The 4 Types of Project Managers
Which One Are You?
👋 Hey, Kyle here! Welcome to The Influential Project Manager, a weekly newsletter covering the essentials of successful project leadership.
Today’s Overview:
I see four types of project managers: (1) The Victim, (2) The Witness, (3) The Manager, and (4) The Leader. Which one are you?
Project Managers lead hundreds of people with millions of dollars at stake at an incalculable risk. They must be trained and willing to grow.
The goal is to become the leader your team needs, someone who anticipates problems, stays three steps ahead, and inspires the team to achieve excellence.
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The 4 Types of Project Managers
Filed under: Leadership & Managing People, Project Management
Leading the project requires holding people accountable, and leading other project managers demands it.
Being a project manager pre-supposes the ability to lead others and hold them accountable.
If a project manager will not learn this, they will remain stuck in assistant or helper roles where they do tasks instead of leading people.
I typically see four types of project managers:
A victim
A witness
A manager
A leader
Understanding the four types of project managers is crucial for anyone aspiring to advance in their career.
Let’s understand each one so you can decide which one you want to be.
1. The Victim
This type of project manager doesn’t understand what is going wrong and lacks the ability to fix it. They have a fixed mindset and constantly blame external circumstances for every setback.
Have you met a project manager who doesn’t send status reports because clients didn’t ask for them? Or one who is too busy with multiple tasks to update plans? There’s always an excuse.
These reasons may seem valid, but they don’t justify neglecting core responsibilities. Whether excuses or real reasons, blaming external factors instead of taking control is playing the victim card. This mindset leads to stagnation and frustration within the team. For example, instead of finding solutions to a delayed shipment, the victim laments the supplier’s inefficiency. Their focus on blame over action brings progress to a halt.
Project managers lead hundreds of people with millions of dollars at stake. They must be solution providers, trained, and willing to grow.
Imagine a doctor who hasn't read a book since college, a pilot without ongoing training, or a military unit without mentors. Dangerous, right? People who don’t read, learn, and grow shouldn’t be project managers.
Project managers must recognize their strategic position and do better. Move away from the victim mentality. Be a solution provider, not a victim.
2. The Witness
A witness observes and tracks problems but takes no action to address them.
They may appear to work hard, but they do not plan properly or motivate their teams. Easily discouraged, they are always putting out fires. They lack the confidence to make decisions, complain about others' perceived shortcomings, and fail to fulfill their own responsibilities.
Project Witnesses:
Only track actual productivity sporadically
Assume or rely on the superintendent to know what work remains
Rely on the field or estimate to determine remaining work costs
Think cost to complete is purely science-based and formulaic
Can only identify project overruns at 80%+ completion
I remember a Senior Project Manager, in title only, who wanted and received the title when he was hired but was not qualified for the role. He could manage budgets and handle paperwork but would not lead team meetings, mentor other managers, or communicate effectively.
He lacked control of the project and did not enforce deadlines, safety standards, or quality guidelines. The situation became so problematic that the project executive had to intervene. During the meeting, he admitted he was incapable of filling the role of a senior project manager and asked to be a project coordinator or document controller instead. He wanted to handle paperwork and manage documents daily, while the assistants did the real work of communicating and collaborating with the trades. He was fired.
Witnesses do not understand why details and strategy matter. They merely stand by and observe outcomes, whether good or bad.
3. The Manager
A manager will see problems and react to fix them. They organize and direct but lack true inspiration.
Managers do a great job ensuring tasks are completed but often fail to see the bigger picture. Their focus on adherence to plans and schedules can come at the expense of team morale.
For example, they might push for deadlines without considering team burnout. Managers can achieve short-term goals but may struggle with long-term vision.
Their tactical “wins” amount to a strategic loss. Managers constantly react to issues to maintain order without inspiring growth. They focus on the mechanics of the job but fail to inspire their teams to reach their full potential.
4. The Leader
A leader anticipates problems and takes proactive steps to prevent them.
Leaders steer the ship by motivating, inspiring, and guiding their teams to success. They take responsibility, stay three steps ahead, are selfless, and create a collaborative environment to address issues with creative solutions.
Leaders take responsibility for everything in their world: their actions and decisions, their team's actions and decisions, and even factors beyond their direct control that affect overall strategic goals.
Project leaders:
Understand actual productivity on completed work.
Accurately estimate remaining work and associated costs.
Estimate total project cost at completion.
Recognize that cost estimation is both a science and an art.
Identify project overruns early, at around 20% completion.
Leaders drive progress and create other leaders.
Your role as a project manager is not just to manage tasks but to lead people. Be the leader your team needs.
Final Thoughts
Understanding the four types of project managers—Victim, Witness, Manager, and Leader—helps you identify where you stand and where you need to grow.
The goal is to become the leader your team needs, someone who anticipates problems, takes proactive steps, and inspires the team to achieve excellence.
💸 Know your costs for every project.
Victims, witnesses, and even some managers can’t accurately predict what's being built in the field or how long it will take. They rely heavily on the project leader’s input. Accurate reporting is crucial for project success.
With accurate reporting, the project team knows the hours expended by activity and the quantity of work installed. This information is available in project job cost reports, which executives and senior leaders review to make future decisions.
These reports are your tools for project control and management. Successful contractors understand that accounting departments support project teams, not the other way around.
Maintaining updated project schedules is also key. These schedules are directly connected to job cost reports, detailing productivity rates and labor needed to complete each task.
With Knowify, you can streamline project management (Budget → Bid → Build → Invoice), gain real-time insights into job costs, and keep your projects on track. Know your costs for every project, and become the leader your team needs.
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Until next week,
Kyle Nitchen
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As always, good stuff Kyle.
Thank you Kyle! I saw some critical factors I have to resolve as PM and keep others doing. One step at a time.
Really nice content!