Do you want to be a project management PRO? Project management skills refer to the core abilities that are necessary to successfully bring a project from start to end. Regardless of your role, there are many types of project management and improving your skills can have a direct impact on your team's ability to complete any project or task!
In this blog we will go through the must have 10 project management skills all project managers need.
10 Key project management skills and competencies to master in 2023
Check out the project management skills list all project managers need to succeed:
- Leadership skills
- Communication
- Scheduling
- Team management
- Task management skills
- Risk mitigation
- Expert negotiation skills
- Cost management
- Adaptability
- Critical thinking
There are a variety of skills needed for project management. These can be divided in soft skills of project management and hard skills. The soft skills, part of understanding what is project management, are those you develop through education or work experience, while hard skills are learned specifically for the role.
Here are the top project management skills needed:
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Leadership skills
This is perhaps the most important project management skill any aspiring manager must have. There are different types of leadership styles you can adopt to lead and motivate the team. Any effective leader knows when it is time to delegate tasks to the team members and when to take control and you should have this very clear in order to become a successful manager.
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Communication
Another essential skill for project management is communication. A project manager’s job consists of communication with their team, with project stakeholders and customers. That’s why being able to share thoughts and ideas in a way that’s clear and easily understood, as well as being able to understand others, is an absolute must in this role.
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Scheduling
As a project manager you will need to schedule and manage projects and resource utilization over a specified period of time. Using as tool like farmerswife will allow you to define the resources you want to see and group by location or team, to create an “easy on the eye” schedule everyone wants to see.
It's very important to have visibility across your whole company on multiple platforms, whether you’re in the office, at home or working on location.
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Team management
A huge part of managing projects requires you to stay organized at work and manage people. A project manager must be able to bring a team together and move them in one direction, aligning their personal goals with the team. Team management skills include the ability to effectively delegate responsibilities, handle conflicts, evaluate performances and coach team members to help them improve their skills.
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Task management skills
You can plan as much as you want, but if your project tasks are not clearly organized, the project will either fail or take too much time. As a project manager you will need to know which tasks can be worked on simultaneously and which tasks depend on each other. Recognising these small details and coming up with the most efficient plan is what will make a big difference in the team's performance and project results.
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Risk mitigation
The project manager should reduce the impact of potential risks by developing a plan to manage, eliminate, or limit setbacks as much as possible. After creating out the plan, managers will monitor progress and assess whether or not they need to modify any actions if necessary. By understanding and managing risks effectively, you can help to ensure that your project runs smoothly and achieves its objectives.
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Expert negotiation skills
As a project manager, it’s your job to negotiate terms that are acceptable for everyone. In order to create a win-win situation for all the team, you’ll have to know when to compromise and when to stand your ground.
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Cost management
As a project manager you’ll create the budget for a project and it’s your job to stay aware of the costs and keep the project from going over budget. You have to stay within budget while keeping the timeline on track and fulfilling but not exceeding the scope.
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Adaptability
Tools and strategies for project management are constantly evolving toward better efficiency, teamwork and communication. You should enjoy and excel at learning new programs and methods quickly and encouraging others to get on board. Your role is understanding and properly use project management software, as well as other tools for always being up to date with any program!
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Critical thinking
Critical thinking is an essential project management skill that can help you stay in the correct state of mind even when everything seems out of control. It’s very important to have a structured approach to making important decisions. This objective way of making decisions ensures that external pressures do not affect your project. Critical thinking also makes you an adaptable and versatile manager. You can plan everything, but surprises can happen and it’s very important that you rescue as much as possible in order to stay on track and complete the project successfully.
Use the right tools to enhance your project management skills
You can have all the skills in the world, but without the right tools you’ll still be working at a disadvantage. Luckily, there are tools that enhance your skillset and make you even more efficient and productive. A project management software like farmerswife has features to help you organize and track project resources, plan and control the project life cycle, manage day-to-day tasks, create customized budgets and analyze financial performance in a practical way that drives better decisions. And with the new Cirkus interface, you will be able to collaborate with comments, files and tasks in your projects.
