Leadership is an Important Factor for Project Managers?
Project managers are professionals that have enhanced skills in managing the project effectively. The project managers are hired by organizations for creating a unique service or product or result. It became likely that the project will achieve all its goals very effectively, thus making it successful and profitable. A project manager helps the organizations to provide vision and direction.
They help the team to allocate different tasks to them, by also giving timelines to them. It is proven to increase the efficiency of the project. Also, the project is looked after for its scope throughout its duration to save time and cost.
Both the cost and time are managed by the project manager. The stakeholders of the project also interact with the project manager to make sure all the predefined goals are achieved and establish effective communication between the two. The project manager has the risk-taking capability for a unique and better performance by the team itself. A research project is a scientific endeavor to answer a research question.
Seeing the importance of the project manager, professionals nowadays are taking up PRINCE2 Certification, to upgrade their skills and career path. Curious about the details regarding the skills of the project manager? Keep reading the rest of the article below to find the answer to all of your questions.
Table of Contents
Top Skills of a Project Manager
The top skills of a project manager are briefly explained below:
- Communication
A project manager will be effective at his leadership only when he is able to communicate well. A project manager needs to communicate not only to his team, but also to the other people associated with it such as vendors, contractors, customers, clients, and other stakeholders. Communication plays a huge role in defining the project’s progress or its weak spots. It is then possible for the people to figure out the solutions or propose some changes. Advanced technologies have made it possible to make some reports with the help of tools, chatbots, document sharing, etc.
- Scheduling
Scheduling is a process of allocating tasks and resources to a predefined timeline, so that project goal can be achieved on time. So the project manager is responsible for creating the project schedule, keeping in mind that the work required should meet the deadlines. He manages the resources so that the project doesn’t face any obstacles in the end. One popular way is Gantt charts, where all the tasks are defined, their duration, dependencies, and milestones.
- Risk management
Risk management is a very important thing that the project manager is required to do so. Since risks are uncertain, it cannot be told in advance what can be worked for in a situation. So, the manager should figure out the possible risks. Thereafter it’s his job, to figure out the possible solutions for them
- Cost Management
Budget creation call for setting up a realistic budget that can meet the financial needs of the project. Also, the cost of the project needs to controll so that the funds are not wasted and utilized properly. Financial constraints are faced by most of the projects and so it also requires efforts to really figure out how to utilize money effectively till its best use.
- Task Management
Task management is another important role that a project manager has to perform. The project manager has to create roles and responsibilities for different team members according to their skillset. This can also be called a to-do list, yet a sophisticate one. The project manager also is responsible for coupling the tasks with task management tools that make the job even easier.
- Quality Management
Quality management refers to the practice of delivering high-quality or pre-defined quality standardized products and services. So here, the project manager performs a quality check on the tasks. He ensures that all the quality standards are met and hence products are deliver with the least compromises in quality.
Why Leadership Skills are Important for a Project Manager?
A project manager has professionals working under him, to achieve common goals and objectives. The project manager is train to solve problems and give people directions. As such, leadership qualities play an important role because the complete team is dependent on the manager. The project manager should lead the team in different ways so that they must take inspiration and perform the tasks more efficiently.
The project manager is responsible for giving the teams the right direction. They bring order to organizations so that they can function properly. They increase employee engagement, employee retention, motivation, and productivity.
The project leaders try to become a good role model, as it inspires the team members to work efficiently. The leadership also demands the manager to establish a work ethic and exceptional standards. As such, they also work upon the team’s communication structure within the organization as well. The reason is that effective communication is helpful in avoiding misunderstandings and other setbacks that may create a hindrance.
The leaders establish the team’s objectives so that they can work upon their mission and vision. This makes the team and the rest of the organization clear about the goals and where the team is going to head in the future. The result of it is that the professionals stay focussed and enthusiastic towards their f.
The project manager is responsible to communicate the team’s progress and its objectives with the top management so that they can prepare different plans and strategies regarding the future of business. This communication is in the form of reports and feedback shared within the organization.
Lastly, different project managers have different ways of leading the team. Some have just innate tendencies, while others put the conscious effort for the team. No matter what the leadership style, the goal is to keep inspiring the team for the challenges and keep the spirit on.
Conclusion
Lastly, it is important to know that project managers are so important to project management. The way a project performs is majorly affect by the project manager as well. So, it is important to know that an efficient skillset(both hard and soft skills) required for a project manager to perform his job well.
Talking about the skillset, the managers must make sure that they don’t miss out on any of these skills. Managers can also take up online courses and hence certify themselves from accredited institutions. So if you are a professional willing to become a project manager, then research the best courses and certifications according to your need and go for it!
