It’s a great question and one which can only be partially answered by reading a job advert. Here is my view on the skills required if you are interested in this field.
Firstly, project management experience is an obvious must. Relevant qualifications also help, such as PRINCE2, Agile and PMP. However, during my 20 years in the business I’ve met several project managers who haven't possessed any qualifications - or the ability to use the tools of the trade. In fact, conversely some of the least effective project managers I've worked with have had all the qualifications under the sun.
With this in mind, I think the true question is, “what is a good project manager?” For me personally, one word I would use to describe a good project manager is ‘effective’. Simply put, it’s a person who can get things done - and getting almost anything done when you’re a project manager means relying on someone else.
To paraphrase a mentor of mine, Earl Nightingale; “everything you do, every dollar you earn, relies on your ability to get along with people”.
That means if you have bad relationships with your colleagues and customers, it’s unlikely that you’ll be very productive in your role. Expecting people to just do things because it’s their job is fanciful. They’ll get around to it, but they’ll put you at the bottom of the pile, they won’t answer the phone to you, and they may not give the task 100% of their effort.
“Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.” Earl Nightingale
The other side of the coin to the ‘learnt skills’ I set out earlier, is soft skills. These are often woefully overlooked, but I’ve found that the biggest shift in my ability to get my job done, is not in learning more about the tools we use, but adjusting my attitude.
A couple of ideas which have helped me develop:
- If somebody is giving you a hard time, being rude and abrupt, don’t slam the phone down and call them a [insert expletive]. Instead, sit back and ask yourself, “is there anything about my behaviour or conduct which caused that response from that person?”- after all how people behave towards us is often a mirror of how we’re behaving towards them.
- Do you speak with somebody differently because they are more, or less, senior than you? If so, why? Try this test for the next 30 days… Treat everyone the same, as if they were the most important person in the world.
However, being a good project manager isn’t a popularity contest - you need to be competent too! But having a positive, friendly, and expectant attitude is more powerful that most people realise. So instead of looking for the next qualification to add to your CV, how about looking at some self-improvement? As a starting point, check out some of my recommended reading/listening below:
- The Magic of Thinking Big – David J Schwartz
- Lead the Field – Earl Nightingale
- The Art of Living – Bob Proctor
- Matt Barnard, Project Manager