How to build skills in project management

Managing a project is one of the toughest jobs in an organisation. As a project manager, you must be able to effectively move the project towards success.

If you are aspiring to become a project manager or you want to sharpen your skills, you’ve come to the right place!

What is project management?

Project management is one of the vital processes in making any project a success. Simply put, project management is a set of plans and actions taken to execute a project.

Project management helps rank the risks of a task and, if needed, find better alternatives. It also plays an important role in relaying all the major details and deadlines to the team. Proper execution of an organisation’s plan will allow for better communication leading to better results. 

Why are project management skills important?

If you want to work in a project management team or as a project manager, an interviewer will look for both soft and hard skills around project management.

Developing project management skills will not only improve your work life but also your personal life, ensuring you’re more organised and methodical.

Building Project Management Skills

1. Enhance your communication skills

While you might be an introvert or extrovert in your personal life, when it comes to work, most organisations expect you to be somewhat expressive. Many project managers fail to achieve their initial goals due to improper communication. A simple walk around your organisation with the motive of communicating more with your project team helps build communication skills.

Experiment with other ways of communication as well. Try arranging meetings frequently to avoid any miscommunication errors. If you still worry about your communication skills, try using a new communication medium. Conveying information through emails has been shown to increase the organised flow of communication. It is not easy at the start, but once you start freely communicating with the team, everything will flow smoothly.

2. Set up firm objectives

Having a firm goal sounds like an easy task, doesn’t it? But most of us have priorities and goals which don’t often complement one another. As a project manager, you should have a firm stand in every decision you make. This is one of the key project management skills needed to make you a successful project manager.

It is going to be your responsibility to ensure that all team members follow the set goals. Encouraging goal setting lets you be more productive and gather more input from the team.

3. Document everything

Great project managers take notes and keep a record of everything. This is because it is literally their job to manage everything. And managing becomes easier when you have a repository of information.

With proper documentation, responding to a client’s or co-worker’s queries about the project becomes easier. This is because you have all the information written down or collected in one place. This is one of the major project management skills highly recommended by many successful project managers.

Using project management software to track the progress of the project will also help you keep your team updated and track their performance.

4. Have different plans for the same project

All projects have a plan for the team to follow, but what if this initial plan fails? A project manager needs to have more than one plan. Having redundancy plans is one of the vital project management skills.

To develop this skill, start thinking about the risks that might occur when doing a small project. This project could be anything as long as it involves time and resource constraints. After assessing the risks, think about how you can avoid or manage risks in the project. This will give you a new set of plans for the same project. Over time you will learn to implement this project management skill on huge projects as well.

5. Be open to feedback

As a person in a managerial position, you will receive a lot of comments about your job. So be ready to accept all kinds of reviews. Heed these kinds of feedback and try to work on the areas in which you are lacking.

The ability to accept the situation as it is is a key project management skill that will boost your career. Do not see feedback as a weak point. Rather consider it as a cheat sheet on areas which you must work on. Keeping your mind open about feedback also lets you be better at decision-making. So next time someone reviews your performance, be sure to accept it and use it strategically.

6. Learn to use a project management tool

We live in a world dominated by technology, so it is only sensible that we embrace it and use it to our advantage. There are many project management software products in the market that offer a variety of features.

Almost all organisations use project management software to effectively manage their projects. When an organization is hiring a project manager, they will likely be looking for skills related to project management tools. Knowing the essential tools is one of the most important project management skills you can have.

Conclusion

Having the right set of project management skills can be useful, but learning all these skills at once can be a daunting task. So, take your time in learning about each skill and how to develop them in the right way. Good project management should not only focus on making it quick but also on making it better. Try experimenting with various ways of developing your project management skills to be a successful project manager. 

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