Top 10 Must Have Project Management Skills of 2020

Project management is a thick-skinned job. It consists of so many other easy jobs all combined together to do a job. This job actually starts from starting up a project, making plans for your project, carrying out these plans, controlling and concluding these project as planned. The act of Project Management is more challenging when there is limited time and budget for your project.

In order to successfully start and finish a project, a Project Manager will need all the different necessary skills. These skills may include People Management, Technical Knowledge, and also developing sustainable process for the project at hand.

Although there are numerous skills that is necessary for a Project Manager, this article presents the 10 most essential skills for a Project Manager, inorder to be able to build a successful career with a solid foundation in project management.

1. Leadership

Some people are born to be leaders, while others learn to become leaders while growing. All we know is that leadership is all about taking charge, managing people and helping them to achieve their goal in life.

According to a survey, so many companies do not invest enough in training their leaders for the future. According to the study only about 10% of top executives in some companies believe that leadership training in their companies will generate some positive impact.

In order for a company to move forward and grow it is important to have a solid strategy and a clear vision with a road map to success. Not everyone is born with the ability to lead or make someone to do some work.

2. Communication

In our world of today, the ability to effectively communicate with others is treated as a very important Management skill whenever a top Project Management skill is discussed. The quality of communication decides the success of a particular project.

A study has also revealed that effective communication can act as a driving force for some workers to be productive while working in the office. It was also revealed that those who can communicate effectively performed 47% better than other average workers.

The study has also revealed that effective communication is a cornerstone to succeed, and as the saying goes those who learn the art of communication can negotiate financial terms with clients better.

3. Conflict Resolution

The ability of resolving conflicts all depends on environmental and stress level and as a leader it is very important to create unity among your team. And a project that is carried out in a stressful environment will be faced with a lot of problems.

According to studies 85% of persons at some level at their workplace deal with conflict every day. And also according to studies a huge amount of time is lost to conflict resolution, but if a leader can devise a means by which the employees or team members can resolve the conflict before it occurs or escalates, this would save the amount of distraction that occurs and amount of time wasted while carrying out a project.

4. Planning Skills

In order to achieve a vision of the company or complete a project every leader must possess strategic planning skills. And skillful planning helps to develop small actionable steps to achieve a final goal in view.

Studies has revealed that 92% of the companies that tend to track and compare their company with that of their competitors are doing very well. While another survey has revealed that 76% of successful companies focus their efforts on specific goal which makes the company successful.

5. Risk Management

This skill is all about identification, analysis and accepting the process of migration when some unexpected things happen. Normally a project is full of so many things that can go wrong, but if preventive measures are put in place to manage this troubles, loss can be reduced.

It is always wise and advisable to plan ahead of every situation. Before and after every project it is of important to know, the best way to manage any type of risk that may be encountered.

6. Cost Management

This skill is also known as accounting, involves planning and controlling the overall cost of the project and also to make sure all plans follows your budget. It is one of the most crucial project management skill which helps one to start and finish a project without delays.

A research has shown that cost of project is the most difficult issue faced by project managers and with so much competition in the market today it is important to keep the cost of your project within your budget.

Therefore, knowing the cost of your project will make it easier for you to decide how much resources and time that should be assigned to each project in hand.

7. Time Management

Time Management as one of the crucial skill a project manager should have, is all about asking the right questions and carrying out duties according to their priorities. If you can manage to divide time to each element of the project at hand then you will not miss any deadline.

A survey has shown that managers waste around 3 hours per day interrupting other workers while working. Managing time is very essential because it gives more space to deal with some unexpected stuffs and happenings.

You can do this by setting up deadlines for each project, making a to do lists, getting organized and delegating tasks can help many project managers to deal with project delay easily.

8. Negotiation

A key skill of every project manager is negotiation. Every project manager has to deal with annoying clients, CEO’s and employees every day. With weak negotiation skills you can easily encounter troubles.

Among all the top skills that a project manager, negotiation is more crucial than any other and in order to deal with problems that are encountered daily one must learn how to negotiate easily.

9. Expertise

Each project requires the abilities and expertise to which one can help their team to complete a project at hand. A project manager must develop their skill in all fields, this will help you to understand the scope of the project and also how to deal with employees in a better way.

10. Adaptability

This skill is all about adjusting to the environment to help you overcome the challenges that come along with a project. As a project manager it is advisable to understand that the act of project management is evolving and at a very high rate and if you don’t get yourself acquainted with new trend you might end up lagging behind in your work.

Finally it is the work of the project manager to keep all the teams well informed and always give the higher authorities daily necessary updates on the progress of a project at hand.

A good project manager should be able to drive out a difficult situation and keep clients happy. Adopting all the above listed management skills will help you to create a clutter free environment for your team.

All these skills are easy but very important to project management. And these skills require a little commitment every day in order to make progress with work.

No project management software can make you better or clean your flaws without the necessary and right skills. 

Do you have any crucial project management skills that are not on our skills that has helped your teams to finish up big projects and also in time? Please feel free to share your experience and ideas in the comment section below.