PMO Leaders and Leadership - What's the Secret?

Portfolio Management is about change; and change isn’t about process, it’s about leadership.

Sure, you need to have a clear view of the change you’re trying to make and a clear plan for how to get there, but that’s not enough. If people don’t buy into the need for change and then stick to the plan (so it becomes a team effort), not much is going to happen.

So, if you’re the PMO Leader tasked with lifting the PMO from being just the part of the organisation responsible for overseeing project administration and turning it into something that delivers real strategic value and ROI, change leadership is a big thing for you.

PMO Leaders: Playing the Leadership Game on Hard Mode

Let’s not sugar-coat it; PMO Leaders are playing the leadership game on the hardest difficulty setting. It’s not enough to have a crystal-clear vision of how project and portfolio management should evolve. It’s not even enough to have a meticulous roadmap.

The kicker?

Much of the change the PMO needs to see happen, sits squarely outside their direct control.

That means PMO leaders can’t just manage. They have to lead. And leadership in this context means showing up in three different directions:

1. Downwards – Leading within the PMO itself and the wider project delivery community.
2. Sideways – Influencing and supporting stakeholders across the business, who might be focused on daily operations and see the PMO as just more red tape.
3. Upwards – Collaborating with the executive team, driving strategic alignment, and pushing through the hard parts of transformation.

Let’s break that down, because each direction brings a different set of challenges - and opportunities...

Leading Downwards: Building a PMO Worth Following

This is the “easiest” of the three - not because it’s simple, but because it’s where the PMO leader has the most control. Your team looks to you for direction. They expect you to set the tone, provide clarity, and push for better practices. If you want to build a modern, value-adding PMO, the internal team is your launchpad.

Here’s the secret; stop thinking of the PMO as a function and start treating it like a movement. People don’t rally behind processes - they rally behind purpose. That means articulating why your PMO exists beyond tracking project milestones. It's about enabling strategy, accelerating delivery, and amplifying business outcomes.

You need to set high standards, yes, but you also need to create space for growth, experimentation, and autonomy. The days of the PMO as the “project police” are over. The future belongs to PMOs that act as trusted advisors and strategic enablers.

Leading Sideways: Winning the Middle of the Business

This is where things get trickier. Leading peers across the business - especially those who are under pressure to deliver results today - requires serious credibility and even more empathy.

Here’s what won’t work: pushing templates, tools, or governance frameworks at people who are already overwhelmed. That just gets you labelled as bureaucratic overhead.

What can work? Start with the pain points they already feel. If a product leader is frustrated by duplicated work, conflicting priorities, or under-resourced projects, that’s your in. Show how the PMO can help bring clarity, coordination, and control - not through more red tape, but through better decision-making and smarter prioritization.

It’s not about selling the PMO. It’s about demonstrating value, over and over again, so colleagues have a reason to involve you. Influence in the middle of the business is a long game, but it can change how the PMO is seen.

Leading Upwards: Influencing the Executive Team

Influence also needs to travel upwards. The PMO leader has to help executives see the connection between portfolio choices, strategic outcomes and the change needed across the business.

That means moving the conversation beyond project oversight: helping leadership clarify priorities, confront competing demands and take ownership of the choices needed to deliver strategy. The PMO may not control those decisions, but it can help make them clearer and easier to act on.

What’s the Real Secret?

So, what’s the secret sauce for PMO leadership?

It’s not a magic framework. It’s not a tool or a dashboard. It’s this: act like a leader, not just a manager.

That means:

• Focusing on people and purpose, not just process.
• Building influence beyond your formal authority.
• Being comfortable with discomfort - your own and others’.
• Showing resilience when change gets messy (and it always gets messy).
• Helping business leaders take ownership of strategic outcomes, even when you don’t control all the levers.

Let’s be clear: this is not for the faint-hearted. Change leadership is tough in any role, but when you’re trying to lead without direct power, in a space that’s still evolving, it can be exhausting.

But it’s also one of the most exciting places to be, because good PMO leadership can influence more than project delivery. It can bring the PMO into conversations about priorities, plans and the changes the business can support.

That’s how the PMO can grow from a support function into a strategic partner.

It can shift the conversation from “project oversight” to the business outcomes that matter.

And it gives PMO leaders a stronger case for a voice in the decisions that shape the organisation.

Final Thought

Here’s the punchline: the future of the PMO doesn’t rest on better frameworks. It rests on better leadership.

So, if you’re a PMO leader today - or aiming to become one - the question isn’t, “What process should I implement next?”

It’s, “How can I lead better - downwards, sideways, and upwards - to drive real, lasting, business-wide change?”

Answer that well, and the PMO’s influence can reach well beyond its formal authority.

So, if you recognise the leadership challenge and want to step up to meet it, what are your first steps?

• Watch our recorded webinar where Heba Al Shehhi, award-winning PMO leader and author of Elements of Leadership, shares transformative ideas from her new book, drawing on nature’s four elements to reimagine PMO leadership as a force for purpose-driven change.
• Get some focused thoughts on your own particular challenges in a call with our CEO, Stuart Easton. It’s an open conversation about the leadership challenges you’re facing and approaches that might help in your business.

Step Up and Lead the PMO Your Business Needs

Better frameworks won’t drive lasting change - better leadership will.

If you want a more structured look at what needs to change in your PMO, a Case for Change workshop can help you work through current challenges and their root causes.

Book a free Case for Change workshop with Stuart Easton.

Leadership is what you do next.