Many time people mistake that a good technical expert is expected to possess good project management skills. This is not necessarily true. Project manager are like small business owners and they need to know every aspect of management. The general management skills are the foundation of a good project management practice.
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Here in this post we look at eight essential skills that every project manager must possess. Your mastery of them or lack of them is likely to affect the project outcome.
1. Communication Skills
One of the most important skill needed for every project manager is excellent communication skill. Project manager should ensure that project related communications are explicit, clear and complete to the audience. Just one miscommunication has a potential to derail the project.
2. Organizational Skills
Project manager have project documentations. minutes of meetings, project reports etc. They need to organize information well,organize meetings, put together teams and at times also organize media release schedules depending on the project.
3. Planning Skills
In order to stay organized, planning skills are very important. Project manager needs to plan the delivery milestones, plan meetings with clients, management teams etc. Planning skills go hand in hand with organizational skills and is one of the most important skill needed in addition to communication skills.
4. Budgeting Skills
As the project manager needs to manage the project in a given budget, his knowledge of finance and accounting principles are important. Essential skill is the ability to perform cost estimates for the project budgeting. Right from hiring cost, resourcing cost to apex cost, the project manager needs to budget them appropriately so the project does not over run the budget.
5. Conflict Management Skills
There are no projects without problems. Conflict management is resolving problems. It could be conflicts between team members or conflicts for some resource. The project manager should be able to clearly separate out the problems from cause and analyze the problem, the situation causing it etc and implement the best course of action.
6. Negotiation Skills
The negotiation starts at every stage of the project right from the beginning. Negotiation skill is essential as the project manager needs to negotiate various aspect like scope of the project, the schedule, cost, team structure that is needed to deliver the project, milestones and many other things that happen through out the project
7. Influencing Skills
Influencing skills go hand in hand with negotiation skills. Influencing is convincing the other party on the choice that project manager thinks is better than the other. Influencing requires an understanding of the formal and informal structure of all organization involved in the project.
8. Leadership Skills
Not all project managers turn out to be a good leader. But a project manager who has good leadership skills can impart vision, gain consensus for strategic goals, establish direction and inspire and motivate the team. Project manager must exhibit the characteristics of a leadership during different times in the project.
