In this course you will learn the 6 Essential Skills for Project Managers
1. Communication Did you know that 90 percent of a project manager’s time is spent communicating? It’s essential that project managers can effectively convey vision, ideas, goals, and issues—as well as produce reports and presentations, among other skills.
2. Leadership Leadership is the current buzzword in the project management industry, and with good reason: If you can lead, you can deliver. But most importantly, leadership is often what is missing in the project manager’s arsenal of highly developed technical skills. If you’re a project manager, I can guarantee you have felt the need to improve yourself as a leader at some point.
3. Team management Besides leading a team from a strategic perspective, project managers also need to manage from an operational point of view.
4. Negotiation Going back to the communication skill—a lot of this communication has to do with negotiating the use of resources, budgets, schedules, scope creep, and a variety of other compromises that are unavoidable. Knowing how to negotiate well so that all parties are satisfied is a key skill for the successful project manager.
5. Personal organization Have you ever heard that you cannot give what you do not have? How can you get things done and organize work for other people if your own personal life and projects are disorganized and going nowhere? Get organized personally, and you will immediately improve as a project manager.
6. Risk management During my “Project Management for You” podcast series, I interviewed top-notch project managers and asked them about their go-to project management tool or technique. I was surprised to see them suggesting risk management. They are absolutely right: If you can predict and create solutions to issues before they arise, you increase your chances of delivering projects successfully.
Project management is a job that demands a varied and vast skill set. Start by honing your practices in each skill set, and keep adding and incorporating them into your work. I hope you continue working on becoming the best project manager you can be.
