Are you considering becoming a project manager? Projects are responsible for some of the world's most outstanding achievements. The Great Pyramids - they were a massive project, and that's just one example from ancient history. The construction of roads, skyscrapers, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure are all projects. Even on a smaller scale, many workplaces require projects to be managed, making project managers an in-demand profession.
Project management is a leadership role and requires certain traits from those performing the role in order to manage a project successfully. This informative article is going to share the importance of leadership in project management and the traits of a great project manager. Continue reading to learn more.
Qualifications in Project Management
An excellent project manager will have at least a Diploma in Project Management online, if not a qualification such as a Bachelor's or Master's Degree. Tertiary project management qualifications are essential for these roles, as the subjects taught cover the basics of project management.
While studying project management, you'll learn about a variety of topics, including project lifecycles, project management frameworks, budget management, leadership skills, agile and lean business methodologies and much more. Any project manager must be qualified and able to perform the tasks required for the role. A diploma is a great starting place, but consider former formal training to progress your career in project management.
Traits of a Great Project Manager
An excellent project manager will possess a range of skills, traits and knowledge to be successful. These include hard and soft skills or people skills.
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For instance, project managers need excellent people skills, as managing projects requires working with and holding accountable a diverse range of roles daily. You need to be able to work well with others, communicate effectively, resolve disputes, mediate conflict and negotiate and influence people so you can do your job well. You'll do lots of talking, attend many meetings, make and take phone calls and engage in written communication. For all of these tasks, emotional intelligence is vital to your work as a project manager.
In addition to people skills, you'll need to develop impeccable time management skills to be successful as a project manager. Managing a project means deadlines, and some of them are firm. Often, you will need to work towards a projected finish date, and there will be many soft deadlines in between. You need to be able to work effectively and efficiently, stay on track, and manage your time well. Failure to do this can result in overruns, which can be expensive and detrimental to your career progression.
Furthermore, a project manager needs to complete projects to a specific budget or even under the budget. Management often wants to save money and doesn't like balance sheets that run into the red. Cost overruns can and do occur but should be avoided if possible.
We've all seen the media coverage of enormous government infrastructure projects, such as tunnels and roadworks, that have blown their budgets. This can create tension for those managing projects. Managing money, budgets, and outgoing costs is an essential aspect of good project management. You'll need a good head for figures or be able to develop this skill quickly if you don't already have it.
Be Adaptive and Flexible
A great project manager needs to possess these traits to perform the role well. Projects consist of lots of moving parts and people to work on them, and the bigger the project, the more complex it is. There will be hurdles, challenges, roadblocks and obstacles along the way, and you need to be adaptive, flexible and responsive to these. This can mean pivoting at the last minute, changing project plans, managing the underperformance of staff and creating contingency plans for if things go awry. You'll need to be able to think fast, perform well under pressure and cope well with stress as a project manager.
Risk Management
All projects come with risks, some of which we've discussed, such as cost overruns and poor staff performance. However, depending on the nature of the project, some risks can be catastrophic if they occur. For instance, workplace injury in construction projects. Other risks include reputational risk to the company if a project is delayed, as well as defects or errors. For instance, a software development project could be a failure if it delivers a buggy, poorly performing application or piece of software.
Part of managing risk includes being able to identify potential risks and mitigate them. This may include preparing official risk matrix documents, which outline the risks, the likelihood of them occurring and mitigation strategies that can be employed to reduce the chance of them occurring.
Problem-Solving
Finally, a great project manager should have excellent problem-solving skills, which enable them to think laterally and outside the box. You need to be able to think on your feet and solve problems when they arise, as things can and will go wrong in the course of a project.
A Project Management Summary
This helpful article has covered the importance of leadership in project management and what traits an excellent project manager will bring to the table. It's worth developing and working on these traits if you want to succeed in this line of work.
