5 Essential Skills Of A Functional Project Manager

For effective management, there are some skills that a project manager needs to possess. Without a doubt, the role of a project manager is a tough one. Not only do you need to make sure that you look after your team, you need to be sure that your interests align with those of the superior management.

Below are the 5 most important skills to have in order to be a successful project manager.

 

Planning

Project planning is a critical stage of any project, and a project manager should be highly skilled in scheduling in order to create a workable project plan. Sometimes this may feel like crystal ball territory, as you’ll be estimating timescales for much of the planning, but with experience, you’ll get better at this. Much as an excellent cook will be able to time all the elements of a Sunday roast to perfection, so the best project managers are the ones who are able to see which tasks need to be done first and how to get everything to come together by the end of the project.

Risk management

This refers to risks associated with a project. These include things like the final product going out of date, another company releasing the product before you do, going over budget or not being able to solve a specific problem. Your role will be to identify and control or mitigate these risks from actually happening.

Communication and influence

Project managers need to be able to communicate in all directions with optimum effectiveness. From customers to the senior management, from the public to experts in the industry, you’ll need to be able to speak with authority and influence at all levels. Also, you will need to be able to figure out who needs information from you and when, as well as how. Improving project communication also means facilitating effective communications between members of the same project team and it is an essential project management skill.

Resource management

In the world of project management, resource allocation might well involve sharing physical resources to make sure everyone has what they need, but more important than this will be the sharing of the people resources to get your project done. You will need to be able to match the right people to the tasks in your project schedule at the right time in order to keep everything flowing smoothly and to make the most of the resources that are available.

Budget management

This means being able to list down and cost the budget for all of the necessities of your project for the successful completion and delivery. From this, you will be able to form a forecast, and present your investors with a schedule of the budget detailing what payments you need and when. For bigger projects, you might even be appointed a financial analyst to take care of this for you, but you’ll need to at least have a grasp of financial terminology so you can understand what they are reporting.

Although managing is a tough task, you can master the skills above in order to make a difference and be a successful project manager.