Top 5 Leadership Skills That Every Project Manager Must Have

Being a project manager is a big responsibility. You are in charge of your team and of your project as a whole, but the one thing that you cannot lack in is great leadership skills. As a part of many project management programmes such as PRINCE2 for instance, leadership skills are groomed within the students, so that when they go out into the real world, they will be able to handle challenges better. Here are some of the top 5 leadership skills that you simply must have, as a project manager.

Motivation and initiation

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the first of leadership skills that you have, must be leadership itself. Confused? Well, as a project manager you must be able to motivate your team, coach and inspire the team. He also has to set goals and resolve any conflicts within team members evaluate their performance and provide feedback where necessary, ensure that they have all the resources needed to carry out their tasks and hand out any disciplinary actions when required. You should be able to lead your team. If you are studying something like PRINCE2 project management courses, one of the most fundamental things they will teach you is leadership.

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Develop good communication

A great leader needs to be able to communicate well, not just with his or her team, clients and stakeholders. You should be clear, concise, and easily understandable. Keeping communication seamless among your team will also help you keep your project on track and will ensure that everybody is on the same page. In the long run, this will help build professional trust, respect and relationships.

Be a master at planning

If you are going to be learning project management, you need to be excellent at planning. This is essential. Basically, it is vital that you organise your objectives and goals and ensure that every phase of the project is reached within the allocated timeline. It should also always be within budget.

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Managing your time and that of others brings us to our next skill; time management. You should be able to manage the timescale of a project. This is a big part of your role as a project manager. Not only will you have to manage your time, sometimes. But you may also have to manage the times of your team members too. Learning when to say ‘no’ and when to delegate tasks can also help you in time management and is something that project management really stresses.

Assessment of risks as part of your leadership skills, you will need to assess risks. When things don’t exactly add up or go according to plan, usually the project manager gets the blame, i.e., you. Nobody likes to get an unpleasant surprise in a project. Know how to assess the potential risks, and work with your team to identify the risks and how they may happen, which also gives you the foresight to try and avoid them. These are just a handful of the many essential leadership skills that you should have as a project manager. Our accredited PRINCE2® Project Management programmes not only are recognised in the industry but also will guide you to becoming a fantastic leader. Enroll with us now, or to find more information, contact us at [email protected]