Project Manager's Skills
According to Vitella (2001), a project manager must have the following skills
to succeed:
- Leadership - inspiring others to create a vision and strive to achieve
the goals
- Good communication - ability to provide valuable information related to
the project status in a timely and effective manner
- Conflict resolution skills - assisting in resolution of any project conflicts
so that the project team members all feel part of the process and want to remain
involved in the project
- Negotiation skills - maintaining relationships with people who are involved
in the project
- Team building - assists the team members in understanding their roles and
responsibilities on the project and work collaboratively
- Listening skills - using good listening skills to truly hear and try to
understand what others on the project are trying to say
- Relationship management - capable of working with all levels within the
organization by building relationships with them.
Melymuka (2000) assists in identifying other skills project managers need
to be effective. These include:
- Ability to influence without having authority
- To hope for the best but prepare for the worst
- To manage, motivate and organize people
- Possess core competencies in project related fields and business management
- Persuasion techniques - influencing without direct authority and obtaining
win-win situations
- Generosity - share the glory, share knowledge, and don't blame others
- Vision - understanding what needs to be done and how to get it done
- Flexibility - capable of changing to fit the situation for the good of the
project
- Humor - seeing humor in events, laughing and going on
- No Sweat - appearing like a duck on the surface but paddling like crazy under
the water
"The project manager is the catalyst-the initiator who lifts the entire project
and puts it into motion" according to Verzuh (1999, p.30). He also stated "energy
and attitude gives the project manager power." Leadership is crucial for a project
manager who must motivate people who are on the project teams and in functional
departments. Verzuh states (1999, p.43) a project manager "must exercise his
leadership subtly so that he stimulates eager and constructive support for the
project and the project team without causing attitudes toward home departments
to weaken." The leadership needs to "foster strong positive loyalties both to
the project and to the functional organization" (p. 43).
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Project
Management
