Project management positions, like project manager, program manager, and project portfolio manager, are demanding roles. They call for a diverse set of project management skills essential for guiding teams from project inception to closure. But what does it take to be an outstanding project manager?
It’s not just about degrees or qualifications, although they certainly help. It’s more than fulfilling the typical duties and responsibilities. To excel, it’s about mastering project management skills, understanding quality management, and harnessing project management software tools effectively.
It’s about being the captain who steers the ship through the intricate waters of project execution, ensuring success beyond the checklist.
What Are Project Management Skills?
As mentioned earlier, project managers must oversee various aspects of a project. To accomplish this, they need a combination of personal qualities, communication abilities, and technical expertise, collectively known as project management skills.
Personality Traits of a Project Manager
As previously mentioned, not all of these attributes are strictly skills; some are personality traits that greatly benefit both project managers and their teams. These beneficial personality traits for project managers include being dependable and fulfilling their promises. Project managers should also possess qualities like taking initiative, adept problem-solving abilities, and, naturally, the ability to lead.
Furthermore, a successful project manager should be open to feedback and constructive criticism, adaptable, and capable of making resolute decisions when the situation demands it.
Hard Skills For Project Managers
Hard skills, which are also called technical skills, refer to the project management abilities that individuals can acquire through education or training. When it comes to project management, hard skills take centre stage because they include the specific techniques and knowledge necessary for project managers to effectively perform their roles.
These skills are synonymous with technical expertise and cover the know-how required for tasks such as project planning, scheduling, and overall project management.
1. Project Planning
A project plan, sometimes referred to as a project charter, serves as a detailed blueprint outlining the essential components necessary for your project’s success. Typically, a project plan covers seven key elements:
- Goals and project objectives
- Success metrics
- Stakeholders and their roles
- Scope and budget
- Milestones, deliverables, and project dependencies
- Timeline and schedule
- Communication plan
Some of these elements, such as your project goals or milestones, might already be defined in your project roadmap or brief. However, the project plan is where all these project elements converge to form a comprehensive overview of your upcoming work.
2. Project Scoping
Project scope involves documenting the project’s objectives, what it aims to deliver, the tasks involved, associated costs, and deadlines. This document is known as a project scope statement and may also be called the terms of reference.
The primary goal of project scoping is to establish clear boundaries for the project, define the roles and responsibilities of the project team, and outline the procedures that will be used to carry out, test, and approve the project’s work.
3. Proficient with Project Management Software
In today’s digital world, possessing a solid understanding of project management software is an essential technical skill for project managers.
There are powerful project management software options available on the market, so it’s important to assess which tools and features align best with your team’s workflow when choosing the right one for you.
4. Writing a Project Brief
Your project brief lays out your overall project goals and the path you intend to follow to achieve them. Bear in mind that your project brief is a dynamic document. As you craft your project plan and gather input from stakeholders, you can adjust and revise your project brief accordingly.
In general, your project brief should include a link to your project roadmap if you’ve created one, a roster of project stakeholders with their respective responsibilities (often known as a RACI chart), any relevant documents or files, and any other high-level information your team may require.
5. Task Management
Once your project is officially in progress, task management becomes vital as it shows how well you and your team manage time. Exceptional project managers possess real-time visibility into their team’s activities, allowing them to assist in prioritizing and executing tasks efficiently.
However, you don’t need to possess magical knowledge of every detail within your project. Instead, leverage task management software. These software go beyond a simple to-do list; it provides a comprehensive overview of all project activities.
With effective task management, you can empower your team to work with increased productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Soft Skills For Project Managers
While hard skills dominate the project management landscape, offering technical prowess in areas like planning and scheduling, soft skills should not be overlooked. Often termed as ‘people skills,’ these cover the interpersonal abilities crucial for leading teams, overcoming obstacles, and fostering a collaborative environment.
1. Collaboration
Collaboration stands as the foundation for all project management abilities. When it comes to project management, collaboration plays a vital role in enhancing the speed and efficiency of work. When you can effectively coordinate among different teams, you gain valuable insights into your project that might not be readily available within your own team.
