70 Best Questions To Ask Leaders in 2024
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Ali Khan
Co-founder
A project manager’s main quality should be outstanding communication. There are a lot of elements you have to add up to make you really understand what makes a good project manager. We'll start with this one because it's the biggest by far, and most other elements stem from this one. When managing any project or team, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively is a must-have skill.
Modern project managers have trust in and respect for their teams' talents, and they are focused on resolving obstacles and improving delivery schedules.
One of the project managers' primary goals is to create a smooth workflow free of delays and barriers.
Project managers must be able to express their thoughts and the goal of a project in a way that everyone can understand quickly and simply. They must also be able to communicate their expectations clearly and provide regular, constructive feedback to the team they are leading in order to guide them. A project manager can have a major impact to boost the employee morale. When a project manager is unable to thrive in this area, it is viewed negatively by both their team and peers. When a project leader fails to succeed in this area, leaving the rest of the team in a state of confusion and cluelessness, there is little hope for the project to ever be completed successfully!
If you’ve ever left a meeting thinking “I’m not sure what they actually want…” you know the frustration of poor communication.
The first one is wide-ranging, they honor his/her job. The project manager, in many ways, sets the example for the rest of the team to follow, and the finest leaders are those that others feel they can trust because they regularly act ethically and responsibly. In short, they take their role seriously. When team members perceive their project leader is fully devoted to the project and the team as a whole, they will respect him or her more.
Another one that should be obvious is being positive. A pessimistic, negative manager always seems to send any team into a spin. Positive individuals attract positive people, and their energy and enthusiasm quickly rub off on others. Positivity inspires while negativity discourages.
Problem-solving driven is another important aspect to consider for a good project manager. In an ideal world, with effective planning at the outset and a clearly stated goal for everyone to work toward, all projects would turn out exactly as planned, with no setbacks (okay, I’ll admit an ideal world doesn’t exist). Life isn't always so simple, of course, and obstacles must be accepted and addressed in order to move forward with a project without excessive delays. It is not always the project leader's responsibility to find the best answer to any given problem, as another team member may have abilities that are more suited to dealing with any particular issue that may occur. So problem-solving should not be handed down from on high, it should be a communal activity.
Finally, when presented with difficulty, the project manager should be inventive and innovative. This is key in order to finding the quickest and most effective solution when problems arise. It may be necessary to bring together several team members or even multiple teams in some instances. So don’t think small or single-minded, really try to think outside the box (easier said than done).
To be a highly effective project manager (putting aside work experience) the personality traits of a good project manager make a very big difference. Here we will discuss some of those personality traits and give explanations:
Doesn’t do it all
Delegation of responsibilities to the appropriate people is an important aspect of the project manager's job. This entails getting to know a group of people well enough to recognize and comprehend their individual talents and abilities, as well as what they excel at. You can offer the right tasks to the right people and achieve the greatest results possible with this information at your fingertips. It’s easy to take on too much as a project manager (because then everything will be done perfectly right?) but delegation is essential.
Being able to delegate a task to someone with the certainty that they will complete it to the best of their abilities frees up a project leader's time to focus on bigger priorities. A project manager who can show his or her team that they are trusted and confident in their talents will get the most out of them. When someone constantly checks up on their work, they feel undervalued and patronized, as it implies that they are not good enough. Because of their amazing communication skills this is not a big problem.
Capable of almost everything
This quality may be a little too self-evident to mention, but what the heck. They have excellent communication skills. Any project manager worth his or her salt must be competent in their field and demonstrate this to their team. If you're in charge of a group of people who think you don't know your bottom from your elbow, you're in for a world of trouble. Sometimes you have to fake it to make it or really dive into the weeds when ‘it’s not really your job’, but guess what, it’s always your job. Their soft skills are something to be admired for.
Keep in mind that It's Not Easy to Be a Good Project Manager.
Honesty
Any project requires trust between team members, and honesty is the cornerstone of trust. When setting expectations and providing feedback or status reports throughout a project, project managers should be completely honest. If the news isn't necessarily good, it's better to hear it straight the first time than to discover later that they were misled. White lies sometimes feel like an easy out, but remember your team may be more observant than you think and it will bite you in the future.
Being able to take criticism
Project managers are often criticized by customers, executives, or even unhappy team members. Being able to handle criticism gracefully is another highly important characteristic of a project manager and how they take care of their well being. It's likely that you'll only make things worse if you get defensive or combative when someone complains about your work. Managing projects successfully involves finding constructive responses to criticism and turning potentially damaging situations into highly productive discussions. Sometimes the truth hurts, but if you can take it on the shoulder and show your team you care, you’ll win their admiration.
Problem solving skills
As mentioned earlier there a lot of qualities that project managers have, problem solving skills is definitely one of them. They always remain confident and calm in difficult situations. Resources and subject matter expertise that are necessary in that meeting to accomplish all objectives. A big focus is put on the teams overall well being as-well. When done right you will realize that you are in the same page with everyone. Professional project managers can help in every situation. A good project manager not only knows how to create a highly collaborative workplace, but also how to encourage engagement and control the dialogue. This entails keeping in touch with their team and other project stakeholders, establishing reasonable requirements, facilitating meetings, distributing tasks, and controlling time, resources, and expectations. They use several project management tools to accomplish that.
Successful projects are those with the right people in mind. Professional project managers can help in every situation. They know how to set the right schedule for the project to flow as easily as possible.
The term “project management” is a big umbrella. It encompasses many areas, including project planning, execution, and evaluation, which are all areas that a project manager oversees. Understanding the different parts of project management will give you an idea of what the skillset looks like.
Project planning
Project management and the project manager are responsible for developing the project plan. The project plan lays out what tasks need to happen during the project, how long each stage of the project will take, who does what, how long everything will take, how you’re going to manage communication with stakeholders about your progress as well as any risks or issues that could arise along the way.
Project execution
The project manager is responsible for overseeing the project execution. This involves ensuring that each team member is doing their job correctly and on time while ensuring they have what they or needs to succeed. This includes background research and analysis, prioritizing tasks based on order and importance, organizing workloads (where each member gets what to do and when), and ensuring all tasks are completed by the deadline.
Project evaluation
Project evaluation is the final stage of managing a project and an important leadership skill, which is why you may hear professionals refer to it as a “project post-mortem.” At this point, you can look at the process you used and decide whether you want to do things differently next time. This can be with just your team or with other stakeholders as well. You may decide that one part of your process was more effective than another so you can adjust accordingly–or you may realize that something went wrong so you can understand what happened and how to prevent it from happening again by adjusting your process.
Good project managers have specific qualities that determine how they lead their teams. They have a strong sense of responsibility. They are organized and keep their team running smoothly. They are always seeking to improve, a key trait in any manager. Good project managers believe in the power of teamwork, support and cooperation. And, like good coaches, they are patient and clear about the goals for both their team and the company at large.
Even if you are not the project manager for your team, you can use these skills to help you be a better manager or leader. A good coach is always open to criticism and willing to learn new skills so they can better their work. A good manager or leader has a clear vision for where the team should go, but also knows how to remain flexible in case things don’t go as planned.
Project management is about being fair, honest and compassionate with your team, but also firm when needed. All these traits come together to create the ultimate project manager who gets results but also fosters an environment where everyone on the team can grow. That is why project managers are so vital in today’s business world – they are leaders first and managers second.
