Project management positions are found in nearly every industry. When a job requires many moving parts, those pieces must be overseen to ensure they’re running smoothly and on time.
This responsibility is often assigned to a manager, but not everyone has the skills to juggle various tasks and people, delegate and oversee well, and communicate clearly. These are just some of the traits a strong project manager has.
While it’s true that some people seem to be born with the soft skills that make them good project managers, it’s possible to learn these traits, too. Here, we’ll share the hard and soft skills every project manager should know to lead their team to success.
1. Comprehension and Communication
Clarity is essential when you’re absorbing instructions and desired outcomes from a client and then passing those ideas along to your team. For clarity to occur, a manager must have strong comprehension skills, including the ability to read others and recognize when they’re unsure about what’s being shared.
Clients may not be able to give you a full understanding of the how to reach a goal, so as a manager, you can help them see the full picture easier. Your team might not understand their job in the overall project, and you can clarify the work and improve their confidence to get started.
2. Proper Grasp of Reading and Writing
It might sound basic, but this skill can’t be overlooked or overstated. Project managers are at the core of the finances and legalities. Because you’ll need to comprehend contracts, technical and legal documents, and financials, your reading and writing skills must be above average.
Your project management software, likely part of a professional services automation platform as explained here by Accelo, simplifies creating the docs. Still, it’s up to you to know what to include and how to share the information. Proper writing skills — grammar, spelling, and mechanics — are key to appearing professional to your clients and team.
3. Recognizing Good and Bad Risks
The goal of every business is to bring in a profit, but long-term projects are inherently tricky. When you’ve already provided the client with a cost estimate, you must monitor expenses in real time to ensure you stay within budget. Yet, between onset and completion, many variables can change, reducing or increasing your projected profit margin. It’s up to you to determine whether a project is a good or bad risk and manage the variables.
This skill is called risk management. Project managers weigh an action’s potential pros and cons before deciding whether the project is likely to be successful, on time, and within budget. What potential obstacles might delay the timeline or lead to setbacks? How can you mitigate those risks to optimize the project’s success? These are parts of planning and forecasting that strong project managers excel in completing.
4. Planning for Cost Management
In addition to risk, project managers must also recognize the costs involved in completing the work. Does the cost estimate match the resources needed to finish the project? How can you adjust expenses to stay within budget and ensure a profit upon deliverable?
As a project manager, you’ll take the budget or cost estimate to the stakeholders for approval. Once everyone agrees on the numbers, it’s up to you to monitor the expenses and forecast future spending.
If you predict an increase in costs, you’ll communicate this change to the client and work with them to determine the next steps. Included in this role is the need for organization to show the client why the budget is changing and interpersonal skills to approach the conversation with tact.
5. Flexibility and Adaptability
The role of a project manager involves various ever-changing factors, such as dealing with people, integrating new technology as it hits the scene, and staying on top of financial and legal regulations. Because project management tasks can have unpredictable aspects, you’ll need to be flexible and adaptable.
Even if you’re uncomfortable with technology or legal jargon, your role requires you to address these issues and bring them into the project as necessary. This requirement doesn’t mean you must do the work yourself, but you should know when you might need the help of an expert, like an accountant or IT person, to ensure a project’s success.
As the manager, your flexibility and adaptability transfer to your team. When you’re comfortable addressing changes when they arise, your team will become more resilient as a project’s scope shifts and their responsibilities are impacted.
Conclusion
Project manager work is done in equal parts behind the scenes and in front of the team. This unusual mix means whoever does the job must have strong soft and hard skills to communicate, forecast budgeting and risk management, and make changes as necessary when issues occur. I
It’s not a responsibility everyone can handle. When you have the right person in this position, the entire project runs smoother and is more likely to reach its optimal success level.
