The Top 10 Skills Every Project Manager Needs

For years I have asked myself, "What are the skills a project manager really needs?" Early in my career I had no idea what I needed to know. And then I discovered the minimum skill-set as defined by the Project Management Institute. Even with some understanding of what skills I needed, I continued to ask, "What else is needed and why?"

In this blog post I answer these burning questions using what I know about project management with support from the internet. Make no mistake; more than 10 skills are needed to be successful! Here's my list of the 10 skills that are most important, in no certain order:

1.  Communication (more)
2.  Leadership (more)
3.  Negotiation (more)
4.  Problem Solver (more)
5.  Proactive (more)
6.  Trustworthy (more)
7.  Risk Management (more)
8.  Flexible and Firm (more)
9.  Integrity (more)
10  Accountability (more)

In summary, throughout the life of the project, I tell my project team that as long as we have consensus on a decision that affects the direction of the project I will always be the spokesperson for the team. Further, I will be the one to have the difficult discussions with management if/when the project gets significantly off baseline. To my credit, I have had few instances where a project was considered to be in trouble. And in those instances, the team has always been able to recover the project successfully.

You might notice some of these skills support other skills and vice-versa. In many ways they are like the bricks in a building: remove one brick and the building could tumble to the ground! I encourage all project mangers, new and seasoned, to continuously develop these 10 skills to ensure the success of their projects and their careers.

PM Skill #1: Communication

It goes with saying that every project manager must be skilled at communication. According to the book A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 90% of project management is communication. As noted by Ann Drinkwater on ProjectSmart, "Just as the heart works to distribute oxygen throughout the body, the project manager continuously circulates project information from the external stakeholders to the project plan documentation, to the internal stakeholders, to the project plan."

Documents must be published and distributed, minutes and action items must be documented and tracked, issues and risks must be tracked and resolved. The list of project communication sometimes appears endless. A seasoned project manager knows that he/she can not drop the ball when it comes to communication because the success or failure of a project is directly determined by good, two-way project
communication.

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