3 Things Every Project Manager Needs

Being the project manager is never easy. You are responsible for every aspect of a project, from the financing, the budgeting, leading the teams, marketing and sales. It all rests on your shoulders and only you are accountable to the board. This is not a position for the weak, those who cannot handle criticism from all sides and sometimes needing to put people in line and being unlikable, you should not put your name forward for project manager. For those that want to be the leader, take projects from imagination to reality, you will need 3 different things. Each one of these are important and they all have their own place in your toolbox of project manager skills.

[embedded content]

A thick skin

Project managers have to kick ass and take names sometimes. And if you are someone who cannot handle your team not liking you on particular days, you may find it hard to stay emotionally stable. So many people want their team to like them as a project manager, but this isn’t reality. Of course, on a personal level they may not have an issue with you but professionally, they may have some choice words. You just need to have a thick skin, be able to take criticism of your leadership but also dish it out when your team isn’t performing as they should. This also means you have to be critical, study their behavior and performance, and give accurate assessments of their failures during a project.

Budgeting skills

You are in charge of the spending but  you’re no in charge of the funding. The board and or the CEO is in charge of giving you the funds you need to complete a project and when you need more, there will always be push back from the upper powers. So rather than having to justify more funds and getting pulled through the mud for lack of spending controls, just have a great project finance service. They can log everything for you, track daily expenses and expenditure, and alert you when you are getting close to going over limits. Obviously this will make your job so much easier as you can focus on using funds and let someone else monitor and track trends in your budget.

Planning ahead

One of the key skills any project manager needs is the ability to plan ahead. This is something that can be done by working with a risk management consultant who can show you what areas of your business have more opportunities and can be transferred to your project. Doing market research which could include some features to your project which take advantage of gaps, could be extremely beneficial, turning a project that would make a leap into taking a bound forward for the brand.

Project managers feel like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders when things are going wrong. These skills should help you stand taller and take charge of your role and the project at hand.