In most organizations today, important work doesn’t just live in job descriptions. It lives in projects.
New systems, product launches, process improvements, learning programs, culture initiatives—these are all delivered through projects that cut across teams, disciplines, and time zones. And very often, they are led not by certified project managers, but by people who “own” a piece of the business and step into the role by necessity.
If you lead people, there’s a good chance you are also, in practice, an unofficial project manager. You may not run the Gantt charts, but your influence can make the difference between:
a project that drifts, confuses stakeholders, and exhausts the team, or
a project that stays aligned, solves real problems, and strengthens relationships.
Your title matters less than the way you show up: as a coach, a connector, a protector of focus, and a steward of value.
This article explores three core ways leaders can support project teams, even when they are not the formal project manager:
Creating clear and safe communication.
Anchoring project work in real business value.
Protecting teams from overload and “pet projects.”
Strong project teams are almost always made up of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking. That diversity is what makes them powerful—and what makes miscommunication almost inevitable.
Assumptions creep in. Emails are interpreted differently. Stakeholders believe they agreed on the same outcome, only to discover later they had different pictures in mind.
As a leader, you can’t remove all misunderstandings. But you can dramatically reduce their impact by taking responsibility for the communication environment around the project.
That starts with visibility. Make sure you have enough line of sight into the project to notice when information is getting stuck, when team members are operating on different versions of reality, or when stakeholders are drifting out of the loop. You don’t need to be in every meeting, but you do need a regular rhythm of check-ins that lets you see the story behind the status reports.
It also means deliberately creating a climate where people feel safe to say what is really happening. If team members fear blame, they will hide problems until they become crises. If they experience you as an ally—someone who listens, asks good questions, and helps them think—they are much more likely to raise issues early, when you still have options.
In a hybrid or distributed setting, this becomes even more critical. When most of the collaboration happens through tools instead of in the same room, you can help by:
Ensuring everyone has access to the same communication platforms and understands how to use them.
Encouraging teams to document decisions and share updates in accessible, centralized places rather than scattering them across channels.
Supporting simple frameworks for updates (for example: what’s on track, what’s at risk, and what decisions are needed).
You can also encourage frequent, respectful contact with clients and stakeholders, instead of long periods of “radio silence.” Regular touchpoints, even short ones, help maintain alignment on scope, priorities, and evolving needs. They prevent the project team from investing heavily in something that no longer fits.
In all of this, your presence as a leader is less about directing tasks and more about strengthening the signal: keeping communication honest, frequent, and anchored in the shared purpose of the project.
Projects exist for a reason. They are meant to create value—for customers, for employees, for the organization’s strategy and mission.
Yet it’s easy for teams to lose sight of that when they are deep in the day-to-day details. Tasks multiply. Deadlines shift. New requests appear. People focus on “getting things done” and forget to ask, “Is this still the right thing to be doing?”
One of the most important contributions you can make as an unofficial project manager is to connect the dots between activity and value, again and again.
You can do this by continually framing the project in terms of its contribution:
What pressing problem is this project meant to solve?
Which strategic goals does it support?
How will success be experienced by customers, frontline staff, and leaders?
When you talk about the project with your team, don’t just ask, “Where are we against the plan?” Ask questions like, “How will this piece of work help us achieve the outcome we’re aiming for?” and “Does what we’re doing still reflect what matters most to our internal stakeholders and our customers?”
These questions do several things at once. They remind people that their work matters. They invite them to bring their own insight and creativity to the table. And they make it easier to challenge work that has drifted away from the original purpose.
When people can see the line between their effort and the value created, their motivation changes. Work becomes more than a list of tasks to complete; it becomes a meaningful contribution they can take pride in. They also become more likely to raise their hand when something no longer makes sense, rather than dutifully completing work that no longer adds value.
As a leader, you are uniquely positioned to see how different projects fit together in the bigger picture. Use that vantage point. Help project teams understand not just what they are doing, but why it matters now and how it connects to the organization’s most important priorities.
In many organizations, the people who lead and contribute to projects are also responsible for their “day job.” They run operations, serve clients, or lead teams—and they are asked to deliver change on top of that.
Without care, this can quickly turn into a situation where everyone is busy and no one is focused. The result is predictable: burnout, missed deadlines, fragmented attention, and projects that limp rather than land.
One of the most valuable ways you can lead as an unofficial project manager is by protecting focus.
This doesn’t mean shielding teams from all pressure. It means being intentional about what you say yes to and what you say no to. It means helping others understand that not every idea deserves to become a project, and not every project deserves to keep running.
Part of your role is to recognize “pet projects”—initiatives that may be interesting or politically convenient, but that do not clearly contribute to the organization’s value proposition. When these proliferate, they drain critical time and energy away from the work that truly matters.
You can ask simple but powerful questions:
“How does this new request support our key goals?”
“What would we have to delay or stop doing if we take this on?”
“Is this a nice-to-have or a must-have right now?”
By having the courage to ask these questions, you help keep the portfolio of projects sane and aligned. You also model healthy boundaries. Teams see that it is possible to care deeply about results and to be realistic about capacity.
Protecting your project teams also includes watching for signs of overload in individuals. When you see people consistently working late, being added to every new initiative, or carrying responsibility without authority, it’s a signal to step in. You might help rebalance workloads, clarify roles, or escalate for additional resources.
In doing so, you send a clear message: “Your wellbeing and your ability to do high-quality work matter. We don’t succeed by exhausting you; we succeed by focusing you.”
Because modern organizations are constantly changing, few leaders have the luxury of working only inside a stable, predictable structure. Instead, they move from one project to another: restructuring a team, implementing a platform, running a culture initiative, launching a new service.
That means the role of “unofficial project manager” is no longer an exception. It’s part of the job.
You can grow in that role by combining three elements:
A basic, reliable project management framework—so you can help teams think clearly about scope, stakeholders, risks, and milestones.
A collaborative approach to coordination—so people understand who is responsible for what, how decisions are made, and how work flows between departments.
A set of habits and tools that reduce friction—so communication stays clear, priorities remain visible, and teams feel supported rather than micromanaged.
When you bring these together with the mindset of a coach and cheerleader, you become the kind of leader projects need most: someone who can keep people connected, keep work anchored in value, and keep the environment healthy enough for teams to do their best thinking.
You may never have “project manager” in your official title. But the way you lead will still shape whether projects stall—or succeed in ways that move your organization forward.