6 Essential skills for Project Managers

There is a no chance that technical training offering during project management studies can let you trained for dealing with the critical situations. If you are employed by a firm as a project management professional, then you will be the modification agent who works with a team consisting complex people in various roles. You have to work as the major leader that makes it important for you to become capable to read the body language, negotiate & become a pro at various other skills. However, the real question is how all these tasks can be completed?

If you are one of the people who is still puzzling & doesn’t know what to do, this is the ideal place. In this post, we will tell you about the six incredible skills that you must have as project managers. Additionally, we will explain about some books that can assist you in reaching there.

1. Communication

More than 90% of the total time spent by the project managers involve communication. So, it is important that they should be capable to explain their objectives, issues, vision, & ideas. Additionally, they should be aware of the technique for creating presentations & reporting along with other important skills.

Over the past some years, the communication has become a pretty big topic that makes it tougher to understand from a complete angle. The ideal location is to begin by boosting your presentation skills as it translates all the things ranging from a pitch to a kickoff meeting to clients & stakeholders. The most amazing book to complete this task is created by Nancy Duarte whose name is “Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences”. It is available for free on iBooks. Additionally, you can go for the “Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations” that has the ability to open the eyes for powering a presentation executed by an expert. While reading the books, don’t forget to go through the various insights that can be utilized in presentations & other characteristics of your work.

2. Leadership

If we talk about the present project management universe, then no one can deny that the leadership is the buzzword. You can only deliver results if you have the leadership qualities. However, the most important thing leadership is greatly missed in the wardrobe of completely developed technical skills in the project manager. If you are working as the project manager for your company, then it is pretty much possible that you might feel the requirement of making your skills as a leader better.

There are thousands of books available in the market that can boost up your leadership skills. There is a wonderful book launched by the Susanne Madsen who is a project management & leadership teacher. It is a wonderful book that all the project managers looking for making their leadership skills should read. The name of this book is “The Power of Project Leadership: 7 Keys to Help You Transform from Project Manager to Project Leader”. This exciting book includes pretty amazing techniques that you should apply instantly for becoming a better project leader.

There is also a podcast run by this writer that you can listen to making yourself better.

3. Team Management

In addition to leading their team strategically, it is important for the project managers to assist their team with an operational eye. The intelligent project managers are perfect in work related to administrating & coordinating team members to delegate tasks, solving conflicts, promoting teamwork, setting objectives & evaluation of performance. Leadership is all about inspiring other people who want to work with proper dedication. If you have an efficient team management skills, then your team should have the right leadership.

According to the latest Harvard’s Pocket Mentor Series, all the important basics about the team management are covered, such as resolving the important conflicts, information about how to develop an identity of a team. Additionally, the poor team performance & other related areas will also be addressed during this. This book is extremely shorter to read and allow you know regarding the accurate approach while managing the teams.

4. Negotiation

Here, we will go back to the communication skills topic as it has a lot to do with the negotiation of budgets, resources, schedules, scope creep, & lots of other things that can’t be avoided. If you are well aware of the technique to negotiate by making all the parties happy, then you will be having a great chance to become a successful project manager.

If you want to learn about this technique, then read the book “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Without Giving In”. It is an amazing book created by the two authors William Ury & Roger Fisher in a collaboration. After reading this book, you will be aware of the technique to utilize the negotiation timing perfectly.

5. Personal Business

Do you ever think about you can’t give that thing that you doesn’t have? How these things can be performed & work can be organized for other individuals if your personal life, as well as projects, are discouraging. You have to organize them in a personal manner & improve your skills a project manager.

If you want the best book for improving this skill, then read a book named Getting Things Done written by the David Allen. If you are a project manager & doesn’t know how to boost your skills, then you must buy this book. It will bring energy back in your life & make your commitments under the control.

6. Risk Management

In a recent episode of “Project Management for You” series, the owner interview some of the world’s top managers who tell how their go to project management approach or technique. The thing that surprise everyone was that the majority of them suggest the risk management. All of them are pretty right and develop solutions for issues prior they happen. It can improve the chances of making the project a success. You can’t say that risks aren’t defined by the risks. Due to this, the majority of the project managers fail while considering the dangers because they can be serious.

For this task, you should read the book Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times that is created by Marion Devine & Michael Syrett. It includes a good amount of details for navigation across the dangerous environments in this field.

There is a great amount of varied & bigger skill set demanded by the project management job. Begin by boosting your practices in all the skill sets. Also, don’t forget to add this approach to the work. We strongly believe that you must have loved this article. It will help you in becoming a better project manager.