11 Must-Have Project Management Skills You Need As a Leader
As a leader of a team, nothing is more important than having project management skills. They are truly an essential part of your team’s overall success. It sounds like a fancy, arbitrary term — but we promise, it’s not.
While there are many aspects of leading a team, the ability to craft, organize and manage projects are crucial skills for any leader to master. So whether you’re an actual project manager or just looking looking to set some new goals for yourself as a leader, here are the top project management skills that will help anyone manage and lead their team to success.
1. Active Listening
Active listening is an essential project management skill that allows a leader to better understand their team’s needs and ideas. As a leader, it’s also important to learn to filter out irrelevant information to focus on what is important for the project.
2. Communication
As they say, communication is key. Communication is what will help you in keeping a project on track and ensuring everyone is aware of the goals and timelines. A good leader will be able to clearly communicate their overall objectives, project timelines and expectations to their team.
It’s also crucial to make sure your team understands which communication channels are best for each specific purpose. For example, should quick updates be communicated via email or over your team’s chat messenger? And what about the classic email vs meeting debate? Setting these expectations are key to make sure your team communicates clearly and efficiently.
3. Organization
Being organized is one of the most important project management skills. As a leader, you need to ensure all of the project’s materials and resources are arranged in a way that makes it easy to reference and manage.
One of the best ways to do this is with an online project management solution. With a leading software like Hive, you can create projects and tasks to help you and your teammates stay on track and manage progress. And with the flexibility to view projects in 6+ different layouts, Hive is one of the best tools on the market to keep your tasks organized — no matter how you and your team work best.
4. Problem-Solving
Good problem-solving skills are essential for any project manager. Being able to think outside the box and come up with solutions to any potential issues will help keep a project on track and running smoothly.
5. Flexibility
Even the best-laid plans can go off track, so it’s important for a leader to remain flexible and be able to adjust to the changing needs of the project. Being able to quickly adapt to the changes will go a long way in keeping the project running.
6. Time Management
Time is an important resource for any project, so a leader must be able to effectively manage their time and set realistic goals and deadlines. Project managers often employ popular time management techniques like the Pomodoro method or time-blocking to maintain focus and make sure time is spent wisely on the highest-priority tasks.
7. Collaboration
As a project leader, you need to be able to collaborate with your team members and other stakeholders to identify the project’s goals and objectives. By working together, you’ll be able to ensure the project is on track and successful.
8. Motivation
A good project leader will be able to motivate their team and keep them focused on the project goals. Staying positive and being able to reward contributions to the project can go a long way in keeping everyone working at their best.
9. Risk Management
Identifying potential risks and developing contingency plans to address them are crucial skills for project managers. Effective risk management can help minimize the impact of potential issues on the project’s timeline, budget, and overall success. A good project leader will be able to assess risks and develop a plan to mitigate them, while also being able to adapt and pivot if necessary.
10. Technical Understanding
While a project manager doesn’t necessarily need to be an expert in the technical aspects of a project, they should have a solid understanding of them. This will help them to more effectively communicate with technical team members, make informed decisions, and identify potential issues before they become major problems.
10. Mentorship
Project managers are on the frontline of a project, communicating with different departments, which gives them a holistic view or the company. They might become really good at reading people and understanding their motivation, which might also put them in scenarios where they are seen as leaders and mentors. Project managers must have the skills to develop their team, which may require providing guidance, feedback and support.
Pro-tip: Check out our tips on How to Implement Strong Mentorship Programs In The Workspace.
11. Empathy
Project managers need to connect with their teams to better understand their needs, weaknesses and strengths. Having empathy — the ability to relate with others intellectually and emotionally. An empathetic PM can better workaround conflict, overcome roadblocks and find the right way to motivate and reward their team. For example, an empathetic PM might be able to resolve a conflict between two team members by understanding their different perspectives and helping them to find common ground. For a project manager to be truly empathetic to another person, they must cultivate the ability to be empathetic with themselves. “Organizations that build empathy as a competency tend to have more effective teamwork, better levels of employee engagement, and the ability to handle conflict in more constructive ways,” according to Jennifer Lawrence, MBA, Managing Director at Process Design Consultants. An empathetic project manager has the ability to inspire others and contribute to an organizational culture where discriminatory and bullying behaviors or micro-aggressions are not admitted. By inspiring a culture of empathy, project managers can help to create a more inclusive and productive workplace.
Use Hive for all your project management needs
Having strong project management skills is a must for any leader of a team. It requires the development of many soft skills such as communication, collaboration and motivation, but also includes the ability to plan, manage and optimize the project for maximum efficiency and success.
If you’re looking to venture into owning your project management needs in a new way, consider using Hive. We’re a project management tool built to help you (and your team) work faster, smarter and more efficiently. And you can get started for free today!
