delivering high value to the customer, employees and his or her organization.

Ownership of projects is at its peak, innovation flows like water and alternative project techniques are used for continuous betterment of projects. A project manager's risk appetite is high in this mindset, and he or she also builds many reusable assets to repeat the success of future projects.

Is your organization focusing on building project management, project leadership and project entrepreneurship as an integrated competency?