Abilities of a Project Manager
A project manager must have the ability and skill set which enables him to direct and lead his team and make them deliver projects successfully. Some experts feel a project manager should be aware of or should be taught business, bottom line or commercial aspects of a project in a business. Outside the domain of a public sector company, almost all the projects are there to back the rules of a business, nothing more, it’s always simple and easy to lose focus of the ground level in huge organizations and carry out niche projects that are many times removed from the compulsory goals of the company.
In line with the above expertise, there are soft skills, people management or leadership training. Resolving conflicts between teams and their opinions and come to a win-win situation, focusing on improving performance of others, all the relevant people skills that one could get his hands on in addition to negotiation skills.
Also in line would be various project tools training or acquiring skills, then there is project management methodology expertise. Any good candidate who possess know how of the sequential nature of time and fundamental mathematics can learn the skills for project management. PMP certification lookup.
Core Training Aspects
Now let’s focus on the hard core training a project manager should get and become an expert in…
To be an influential and effective project manager, one must be able to plan and execute projects successfully, even if you are currently lacking a lot of experience. To be genuinely impactful as a project manager in field of education and training one should have
- Define Objectives and Project Scope – this will take into account what the project is going to achieve and what it should not, in addition to setting measurable and crystal clear goals and targets.
- Create a Project Plan – this will accommodate creating a time line, defining dependencies and tasks, identifying the right resources with required skill set to work on this project.
- Effectively Manage or Handle Project Issues and Risks – this particular phase includes identifying problems that might occur in the future, in other words identifying potential problems. Project manager should be able to develop strategies or plans to make sure these issues don’t cause any trouble if they arise, in other words device a plan or strategy to mitigate the risks involved and eliminate them.
- Effective Communication – this stage could include of keeping the project owners or stakeholders informed of the progress of the project at all times. To manage and set expectations of stakeholders and team members right. And always being responsive to queries, concerns and questions that keep arising time and again.
- Managing and Effectively Handling Project Resources – this stage will involve allocating and organizing team resources effectively, for example budget and personnel should ensure the project is heading well within time of completion and within the allocated budget.
- Control and Monitoring the Progress of Project – this phase will involve project progress tracking, finding out deviations or shifting from the expected plan of execution and taking corrective measures to bring it back on track.
- Finalizing the Project – this would probably be the last stage of the project where it should be ensured that all the project deliverables are met as per expectations of the project owner, stakeholders and clients or customers, keeping in mind the end users off course! Closing out any of the pending issues or concerns and risks and documenting the lessons learnt from it, so that they are not repeated in the future.
To be or become an effective project manager in training needs very sound organizational, problem-solving and communication skills. It also requires the capability to accommodate and adapt to changing situations and circumstances and to learn from the past mistakes and experiences. As one gains more and more experience as a project manager he or she will become more adept to manage projects effectively and also be able to handle more complex projects with confidence.
