A project management professional will have to work with all kinds of teams that are made up of different individuals with each of them having specific roles to play. These individuals may be experienced and good at what they do. As a project manager, you need to be the leader of the team. You will need to possess several skills and let’s face it, it isn’t going to be easy.
As a change agent, this can cause friction. You may be an internal change agent, meaning, you are already a part of the company and familiar with processes. An external change agent is someone brought in from outside and it can be harder to re-evaluate operations in order to bring changes, which may not go down too well. Negotiations and reading body language are part of the skills you need, but let’s take a closer look at the various skills you need to possess.
1. Communication Skills
As a project manager, virtually all of your time will be taken up communicating. A project manager must be an efficient communicator in order to discuss goals, issues, visions and new ideas so that those in the team can easily understand. Having good presentation skills is also a must. After all, you most likely will be involved in meetings or putting forth something to stakeholders and clients. A well-executed presentation can be a very powerful thing in this line.
2. Leadership
A project manager with great leadership skills will be able to deliver the goods, if you will. Many times, leadership skills tend to be subdued amongst his or her many other technical skills. Anyone who has been a project manager can probably relate to this. It is also very likely that at some point in the past, or even in the present, there would have been a personal need to try and improve leadership skills. You may have looked into trying to become a better project leader.
3. Managing Teams
As a project manager, you not only have to manage teams in operations but also from a strategic perspective as well. In order to be effective, you will need to excel in administering and coordinating others and bring about teamwork, resolve conflicts, delegate tasks, set goals while evaluating the performance of all team members. As a team leader, it is important that you be able to inspire members of the team. There will be times when things will not be smooth sailing. This could be a conflict within team members or perhaps a conflict with you.
As project manager, you should be able to handle and resolve these delicate matters which can lower the morale of others who may not be directly involved. A conflict with yourself may be due to discussing poor team performance. There may be finger-pointing and people may not take too kindly to being singled out. This can cause them to get defensive. You need to be able to manage such difficult situations.
4. Be Organized Yourself
Some people are just not good organizers. This must never be you. You need to be completely organized and it should be second nature. If you aren’t, then how can you expect to organize work for others when you haven’t got your own house in order? If organization is a problem for you, work on it and improve and other facets of your project management will dramatically increase too.
Negotiation skills will play a big part when it comes to budgets, resources and schedules. To keep everyone happy, you need to have great negotiation skills, part of being a good communicator. If you lack in certain areas, you can work on it, take courses to obtain a project management certification, and your overall abilities will follow suit.