Involving more minds in the work inherently leads to greater creativity and the development of more robust project outcomes.
To enhance your collaboration skills, it’s essential to practice effective communication. Employ techniques like active listening, which involves staying engaged and focused when others are speaking to you. While it may sound simple, mastering open communication, breaking down barriers, and fostering co-creation are critical components of building a collaborative team.
2. Patience
Being in the centre of multiple teams trying to collaborate towards a common goal can be both rewarding and frustrating. As a project manager, your role involves managing various expectations and objectives, solving conflicts, communicating needs, and helping everyone work within the project’s constraints. All of these responsibilities demand a significant amount of patience.
It’s important not to let frustration take over when challenges arise or milestones aren’t met. If you absorb the frustrations or resentments brewing among teams, you won’t be able to facilitate effective communication and teamwork. Your ability to remain a calm and neutral figure is essential for your success as a project manager, the success of the project itself, and the satisfaction of the people involved.
Your patience during challenges can encourage persistence and defuse conflicts, whereas impatience or frustration could demoralise the team and worsen problems.
3. Time Management
Time management and organizational skills are closely intertwined. As you improve your ability to organize your tasks, you gain a clearer understanding of your workload and how much time each upcoming task will require.
However, it can sometimes be challenging to focus and decide what tasks to work on first. To enhance your time management skills and minimize procrastination, consider prioritizing your tasks. When you identify which tasks hold higher priority, you can address them first, ensuring that nothing important is overlooked or forgotten.
This approach helps you stay on top of your responsibilities and prevents tasks from slipping through the cracks.
4. Leadership
Even if you don’t consider yourself a leader or hold a formal team management position, when you’re in charge of a project, your project team naturally looks to you for leadership, guidance, and support.
To cultivate your leadership skills, work on approaching situations with empathy and understanding. Effective leaders have the ability to unite everyone and create a sense of support, thereby encouraging teamwork and collaboration among team members.
5. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking, much like problem-solving, doesn’t have a clear-cut “solution.” There’s no way to “win” at critical thinking, but you can hone your ability to approach problems in a logical manner rather than letting emotions dictate your decisions. Effective critical thinkers practice the art of examining the information available to them and drawing conclusions based on facts.
To sharpen your critical thinking skills, always take a step back and question yourself: How did I arrive at this conclusion? Could there be an alternative explanation? Am I being influenced by factors other than objective information? Emotion-driven decisions aren’t necessarily wrong; in fact, some of the best decisions stem from passion.
However, critical thinking serves as a valuable tool to ensure you’re approaching a situation from the most appropriate perspective.
How to Develop Your Project Management Skills
As you can see, project managers require a wide range of skills. Some project managers may already possess certain hard and soft skills, while others may need to acquire them. However, continuous improvement of project management skills is possible for everyone.
Here are some ways to develop and enhance your project management skills
1. Project Management Certifications & Training Programs
Certification in any field serves as a validation of your skills and knowledge. It demonstrates that you have not only acquired but have also successfully tested your proficiency in specific skills. Project management certification enhances your value as a professional and is a sought-after credential by employers when reviewing job applicants’ resumes.
2. Use Project Management Software
Using project management software is a valuable tool to apply your knowledge and enhance your effectiveness as a project manager. Project management tools assist you in planning, overseeing, and monitoring projects, as well as managing teams, tasks, risks, and resources efficiently.
One of the immediate advantages is planning. These software often come with templates and planning modules, allowing users to map out timelines, set milestones, and allocate resources right from the get-go. This enables users to see a holistic and detailed vantage point.
Managing teams is another critical facet where project management software comes into play. With features like task assignments, progress tracking, and communication channels built-in, users can keep their team aligned and accountable.
Final Takeaways
Mastering essential project management skills is your key to success. Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned project manager or just starting, understanding the significance of quality management, staying proficient with project management software, and continually honing your skills are highly important.
Last but not least, remember that success is also about the ability to lead, adapt, and deliver with excellence.
Ready to seamlessly enhance your project management skills within your team? Explore the capabilities of the Lark Project Management tool and its features now. Learn more in our in-depth guide!
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