5 Hard and Soft Skills Every Project Manager Should Have - MakeUseOf

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A project manager is responsible for successful project delivery and needs to actively participate in all stages of a project. You need to diligently perform the vested duties in time to become an accomplished project manager.

And to do so, you need to develop some hard and soft skills. Ever wondered what those skills are? Read on to know about the skill you should have as a project manager.

Hard Skills of a Project Manager

Hard skills refer to the skills you can measure using metrics. Some essential hard skills for a project manager are:

1. Task Organization and Delegation

Every project involves numerous tasks and subtasks. As the project manager, you have to organize and distribute the tasks among the team members. You also need to delegate the pending works to the right person to avoid any project delay.

Of course, you can take help from project management tools for task assignment and delegation. Even for that, you should have a clear idea about how these processes work.

2. Required Technical Skills

There is no hard and fast rule about which tech skill you should develop to become a project manager. It’ll depend on your organization and the types of projects you usually handle.

Project managers have to be tech-savvy, especially if they are working for a tech company. For example, if you are a project manager in a learning management software company, you should know the basics of software development, if not the learning curriculum.

Also, organizations that work on various science and engineering streams will need to have project managers who can operate specialized software or equipment.

3. Budget Management

People managing project cost through budgeting

Budget plays a critical role in project completion. It’s not uncommon to find out about budget shortages in the middle of a project. It may cause project delay or resource unavailability.

Only a project manager capable of perfect budget management can help an organization skip such issues. It’s their responsibility to allocate the budget accurately where needed so that the project gets completed well under the estimated budget.

These days, a basic understanding of budget and manual allocation are not enough. A project manager should have solid expertise in spreadsheets, finances, and mathematics.

4. Project Planning

Project planning is the initial part of a project. The success of a project largely depends on well-thought planning. Therefore, a project manager should have expertise in planning any project.

The planning will involve large-scale tasks, like milestone selection, timeline creation, resource management, meeting schedule, task assignment, etc. It’ll also involve micro-level tasks like planning each day and delegating tasks if someone is sick.

While doing so, you need to keep in mind the constraints. Yet, you have to design the project in a way that can meet the objectives.

5. Analytical Skill

An image showing project managers creating analytic reports

As a project manager, you should have the analytical skill to excel in your work. Every industry has become data-dependent, especially the finance and technology sectors. If you’re good at data analytics, you can utilize your talent to guide the project in the right direction.

Some common data analysis tasks you can do for your team are data presentation, database management, resource management, issue diagnostics, reporting, and so on. Project managers with analytical skills can use data to make a decision or explore possibilities.

Soft Skills of a Project Manager

Many of your qualities are interpersonal and not measurable through tangible metrics. These skills are soft skills.

1. Adaptability

Every project you deal with will be different. Hence, teams need to adapt according to the project requirement and client to achieve what they want. Adaptability is the skill an organization needs from a project manager more than anyone else.

Moreover, things don’t always go as planned in a project. Whether it’s about budget, resources, or deadline, you need to be agile and flexible to save projects from going off track. If you can make necessary changes according to the situation, your teammates will get inspiration from you.

2. Motivation

If you are a project manager, you should have motivating qualities to inspire your teammates. Especially when people are working on a long and complicated project, it’s normal to feel demotivated at times.

The project manager can motivate a team better than anyone else to put in their best efforts. Timely doing your own work is the first step to motivating a team. Also, you can host regular group or one-on-one meetings to inspire them.

3. Conflict Management

Conflict among teammates is inevitable. The situation can get worse if people are contributing from remote locations. As a project manager, you should know how to manage and contain such conflicts.

No matter how difficult the moment is, implement the right conflict management strategies. Knowing about your teammates’ temper will help you address the issues.

Never try to avoid any conflict as it can put the organization in an embarrassing situation. Address them immediately to find a resolution. Thus, the team can focus on the project.

4. Communication and Negotiation

Poor communication can force a project to go astray. Hence, project managers should ensure that all communication regarding the project is clear and transparent.

Often, they are the link between all the project stakeholders. That’s why they should communicate openly about a project with their teammates, management, and clients.

The communication should be honest and straightforward. It should not leave any scope for confusion or misunderstanding. As a project manager, you should also know how to negotiate with clients or a colleague.

5. Team Building

A visual of motivated and bonded project team

Building a team is the responsibility of a project manager that involves numerous managerial processes. Hence, this is another soft skill you should have to become a project manager.

During team building for a project, managers should keep in mind that colleagues should trust each other and feel happy to work together to achieve a common goal. Also, they should ensure a perfect environment for teamwork.

Top Skills to Achieve Success

A project manager has a long list of responsibilities that they have to fulfill. If you are a project manager and want to handle both the project and its team, developing the above skills will help you go a long way.

You can also choose the right project management tool for your team.

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About The Author

Tamal Das (212 Articles Published)

Tamal is a freelance writer at MakeUseOf. After gaining substantial experience in technology, finance, and business processes in his previous job in an IT consulting company, he adopted writing as a full-time profession 3 years ago. While not writing about productivity and the latest tech news, he loves to play Splinter Cell and binge-watch Netflix/ Prime Video.