3 skills that makes a great project manager

It takes more than training and certifications to be a genuinely exceptional project manager. These are the three talents you'll need to finish your projects - and what you can do to improve them.

Project management skill #1: Communication

As a project manager, you'll have to collaborate with a variety of people, including team members, other departments, leadership, and clients. Most projects have a long number of stakeholders that must be kept informed, happy, and aligned.

When you have a large group of employees to manage, communication is essential. To ensure that work flows smoothly, make sure that everyone is on the same page, working for the same business and company objectives, and that everyone is kept informed of any changes or concerns. But that's easier said than done, especially when your profession requires you to communicate with individuals at all levels, which necessitates the ability to continually modify your communication style and substance to the appropriate audience.

And no pressure, but bad communication can undermine a project manager's entire endeavour. It was a primary reason in 29 percent of unsuccessful projects, according to the PMI's 2018 Pulse of the Profession report.

Given that it's a talent you'll use several times a day, every day, in a variety of media (face to face, email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and so on), it's safe to say that the importance of people skills to project management success can't be overstated.

Project management skill #2: Organization

We don't want to sound like a broken record, but one of the most critical abilities for a project manager is organisation.

While it may be the most common project management talent on this list, the good news is that it's also one of the most concrete, making it one of the most practised and developed.

Organization is a wide phrase that encompasses a variety of subskills ranging from the large picture, such as detailed project planning, to the day-to-day, such as personal time management, which allows you to get your work done and be in the right place at the right time.

And as a project manager, you're accountable for not only keeping yourself organised and managing your own work, but also for everyone else. It's simple to see why organisation is one of a project manager's most valuable assets.

Project management skill #3: Adaptability

So, remember that lovely, thorough, well-thought-out plan you crafted with your razor-sharp organisational skills? That, too, will almost certainly change.

You know what they say about mice's and project managers' best-laid plans: they frequently go astray.

This could be due to factors outside your control, such as client or stakeholder requests, or because you learned during the project that you needed to pivot in order to achieve the best results.

Because one of the keys to successful project management is being adaptive, the best project managers aren't afraid to stray off-piste. It's one of the most crucial project management abilities for project leaders since it allows you to respond flexibly to change in the moment without jeopardising your entire project plan and having to start from scratch.

What if you are unable to do so? According to the same PMI poll, a change in the project's objectives is responsible for 37% of project failures, while a change in the organization's priorities is the leading cause of project failure, with 39% of votes.

Now, we're not arguing that being adaptive will magically make all of this go away — but it will mean that you'll be better equipped to deal with it, limit the repercussions, and get the project back on track to the desired outcome.

Need more insights on the same? Get the best PMP Bootcamp right here.

Richard Pierce An expert in Pmi and Iiba Certifications.