As touched upon by the 5 areas of Emotional Intelligence, (Awareness, Empathy, Regulation, Motivation, Social Skills) as explained by Daniel Goleman, I believe the single most important quality a project manager possesses is a superior ability to communicate. Communication in all forms, while often underrated, is critical to this roe perhaps more than any other trait due to the need to express the goal efficiently, effectively, and often. It is estimated that 90% of what a successful project manager does at his job is done through communication among his superiors and staff, making it an absolutely critical skill.

A good Project manager should have the ability to not only communicate with the technical staff below him/her, but also be able to translate the ideas and results to more business oriented ‘C-suite’ officials inside the company. It is bridging this gap which makes the project manager position truly an art form and demands a uniquely talented individual. Included in this is the ability to effectively communicate with people of different characteristics. From sternly handling a rowdy and headstrong employee as well as having a much more empathetic approach to a more sensitive individual’s concerns, an effective project manager must be effective in every situation.

The project manager must also know what type of communication will most efficiently get the message across. On occasions, a simple email might suffice, while in others, a meeting must be organized for a more direct form of getting the point across. It is though this balance that will a person in the project management position differentiate themselves from every other employee and makes his/ her position possibly one of the most important positions in the company.

https://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/6-essential-skills-for-project managers/

http://projectmanagementskills.info/

I believe that communication and planning are the most important skills to have out of all the skills that one project manager requires to succeed. Project managers have to communicate with different levels like teams, control board or executives and it is not only verbal but written as well. The reason why I put communication and planning together is because there are deadlines for all projects and therefore project managers must have a very effective strategy to achieve their aim. In order to meet the deadlines, project managers effective communication skill will help all his/her employees and team members understand what is exactly expected from them and how to approach different projects.

Along with superior communication and proper planning, I believe what can really help in the average work day for a Project Manager would be excellent organizational skills. While good organization would be good for Project Management, it's a skill that would help almost anyone that's in the workforce. From prior experience from internships in the past, I've observed Project Managers having to oversee multiple projects at a time. With all of those projects, comes collaboration with different teams consisting of multiple people actually working on the technical aspects of those projects. At some point it would be hard to keep track of all the work that each person is contributing from each team that helps the overall progress of the project itself. This is also where organization and communication goes hand and hand, since project managers are expected to be overseeing so many projects at a time. Without proper organization, project management would be very difficult and seem almost impossible. Learning and familiarizing yourself with software such as Microsoft Project or Microsoft Excel would also help keep project managers organized when keeping up to date with the overall progress and deadlines of a project.

Hello everyone.

As Dr. Simon mentioned in the lecture, the 5 areas of emotional intelligence represent a good project manager. However if I had to add other skills to these 5 areas, I would add strong communication skills and responsible. All leaders nowadays must have strong communication skills because sometimes what matters is not the content of the message, but the way it is delivered. If you don't deliver your message correctly a team member might feel hurt or might decrease his performance in the project. Additionally, a project manager must be responsible because there are a lot of dates in the process and you need to be on top of that. Delivering things on time makes everyone's life easier and that includes all the team members.

Let me know what you think!

Sincerely,
Roberto Pineda.

You bring up a great point Roberto. I would like to add that though many of those in the project management role are good communicators, there is an additional skill that only some have. This skill is being able to effectively communicate and this involves knowing your employees and coworkers. I believe this quality truly allows for excellent PMs to stand out and have results to back up their methods.

-Romany Botros

I believe that a good skill that a project manager should have is giving other team members the spirit of acting as team players in the role of project management. They should have the limited freedom to express their inputs and interact with the project manager freely rather than feeling that he is the boss. It will ease communication between the whole team and encourage motivation and innovation.

thank you,

Lamiaa Abdelaziz

I concur with la82 as far as the PM being the helpful optimistic. In the event that anything it is up to every gathering's director to rouse and move the group. Their occupation is quite recently to ensure the venture completes by guaranteeing due dates are met and spending plans are kept up. Be that as it may, each organization is diverse in some the PM is somewhat more included and delegate arranges down to the researcher level in others they are evacuated and just meet among the upper administration.

An efficient Project Manager should be a good leader who has certain important qualities.
First of all he should inspire others and should project his goals to the team convincingly. Leadership is successful only if the team is ready to carry over the thoughts and views of the Project Manager. So it is the most prime factor for a good Project Manager.
Better negotiation skill is a important thing which helps a Project Manager to overcome the hurdles that affects any progressing projects. Conflicts will be solved in a constructive way which certainly leads to the benefits of the project.
Time management must be done in a organized method to avoid the delay or crisis at the end of the project.
Cost Control is one of the criteria which is a stress for a Project Manager. Since he should be responsible for the investment of the project and outcome after the completion of the project. If the expected fund management is not done it leads to the fall down of each bit of a organized entity of the organization.
Risk Management is the place where humans are the reason at many places. Due to the insane nature of some professionals there may be unexpected errors. A Project Manager should deal it with a optimistic way and have patience to solve it. He should be in a clear mind to accept and manage things without any temper change.
Critical Thinking Project Managers are the successful people. They should weigh up the pros and cons of each and every team member and should place them with a specific task which is suitable for his or her. He should place right tasks assigned at right time to right person.
Communication skill is the way to impress and inspire team members. Innovations are only created by fresh and stress-free minds. A project manager should think creatively even in communication skill. Present any crisis or issue in a more understandable and funny way so that team member will think it in a free mind and solutions will flow out.
Quality Management is the place where the outcome of the project will be defined. A good Project Manager should be very much keen about the quality control of the project.
At last, a Project Manager should always have a optimistic and appreciative attitude to his coworkers and team members which give an enormous energy for the people to work all along the project.

