Let’s find out what skills a project manager should have to accomplish the project tasks and hit targets. The project manager has to manage the project, which means they create targets required by the stakeholders. The other key characteristics are:
- The project manager has to establish the work trajectory and direction, organise the team and inspire people to perform to meet expectations;
- The project manager should deliver information to the receiver (any person involved in the project) correctly, in order for the receiver to understand the information correctly. The project manager should have good written, oral, listening and writing skills. The project manager should also understand and work on the horizontal and vertical structures within the company. The project manager should understand and use successfully the feedback loops, levels of communication etc.
- The project manager should have good presentation skills (knowledge and body language, presentation design techniques and so on);
- Time-management. The project manager should have good time-management skills in order to apply them for correct planning and milestone achievements.
- The project manager should have good organisational skills, regarding how to organise and structure a meeting, create the agenda and so on.
- The project manager should have good negotiating skills, skills of how to deal with people from the project team, and the other stakeholders. Negotiation skills are vital at all levels of the project evaluation structure: planning and scheduling, making changes to the project scope, agreeing with stakeholders, contract and subcontractors and a customer.
- Problem solving. The project manager needs this skill to make changes to the project structure or process flow. The problem solving process is divided between problem identification (when the project manager has to make an analysis between the problem causes and symptoms) and decision-making (when the project manager has to make a choice between a range of possible solutions to resolve a problem in the most effective way).[1]
[1] “A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge”, 2000 Edition, Project Management Institute, Newton Square, Pennsylvnia, US.