Do you really know just how many skills you will need to master while working in a business? Here we look at just some you will certainly need.
Leadership
Some individuals are born with natural leadership qualities, however, a good many need guidance and training. Leadership techniques and skills can certainly be learned and are definitely needed to make you be successful.
Leading a team, managing external suppliers and contractors as well as dealing with upper management are made easier by good leadership skills. Good leadership needs you to be a motivator and mediator to manage people as well as tasks.
Communication
You need to be able to communicate by many mediums and on all levels. Being understood by everyone involved in the project, being able to communicate your requirements and expectations to your team, your managers, your stakeholders, customers and suppliers in a way that they understand what you want, your timeframes and any issues you may have is key to bringing the project together.
Good communication skills, both written and spoken through many different platforms, knowing which will get the best results in the speediest time and in a format that works is a key part of the role of a project manager.
Negotiating
As effective as your communication efforts are, you will also need to negotiate, being able to push back when required, negotiate alternatives if things can not be done as demanded, is going to be an issue you face fairly quickly in the role.
You need to be good at negotiating and make changes that ensure that no one feels that they have lost, that compromises and successful negotiation have reached the best possible outcome.
Negotiating may also mean handling conflict, between team members or other parties involved in the project, being able to do so, ensuring that everyone is calm and focused on the issue, rather than becoming personal so that the best results for the project are foremost in the resolutions will fall to the project manager.
Scheduling & Task Management
This is one of the key skills that a project manager needs, the ability to look at the overall project, break it down and distribute the tasks accordingly. Ensuring that tasks and timelines work with each other and include all the relevant parties in manageable timeframes for both them and the project. This is something you need from the start of your career, and your business school admissions consultant can give you some tips on scheduling your work and studies too.
Overall
There are many software options and specific project management packages to aid this, however, you need to ensure they are capable of keeping you informed, telling you when things are running behind, or have been completed, being on the ball is imperative.
The management and scheduling of tasks are often reliant on outside factors and any mismanagement, delays or interruptions can have knock-on effects on many other areas and ultimately mean that the project fails to deliver on timeframes, costing or both. It is important to be able to instantly see these effects and have strategies in place to work through them before they become an issue.
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