Interpersonal skills for project managers are vital because they play a crucial role throughout the project life cycle to achieve acceptable outcomes within the desired requirements. So, in this article, we will guide you on some vital interpersonal skills every project manager should have.
Table of Contents
What Are Interpersonal Skills?
Interpersonal skills are the most vital aspect of the business world because they help every team leader or manager perform their role effectively and efficiently. In short, interpersonal skills are the social skills we can use to interact and communicate with others at work. It will help to start, build, and sustain relationships. These skills include collaborating, working creatively with team members, flexibility, adapting to changes, etc.
For example, a risk manager leads a brainstorming session with selected subject expert matters and team members. So, their opinions and ideas get a chance to identify potential improvement areas of the project. This demonstrates a few interpersonal skills, such as leadership, empathy, teamwork, etc.
Read More: Top 9 project Management Skills
Why Interpersonal Skills are Important for Project Managers?
As a manager, having strong interpersonal skills is essential because it will help you build meaningful relationships with your team members, engage and motivate employees, address the root cause of poor performance, and navigate setbacks. So, let’s discuss the most vital interpersonal skills needed for project managers.
Interpersonal Skills for Project Managers
- Communication
Communication is another crucial interpersonal characteristic among project managers because it will help build strong relationships with their team members. On the other hand, they can understand team members’ and stakeholders’ needs and requirements. Through that, you can increase the chances of the project’s success. So, to become an effective project manager, you should develop your verbal and nonverbal communication skills.
Read more: Why important project communication management when managing a project
Typically, project managers use various ways to communicate with their team members, such as presentations, meetings, and brainstorming. To achieve better results with these, you should have strong communication skills. As well as it is an essential part of developing positive professional relationships across the team.
However, poor communication may negatively impact your project timeline, budget, or scope. Therefore, you should use a suitable communication method at the right time. As well as you should maintain effective communication throughout the project life cycle. On the other hand, you can use tools such as Zoom, Slack, and Microsoft Teams to ensure effective communication, establish trust, and keep everyone motivated and on schedule.
- Negotiation
As a project manager, you should have good negotiation skills to deal with various stakeholders in your project. After beginning the project, many problems or issues may arise. In such situations, you must negotiate with the necessary parties to ensure project success. Furthermore, effective negotiation will help to keep the project on track and within the original scope of the project. As well as negotiation skills help you make an agreement or a compromise on various issues that may be causing a delay or problem.
However, project managers can use numerous negotiation skills, such as being an active listener and clearly communicating or being able to analyze each situation throughout the project life cycle. On the other hand, it can be helpful to identify the differences between the needs and wants of those involved.
- Leadership
Leadership is one of the most vital skills among project managers because you should manage the project through leadership throughout the project life cycle. As a leader, before beginning the project, you should clearly define the project goals and objectives and communicate these things with your team members. Through that, you can ensure all of the team members get on board with the goals of your project.
However, this can be more difficult to manage through leadership rather than authority. As a project manager, try to build your leadership on trust and respect because it can be more effective. On the other hand, having strong leadership skills will help the team members be motivated and inspired to do their work more productively.
- Team Building
As a project manager, if you’re running a long-term project, you will need a bigger team to execute it. Therefore, you need to create a sense of teamwork to engage the team members with one another and secondary stakeholders. Furthermore, team building will help you prevent conflicts among team members and guide them toward a specific goal.
Read More: 6 importance of team building in project management
- Decision Making
Every project manager should have these skills to make the right decision at the right time. Decisions can vary from person to person because they have different skill sets and experience. Therefore, decisions have different styles as follows,
- Consultation style
- Consensus style
- Command style
- Random style
However, having strong decision-making skills will help you increase the chances of the project’s success. Furthermore, project managers can use their intellect to make effective decisions based on project schedule, budget, scope, quality, and acceptance criteria.
- Conflict Management
Project management can be a complex process. Project managers typically follow a process that involves planning and organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, controlling costs, and other factors. After beginning the project, you have to face conflicts due to various problems. Therefore, you should have conflict management skills to run your project smoothly.
Project conflicts can negatively impact the project’s schedule, budget, and scope. Therefore, project managers should use tips and tricks to prevent project conflicts. So, to ensure project success, project managers should have conflict management skills.
- Active Listening
Active listening is another crucial skill every project manager should have. You should have these skills to understand what a speaker says and respond thoughtfully. Therefore, this skill is vital in building rapport with primary and secondary stakeholders.
Misunderstanding can negatively impact the project’s triple constraints. Therefore, you should develop these skills to achieve the outcomes of your project within the desired requirements.
- Motivation
Motivation skills are another vital interpersonal characteristic among project managers because these skills help you to ensure the project’s success. Furthermore, having these skills will help project managers keep their team members interested in the project and work toward the common goal. Moreover, project teams need to be motivated, pushed, and given the responsibility to achieve acceptable outcomes for the project.
- Empathy
Empathetic project managers put themselves in team member’s shoes and clearly understand what motivates them. Furthermore, you can earn the trust of your team by establishing a professional connection with them. As well as you can create an environment built upon collaboration and mutual respect. On the other hand, it leads to a happier workforce, which in turn enhances team members retention.
- Positive Attitude
Positive attitude is another crucial skill every project manager should have. These skills will help you create a better work environment and keep team members engaged during difficult situations. Furthermore, project managers can improve productivity and boost creativity and innovation by using a positive attitude throughout the project life cycle.
Conclusion
To become an effective project manager, you should have these interpersonal skills. Having these skills, you can perform your duties effectively and efficiently throughout the project life cycle. These skills include communication, empathy, conflict management, negotiation, active listening, positive attitude, collaboration, motivation, and decision-making.