AkshayaKirithy Baskar

I agree with the all the skills that Dr. Simon mentioned in the lecture, and I would like to add another important skill a project manager to possess. This skill can fall under awareness, but I believe it deserves great attention because I don't see it discussed in detail here. Some have implied it, like Mr. Baskar and jvv6, but I want to flesh it out a little more. A good project manager should have the skills necessary to avoid crunch in a project timeline. Crunch is something that happens in every project-based organization. What crunch refers to is the final weeks/months for the project deadline where team members are scrambling to make the product ready and meat the deadline. Crunch can have adverse effects on the project in the final stages, including tired workers making errors, potential for more mistakes, and even delaying the product further in a worst-case scenario. I'm not saying that a project manager should have the ability to predict Murphy's law, but rather have the skills and expectations to avoid crunch in a project. If he/she can do that, the product will be better for it. Create reasonable expectations, understand the skill set of your team members, and create deadlines with room for delay. Avoiding crunch as much as possible will not only benefit the current project, but any subsequent project the team as a whole works on. As the article referenced says, "A plan can’t be a prediction of the future, it can only be a guide to our route." That guide is only as good as the project manager who makes it.
references: http://www.projectmanagementguide.org/project-management/crunch-time
-Talha Chaudhry

To be a good project manager, I think project manager should have certain skills in order to be effective and successful. I agreed with above posts that communication skill is very important to transfer information relate to any changes and to ensure they are clearly understood by team members. There are several skills which are must have in project manager such as be organized and a good multi-tasker, take charge and know how to lead, be detailed oriented, acquire the necessary technical skills. I think one important skill a project manager needs to be succeed is recognize and solve problems quickly because there are times when problems and obstacles arise that required immediate solutions. And if project manager can handle those problems easily which separate him/her from the others.

One skill that a project manager should have that was touched upon by akshayakirithy is to be inspiring. Having good communication skills is essential however as Dr. Simon stated, a project manager should be more like a servant for their team, doing things in order to make the team's overall job easier and more productive. One way to do this is to be able to rally everyone toward a common goal and to keep that energy focused for any project for perhaps an extended period of time. The project manager for the automated robotics company I work for has very good communication skills and interpersonal skills. Unfortunately when things do not go as intended he, perhaps unknowingly, comes off as condescending and lowers the morale and productivity. A project manager will only be as successful as the team they are leading and therefore must be able to bring out the best from everyone.

I believe the most critical skill for a project manager to possess is effective communication. This is imperative not only when working with the members of the PM's team, but also to ensure effective cooperation between teams (managed by other PM's or individuals). I think it is also of benefit because it is a rarity that a single person will possess all of the technical knowledge required for a team to meet its goals. Individual employees and team members may not be aware of the technical expertise other team members possess. An effective PM will not only know the strengths of their team members, but will be able to coordinate these strengths to effectively supplement any one individual's deficiencies.

The ability to communicate effectively arise from having high emotional intelligence. All five aspects of EI (Awareness, Empathy, Regulation, Motivation, Social Skills) play into being able to coordinate and communicate between individuals of various technical, social, and experiential backgrounds.

The ability to communicate effectively is something that I find lacking in my current manager. While he is highly aware of situations the team is experiencing, he does not possess the empathy or ability to motivate individuals effectively. This is demonstrated by the need for team members to communicate regularly with each other outside of regularly scheduled meetings with the PM. I believe better communication from the PM to his employees would result in greater productivity, timeliness, and efficiency.

I believe that leadership skills are necessary to become a successful project manager.
Part of being a good leader is to be organized. His organization skills will ensure the smooth operation of the project and will account for the numerous different aspects that involve any project. Furthermore, it is important to note that project managers usually take on multiple projects at a time and to be able to manage each project and oversee their completion, they must have good time and logistics management techniques. They must be able to find and utilize the method which would be most practical, cost-effective, least wasteful and I believe that this falls under the organization skills that a project manager must possess.
Another important aspect of leadership is being able to communicate. Being able to relate and talk to their co-workers in a way that is respectful and can be understood is an important skill that each project manager has. Other members must be able to clearly understand the vision and end goal of the project manager so that all members can contribute to the whole success of the project. Project managers must also be able to inspire their co-workers and push them to be their version possible. Furthermore, part of having good communication skills is becoming a good listener. They must be able to respectfully listen and take in opinions, suggestions, and other information that the other members will pitch in. A good project manager must be able to know his/her co-workers so that he/she can take advantage of their different skills that they can contribute to the project.

I have had a pleasure interning with two companies in the past two years. My project managers for both companies have had a management style of giving me enough freedom to finish the work they have given me in however long it took me but at the same time they also they made sure I wasn’t wasting my time. My managers have never pressured me to finish a task in an impossible time, they would give me more time I needed. They have also explained what I need to get done and how to do it but they would come and check in on me once in awhile to make sure I was not having any issues. Although the work they have given me is not enough for me to use creative ways to finish the task, they would let me do it how I felt comfortable. They have never pressured or been strict with how to do the work so I have enjoyed this. I feel like this is how managers should be. They should care about their employees and make sure they have an understanding on the project but should not be telling them what to do every step of the way. But they should be willing to help whenever the employer asks. If managers are like this, it will allow for the project to be completed on a timely basis because the employees are enjoying their work.