The common question that pops up in everybody’s mind is – Why the project manager have to be skillful? Well, the answer is very straight – the role of the project manager is the most critical because he/she has to look into the project with an end-end view and cannot leave any aspect that can convert to risk at a later stage. So he/she has to be skillful enough to give targets to the team and quantitatively measure the targets and qualitatively measure the skills of the team. He has to be a better communicator as his job involves very frequent reviews and interactions with superiors and subordinates. A project manager has to build delivery capability and capacity every day. He/she has to ensure operational and execution excellence.
What are the 10 Essential Skills Needed for Project Management?
There are many skills needed for project management but this blog focuses on the 10 most important skills of a project manager.
1. Collaboration
To ensure the organization and the team level goals are met through communication, multiple stakeholder engagement and identifying complementary patterns of working. With this skill, a project manager demonstrates a willingness to copartner with others in the team when fulfilling one’s tasks. Effective communication is required to share information within the team. Thus, collaboration is required with the sales team to enable the team to sell the product, with the engineering team to ensure the successful implementation of product offerings, etc.
2. Innovation
Driving future-oriented changes and generating creative perspectives and solutions; thoughtfully challenging past practices, approaches, and old ways of thinking to unlock new opportunities. This skill develops and implements creative improvements to the organization’s product/services/processes.
3. Problem-solving
Solving problems on time by accurately identifying and distilling complex problems or situations, seeking the root cause(s), and coming up with the best solution based on comprehensive data sources and sound judgment. This skill is necessary to identify the key elements of critical organizational challenges, define the fundamental causes in partnership with key decision-makers, and provide direction and execution on the cross-boundary solution. A project manager has to continuously coach team members to think analytically and generate optimal solutions.
4. Driving Force
Embodying a strong sense of purpose and results-orientation that propels team and organizational goals forward, overcoming challenges, and obstacles to ensure successful task or project completion. The reason this skill is necessary is to motivate and hold accountable team members to complete the respective deliverables aligned to critical initiatives. One of the major roles of a project manager is to give thought leadership and continuously play the role of beacon light for the project team members.
5. Decision Making
Effectively identifying and selecting the best course of action or solution through holistic analysis and understanding of the situational context, relevant data sources, alternative options, and both short-term and long-term organizational impacts, in alignment with current organizational needs. This skill is necessary to make swift, intuitive, and logic-driven decisions on major issues that are based on the good of the organization, even in the light of missing information when there is a critical timeframe.
6. Communication
Demonstrating effective interpersonal skills through the sharing of appropriate information or one’s point of view; Effectively interacting with others through active listening, understanding intent or key messages, and adapting to the audience; Possessing good verbal, non-verbal, and written communication skills that help convey effective messages or influence decisions aligned to business needs and goals. A project manager has to provide team members opportunities to present or interact with different parts of the organization and coach them on their communication skills. The reason this skill is necessary is to accurately predict reactions and concerns across different stakeholders and strategically plan to address them across different communication platforms. Regular engagement is required with the customer to solicit feedback on company products and services
7. Risk Management
It does this by assessing and controlling organizational risks in advance to reduce adverse effects and protect organizational operations efficiently. Exploit growth opportunities by risks that are well managed such that the firm gets an edge over its competitors and the business advances. Collaborate with internal and external agencies to evaluate structures, processes, and governance for protecting the company’s long-term interests.
8. Financial Acumen
Maintains and applies knowledge of quantitative understanding and project management principles to ensure that business decisions and the utilization of resources are fiscally sound and responsible for the organization. This skill is necessary to manage and align team and program budgets to major organizational goals. The Project Manager is a controller of the financial budget for the organization. He has to control costs by planning.
9. Planning & Organization
Develop strategies and tactics within authority that align with organizational goals to achieve short-, mid-, and long-term objectives. Optimize infrastructure and resources to ensure the successful execution of plans that contribute to achieving broader organizational aspirations. Project managers must create strategic plans aligning major initiatives with goals while considering local business and environmental contexts. Plan projects’ future effectively to foresee and mitigate potential bottlenecks, ensuring smooth progress and alignment with organizational objectives.
9. Customer Focus
Maximize value for internal and external customers by understanding and addressing their expectations and needs proactively. Focus decisions on customers to prioritize their satisfaction and align actions with their expectations effectively. Emphasize a customer-oriented mindset to ensure team members execute tasks with customer satisfaction as their primary goal.
This helps identify future or potential customer needs, creating plans and infrastructure to meet specific needs.
Other project manager skills require mention here just for the sake of reference only. These skills are continuous learning, work standards, global perspective, interpersonal savvy, and partnership.
Continuous learning is having the mindset that learning is lifelong and ensuring one’s competencies are relevant and continuously improved. Work standards are being fully aware and taking accountability for one’s role and responsibilities in company policies. The Global perspective is understanding and leveraging changes in the global environment regarding the company’s business strategy. Interpersonal savvy is improving personal and organizational performance by fully understanding and respecting other’s motivations, interests, and relationships. The partnership is sourcing, developing, and maintaining internal and external partnerships, proactively sustaining amicable and mutually beneficial relationships.
These skills rate project managers and support interviews or performance evaluations. These are the pointers to career goals as these identify the key strengths. Also, work values and define the vision of career goals to enable managers to work towards a better vision. Performance measurement of these skills gives a project management plan and further course of action.
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