Project manager (PM) not only contributes to the project but also can benefit from it if he/she does the job perfectly. Thus, successful work on a project can elevate respect from colleagues and customers and enhance PM’s chances for further beneficial projects. If a PM does everything possible to commence, implement, and finish the project at the most progressive level, he/she will be highly valued and can expect promising prospects for his/her career.
Categories of Skills Necessary for a Project Manager
When starting a project, one of the most important resolutions made by the company is choosing a PM. Projects may vary, but there are skills necessary for any successful PM. Essential features of PM include: having a developed personality, being accessible, having good relationships with the company’s executives, having worked in various areas, owning a solid technical education, and being able to sustain a good team atmosphere. Above all, a PM needs to have the initiative to finish the project.
There are four basic types of skills taken into consideration when choosing a PM: credibility, ability to cope with stress, sensitivity, and owning the basics of leadership, management, and ethics. What concerns credibility, two types are necessary: technical and administrative. Technical credibility is the treatment of PM by the team, customers, and executives as a reliable professional who is able to implement the project successfully. PM does not need to be an expert in all details, but he/she needs to have a perception of the core technologies delineating the project. Administrative credibility presupposes efficient time management and organisational competence.
Ability to cope with stress is another vital issue in PM’s practice. To manage stressful situations, PM needs to take notes of everyday activities, rate the tasks according to their importance so that he/she is not caught in a tight deadline with the most crucial assignment, do some physical activities to get distracted from anxiety, and differentiate between the things which are within control and those which are beyond it.
Sensitivity is necessary for PM to note interpersonal hostility in the team or between the team and other people. The task of PM is to convince people to find common language despite any personal preferences.
Leadership, management, and ethics are essential for PM. Leadership and management are the skills helping to escalate the team members’ endeavours. Ethics presupposes the most suitable behavioural patterns and ability to win the trust of team members and executives.
To complete the project successfully, it is not enough only for PM to have the abovementioned qualities. He/she needs to cultivate them in his/her team members to guarantee the project’s success.