Are you taking a look at your overall career path, maybe contemplating a career shift? Have you heard about project management and trying to assess whether you might be successful in this field.
Below I’ve revealed the top 7 skills (in my opinion) that are critical to being a successful project coordinator or project manager. I excluded many critical skills referenced in most articles like personal organization, communication, leadership, collaboration, risk management, planning, and negotiation – because those skills are referenced often and I believe are foundational. I wanted to create a list of skills based on my actual experience that are sometimes overlooked or not discussed as often.
Below I’ve revealed the top 7 skills (in my opinion) that are critical to being a successful project coordinator or project manager. I excluded many critical skills referenced in most articles like personal organization, communication, leadership, collaboration, risk management, planning, and negotiation – because those skills are referenced often and I believe are foundational. I wanted to create a list of skills based on my actual experience that are sometimes overlooked or not talked about as often.
- Integrity: Having a moral compass. Knowing, understanding and navigating your life even when no one is looking in an honest and trustworthy manner.
- Critical Thinking: Ability to gather and analyze information/data and use that information and be open-minded in exploring problems and making decisions. Critical Thinking as a concept can be broken down into many parts and many skills can be applied. During my research I found Critical Thinking to be broken into the following sections:
- Evaluate
- Analyze
- Interrupt
- Problem-Solve
- Open-Mindedness
- Decision Making
- Observation
- Emotional Intelligence: EI is the emotional side of your intelligence. Unlike IQ there is no test; however, there are assessments available to guide you to improve your emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence has a long history but gained momentum in 1995 with the release of a book written by author and science journalist Daniel Goleman. EI is typically described using the following 4 categories with empathy playing a large component.
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Social Awareness
- Relationship Management
- Passion for Learning: Critical for most career paths, it is important to invest in your own success and that means taking every opportunity to learn and develop your knowledge base. While a PM is a subject matter expert in his or her own right regarding project management concepts, methodology, and execution there are many SMEs that assigned to a typical project. Utilizing your critical thinking and emotional intelligence you will be able to build relationships with team members and maximize opportunities to share information, evaluation techniques, and decision making impacts that will only help not only on the current project but in the future. Having a growth mindset and being open to new concepts will only expand your knowledge and potentially your career path.
- Drive Change: Change is a fact of life. For a project manager, it can seem like every day. However, change isn’t just limited to scope, budget, timeline or resources all new information that is critically reviewed could present an impact or change to a project. Moreover, it is the project manager that must navigate and drive to results despite whatever change is presented. The ability to drive through change is a success marker that could mean the difference between a day, a week or a month delay.
- Humor & Positivity: I have found that being generally positive and using humor (at the right time) can not only build relationships but reduce stress. As a project manager, it is important to find joy, a silver lining or satisfaction in any given project or even in a day. Sometimes it seems that nothing is going according to plan and it’s those moments where taking a moment to see the humor and to find something positive about a situation can turn around the entire day or week. This ability can also positively impact other team members because many people are looking at the project manager to be an example and set the tone.
- Patience: Throughout my life, I’ve been told patience is a virtue, a respectable and noble way to avoid a tantrum. While I can’t remember the last time I had a full blown tantrum, I can admit that my tolerance level for certain situations can be low. Starting off the day with a full tank of patience I sometimes end it at a 3 or a 4. Other times, I could end in the negative. Regardless, of whether I’m affected by a situation it is in my best interest to flex my patience skills. I’ve noted in my self-development that my patience is mostly tested during times of high stress or lack of cooperation from others. I find that while this is something I need to improve, I have over my many years developed some strategies that I find very helpful. For me, it is really crucial to understand the other person’s perspective and to draw upon my ability to empathize. Additionally, it is imperative that I not respond to a negative with a negative. For example, if I receive a particularly harsh email I would never respond except to set up a meeting whether that be in person, via skype or conference call.
Hopefully you’ve found this information interesting. If you are interested in pursuing project management as a career, check out PMI.org. Also, feel free to post a question on the YouTube video and I’ll do my best to answer.
