Project Manager Soft Skills

Project Manager Soft Skills

Why are good soft skills really important for a project manager?
In successful projects, project and line managers are likely to have shared authority. The project manager will negotiate the line managers' commitment to the project and works with them, not around them. The project manager probably provides recommendations regarding employee performance.

One of the most difficult aspects of your position as a Project Manager relates to the simple reality that in most organizations project managers have no direct control or formal authority over the people on the project team. This is fundamentally different from leading a department, where the manager ordinarily exercises formal control and there is a hierarchical relationship between the supervisor and subordinate. Project leaders lack formal authority, and therefore must rely on influence and persuasion to gain cooperation from the team members.

You'll have to get things done through the people on your team without having any direct control over them. Among your most valued tools will be the ability to persuade and influence, as you seek to form a group of diverse personalities into a unified team with commonalty of purpose.

Reference: Fast Forward MBA in Negotiating and Deal Making (2015), Roy J. Lewicki and Alexander Hiam.

		Jose Daniel Esterkin CEO, Argentina
	Project Management Soft Skills Project management also involves quite a bit of selling. There will be times when you'll have to rely heavily on your ability to influence others, to sell an idea, sell yourself, sell your project, or...

		Suresh Aiyar Project Manager, United States
	Business Case and Project Success I agree with the above statements on the project manager being involved in proving the relevance of the project. PRINCE2 also emphasizes business case evaluation at the project's phase gate review an...

		Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Importance of Soft Skills of Project Managers @Suresh Aiyar: Thanks for your valuable comment. Agile and/or scrum development methods help to assess continuously if we are (still) heading in the right direction. This aspect of managing projects i...

		Reg Hayes Entrepreneur, Netherlands
	Projects are Primarily Social Systems Leading projects will be most successful if the project managers realize that projects are basically social systems. That's why all project managers and program managers should develop skills in lead...