Though it is important for a project manager to be multi-skilled, have strong communication skills, technical knowledge, and risk management skills. These can all be encompassed by the single skill of being proactive. A proactive management will utilize all his skills to manage his teams. A successful project manager is more proactive rather than just reactive. Being proactive is important because you think long term instead of reacting to situations that come in given moments. This involves communicating with your team to identify possible risks than can arise and creating steps to mitigate the worst case scenarios. Proactivity allows the team to have more control over situations that may arise. A proactive project manager also constantly checks in with this team and builds trust so as to increase communication. The ability to plan ahead, delegate, manage time, as well as resources all work towards successful projects.
I think a project manager must have time management and communication skills. The reason being is that for every project there are time limit. Project managements are responsible for meeting all report document deadline from their fellow departments, for example; regulatory, quality, marketing. Project manager must create schedules for meeting fellow departments and discussing, improving, and/or approving documents. This is where project managers communication takes place, they need to be clear and concise so other group members understand their task. Project managers are leaders and must guide the other group members in order to complete. If other members are stuck they must assist, because the project cannot move forward if one member is having problems in their task.
A project manager should have multiple skills including:
"- Leadership
- provide direction
- provide vision
- coach/mentor team members
- sound judgment
- issue & conflict resolution
- effective decision making
- Negotiation
- Communication
- Team building" [Ref. PMI . org]
However, according to many articles I was reading about project management, and from what I learned in my medical devices course final project last semester, I think Leadership and Communication. For a project manager, it is important to have the leadership skills in order to be able to lead the team and to manage the work to be done efficiently and on-time without any problem with team members and with the acquired outcome. This skill is also important to encourage the project team members to follow the company vision and goals. The communication skills are also important for a project manager to have as it will make the workflow easier as all tasks and requirements are clear. Per PMI website: "Ability to provide information regarding tasks, plans, schedule, strategies and org structure to stakeholders."
A good project manager should have great interpersonal skills. As was mentioned in the lecture, the success of a project manager is based on 70% interpersonal skills and only 30% technical knowledge. These skills aren't just communication with your coworkers, but it also includes the charisma necessary to make people like you. If a project manager is balancing the time, schedules, and quality of a project, the workers need to feel a connection with the person running the ship. This will create a happier work environment and promote productivity in the workplace.
To succeed the project managers should be good at planning as it is one of the most important skill to accomplish the project in a systematic way. Planning helps how the project should be executed, monitored and controlled. Another skill required is the resource management which include which team member is going to work on which task to enable to achieve the requirements of the project. Tracking and reporting is one the most important skills required since report schedule will help to how much the project is needed. Tracking is another important skill required which will enable to track how the project moves forward. Team collaboration that is managing and soft skills required by the project manager since good working environment plays a crucial role because its helps to complete the project successfully.
If I had to pick one skill a manager has to have to be successful, I would pick interpersonal skills. I've dealt with plenty of managers over the years. Only one stood out. This one is in the company I work in now. He is by far the most amazing manager/individual/human being I've ever met. This is because of his interpersonal skills. He's new to management but he's had a huge impact already. He communicates so well with everyone, is always so nice and can turn any situation into a fun one. Another great skill he has is organization. He's very organized with notes, meetings and schedules. He always plans ahead and makes sure he has enough time between events. He takes notes everywhere he goes and follows up using them. A successful manager is one that strong interpersonal skills and superb organization skills. Other skills are definitely necessary for the success of a manager, but I believe these are most critical.
The core of the successful project manager revolved around the interactions of the team and their communications. As a project manager, one needs to communicate with everyone from a team member, to different departments, to physicians, to hospitals administration in an effective way. Also, the ability to lead individuals on the team based on team members varying degrees of experience and education and within the organization is extremely difficult. Other skills include organization, influencing, negotiation, risk management, and planning.
Working on multiple development projects with different project managers, I've come to take note of the various skills an effective PM needs to drive a project. One important skill I've come to realize ever PM needs is understanding the duties and functions of every department involved, and potentially will be involved, in the project- because in order for a PM to execute the steps required to drive the project forward, he or she must be able to quickly determine who should take on certain tasks. Besides properly delegating tasks, another skill that goes hand-in-hand is determining timeframes for tasks and taking the necessary steps to pivot if certain tasks will delay a project. The earlier a PM can determine if the project will be delayed, the easier it will be to make compressions to reach the deadline. This, of course, requires the PM to have a strong understanding of the processes and workflows of different departments.
Success of project manager depends on a number of factors:
1- Smart people: Without the right team in place, any strategy and plan has the potential of completely falling apart. 2- Smart planning: Comprehensive planning set up a project for success from the start. 3- Open Communication: looking closely at details and listening to outside source of information. 4- Careful Risk Management 5- Strong Project Closure.
A successful project manager must have many skills along with skills and technical expertise related to his field of work that he will use to manage his project and achieve his goals successfully.Soft skills Must be found in a successful project manager are:
1- Presentation skills
One of the most important tasks you will have to do frequently is to present your ideas as well as the progress you have made in your project
2-problem solving
Solving problems here for the project manager does not mean technical problems, but it does mean those problems that come up whenever a group of people work closely together for a long time.
3-leadership.
4- interpersonal skills
5- Influence those around you
One of the biggest challenges you might face as a project manager is trying to influence people that you do not have control over them. Your success as a project manager may be determined by your ability to influence those around you.
A project manager should possess leadership, better communication, risk management, team management, critical thinking etc. One of the main skills is leadership where the project manager should have the capacity to motivate the people to achieve towards a common goal. They must direct the colleagues and coworkers with a strategy to meet company’s needs. The other important skill is communication where the project managers spend a lot of time communicating with individuals and groups. A manager with better communication ends with amplifying the effectiveness of everyone that leads to likeliness of the project meeting.
A project manager Plans Schedule, Motivates and controls the project. A good project manager should be a people’s person, easily accessible and patient. A good project manager should know each and every person in the team ,their background and plan accordingly the project knowing their strengths and weakness of the team ,which will make the team and the project successful .
I think one skill would be communication and ability to work with others. Being a PM means you have many people you have to be in charge of and if you do not know how to handle or talk to your fellow workers they might not be able to work with you. This could cause your job to be very difficult and eventually not be able to complete the project you were assigned.
I believe there are various skills which a project manager should have in order to succeed like communication, planning, involvement, leadership etc. But the most important one as per me is communication with team members and listening to their view. This i believe in very important for a project to be successful, many a times it does happen that a project gets delayed or it gets screwed up during its closing time, even at those time if a manager talks to his/her team mates and ask their view there will be chances of rectifying the mistake. Even in general, every team member has different skill and when they all work coherently, bright ideas get sparked. So in my view Communication is one important key skill.
What do you think is one skill a project manager needs to succeed?
A project manager needs many skills in order to be successful, but I think the single most important is good organization skills. If you are managing a full project, there are a lot of moving parts, deadlines that need to be met, and numerous individuals working on various deliverables all at once. As the PM, it is crucial that they be organized and keep track of everything that's going on so the project can stay on track. Some members of the team will certainly be responsible and accountable enough to complete their deliverables on time, but others will inevitably need to be kept a close eye on. Other necessary skills include good communication skills and good interpersonal skills, which feed into having good organization skills.
