Most Project Managers hurt their teams when managing projects.

Your head stuck in a spreadsheet, eyes glued to burndown charts or schedules, your heart dwelling on how to retrofit the narrative to satisfy your stakeholders. How long does it take for the reason the project exists to morph from something your people need to activities that only sustain the life of the project itself? While you focus on efficiency, adherence, methodology and the prize shifts from creating something to glossy project reporting, your people and your outcomes suffer.

It's difficult to accept that the very processes, procedures, techniques that you have put so much faith in have hurt those around you (and you). The countless meetings where the focus has extinguished the flame of inspiration and behind the eyes of those who sit around the table with you, is a silent boredom and disconnect. Project teams that exist to reinforce the structure of the project itself, not create the outcome you are seeking.

How many times have you seen project leadership form around an administrative centre instead of a technical or creative core capable of building what you need to build?

There is a much better role for a Project Manager. It is a role that needs to rise above the administration, the push for efficiency and performance, the 'process for process-sake'. Your sole role as a Project Manager is to channel the flow of energy throughout the team, clearing the way so those that love to create, can create.

If your focus is on anything else, you are coordinating not leading, and this will harm your people, your outcomes and you.