The qualities of a Good Project Manager are essential because they help them to complete the project within the project’s triple constraints and ensure its success. So, in this article, we’ll discuss the top 10 qualities of a good project manager.
Table of Contents
Who Is a Project Manager?
The project manager is a person who plays a fantastic role throughout the project life cycle to ensure the project’s success. Typically, project managers are responsible for the planning, execution, and completion of projects. Therefore, they should manage their project’s aspects, such as timelines, budget, resources, and task management, and work closely with stakeholders (primary and secondary stakeholders) to understand the project requirements and achieve acceptable outcomes.
Read more: How to become an effective project manager
Why Do You Need Qualities to Become a Good Project Manager?
As a project manager, you must manage your project and its team members effectively and efficiently to gain acceptable outcomes. To do that, you should have these qualities such as leadership, communication, decision-making, etc. Accordingly, these qualities help project managers deliver the projects within project triple constraints and increase customer satisfaction.
According to the Pulse of the Profession 2023 14th edition, the project professionals rated these as the most crucial traits of a project manager in 2023.
- Communication – 68%
- Problem solving – 65%
- Collaborative leadership – 62%
- Strategic thinking – 58%
10 Qualities of a Good Project Manager
The following are some qualities of a good project manager.
Effective Communication
Effective communication is one of the most vital aspects of the project manager role. Therefore, every project manager must constantly communicate with project stakeholders (primary and secondary stakeholders) to ensure the project’s success and understand their needs or expectations. As such, a good project manager understands the need for effective communication and consistency and works to maintain open lines of communication and bring people together when a problem requires input from multiple project stakeholders.
A good project manager can identify appropriate communication methods to facilitate productive meetings and build group consensus on key issues through guided discussions. On the other hand, a good project manager knows how to balance and maintain open lines of communication between team members to build a positive relationship and focus each conversation on advancing the project’s goals.
In short, a good project manager can ensure everyone is on the same page regarding project goals, objectives, processes, and potential changes or challenges by maintaining effective communication during the project.
Read more: Why important project communication management when managing a project?
Problem-Solving
Good project managers know how to solve problems effectively and efficiently. So, problem-solving skills enable a project manager to analyze complex situations, evaluate potential situations, and make informed decisions. Better decisions can help your project stay on track and ensure resources are used effectively.
Good project managers have this problem-solving quality that helps them improve risk management. Through that, they can identify, assess, and mitigate threats that may affect the project. By proactively identifying potential risks, they can minimize the impact and avoid project failure. On the other hand, having this quality will help you faster conflict resolution and make more innovation.
Inspires Team Members
Good project managers are inspiring leaders who should understand their mood, demeanor, and actions because that can set the tone for the project. When things are going well and team members are happy, project managers know it’s the right time to keep everyone on track by focusing on the details that others might be missing. When a project encounters a problem, a good project manager takes a relentlessly positive attitude toward overcoming it.
However, good project managers set the tone of the work environment rather than allow the tone to be set by the negative attitudes of others.
Knows How to Delegate
The ability to effectively delegate project tasks is crucial for all project managers because it helps them deliver value to the project by sticking to their own roles and allowing others to do the same. However, good project managers know how to avoid being too focused on a narrow aspect of the project, as it might take their attention away from the big picture and cause them to miss something vital. Task delegation is a tool that good project managers use to accomplish more each day while maintaining their focus on the overall project and its performance to schedule and budget requirements.
Great Team Building
Good project managers know how to unite their team members towards a common goal and build a sense of morale while maintaining a space to recognize individual contributions and options. Furthermore, good project managers help their team members reach consensus faster by allowing effective discussions.
Sees the Big Picture
Projects can be complex. Therefore, good project managers understand the need to position themselves at the center of that complexity to see the big picture. Understanding the project’s big picture will help you achieve acceptable project outcomes within the project’s triple constraints.
Knowledge Sharing
Good project managers promote knowledge sharing and learning among team members. So, this can lead to enhanced productivity and efficiency. However, a good project manager spends time researching best practices and improving their own methodologies for getting things done.
Continuously Improving
At each time, a good project manager knows how to maintain a growth mindset. Furthermore, you can understand that you are not perfect, that you will make mistakes, and that sometimes things will go wrong. At the same time, you realize that you are qualified and worthy of success and can learn from your mistakes and do better next time. However, this understanding gives you the mental strength to cope with the pressure and stress of a work environment that demands results.
A good project manager can drive organizational improvements by innovating best practices, implementing new tools or methods to enhance efficiency, and regularly setting goals to increase results.
Clam Under Pressure
Project management can be a stressful field. For example, When James is working on a big project for a huge company, he experiences problems such as rain delays, supply chain delays, and labor shortages. Then, James is worried about the project schedule, and his to-do list never seems to get shorter – that is James’ life as a project manager.
However, good project managers know how to organize, prioritize, and focus on what they can control in every situation. Furthermore, they work the long hours to deliver results and prioritize project tasks effectively. On the other hand, they know how to ‘switch off’ after a long day and get the mental rest needed to perform again the next day.
Gives Credit to Others
A good project manager doesn’t place the blame on outside circumstances when things don’t go your way, but you should share credit with your team members and celebrate their praises when a project is completed successfully. However, good project managers know that giving credit to team members conveys a sense of appreciation and fulfillment that increases their job satisfaction and improves working relationships for the future. As well as good project managers see the long-term value in recognizing contributions from others.
Conclusion
To become a good project manager, you should have these qualities such as effective communication, problem-solving skills, inspiring team members, great team building, seeing the big picture, knowledge sharing, continuously improving, calm under pressure, and giving credit to others.
