As a project management professional (PMP), your duties require you to have oversight of a project from start to finish, and from the smallest detail to the highest-level objective. In order to accomplish this successfully, PMPs are required to possess a range of valuable skills.
Recently, we sat down with Yad Senapathy, the founder and CEO of the Project Management Training Institute (PMTI) in Dallas, Texas. Throughout his career, Yad has coached thousands of aspiring project managers to help them pass the stringent requirements of the PMP exam. These are the top 4 skills he says are necessary for all successful PMPs to have, regardless of when or where their career takes them.
1. Communication
“PMPs will regularly have to convey messages to their teams, clients, vendors, managers, and other stakeholders,” Yad says, “both in writing and verbally. As such, it is crucial that every PMP understands how to communicate ideas, issues, goals, and other aspects of each project to everyone involved in a timely and professional manner. Thankfully, there are a wide array of project management tools and software that help PMPs improve and maintain communication throughout the length of each project they work on.”
2. Time Management
“Many new PMPs note feeling almost immediately stressed by the amount of time their work will require,” says Yad. “PMPs have to not only be able to understand how to create realistic schedules for projects they are working on in order to meet deadlines for specific milestones and deliverables, but also how to manage their own time to prevent burnout.”
3. Negotiation
“A lot of PMPs believe that negotiation falls in line with communication, but there are distinct differences between the two,” Yad explains. “While communicating effectively is important, being able to negotiate with project teams, clients, and other stakeholders on matters related to schedules, deadlines, goals, and other aspects of the project requires PMPs to remain mindful and empathetic towards everyone involved on the project at hand. So long as it is within the realm of reason, don’t be afraid to hold your ground during professional negotiations.”
4. Leadership
“Leadership is one of the most commonly-overlooked soft skills every PMP should possess,” Yad tells us, “because a large portion of their job is reliant on their ability to effectively lead a team. Your team is vital to the success of your project, and every team is only as capable as your ability to lead them. This is why PMPs must always be able to motivate, negotiate, and communicate with their team and clients, as well as remain agile enough to adapt to new challenges that arise throughout each project’s lifecycle. Use a judicious mix of transformational leadership while also holding the team responsible for results.”
To learn more about Yad or PMTI, visit 4pmti.com today.
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