Things All Project Managers Should Know

The role of project manager is an indispensable part of a company. Managers are in charge of the planning and execution of a project and take on immense responsibility as a result. They can be thought of as the conductors to the corporate orchestra, often not participating in work directly, but ensuring the maintenance of progress and quality overall.

The role of project manager is crucial, but there are strategies and tips to help keep you employed for years to come. Whether you are a novice, experienced, or aspiring project manager, this article will help you get a leg up in the game.

Project Management Interview Questions

If you hope to attain the revered status of project manager, it does you well to look at a list of common project management interview questions. Brushing up on the questions you will likely face will spare you a great deal of queasy speechlessness, which reflects poorly on your prospective competence. After all, if you can’t be trusted to prepare for an interview, it’s hard to see why you should be trusted with the overall management of a large-scale project.

See the situation from the perspective of people interviewing you. If you don’t see a reason why you deserve the job, you will likely convey that without you knowing it. Be at ease with yourself, and make yourself into a dynamic interviewee.

Public Speaking

Understandably, public speaking is correlated with a high incidence of anxiety. Generally speaking, this is a fairly normal reaction; nonetheless, it is a non-negotiable duty for project managers. If you are able to successfully put together a project from start to finish, you still look bad if you fail to present your work effectively to the people that matter, like higher-ups or stakeholders.

Good public speakers are generally made, not born. Practice your public speaking skills as often as you can. Invest in training, feedback, and familiarize yourself with ways to implement a powerpoint. This often seems like a trial by fire, but honing these skills pays off, and travel with you for a lifetime.

Communication At All Levels

It’s one thing if you know how to speak with your peers, but you also need to learn how to conduct yourself across an entire spectrum of individuals. This ranges from people below you, to partners, to clients, to the people you will be reporting to. This means you need to know how to turn on a professional and likable demeanor at the drop of a dime.

As the project manager, you are often the point of contact for both inside and outside parties alike. In other words, it’s to your benefit to know how to speak with angry clients or superiors. Studies in Silicon Valley also highlight the importance of writing skills, impression management, and avoidance of slang.

Document Your Work And Progress

Keep a log of projects so you can monitor progress and trends efficiently. Keeping track of workflow in this way will help you identify areas of strength or weakness throughout the process. It will also help you to establish timelines, and help to break the job into chunks that the team can more easily manage.

It is a good idea to keep dates and times of certain parts of the projects in case you need to refer to it in the future. If relevant to your job, it might also be a good idea to keep track of sales or inventory with a sales order management software.

Solve Problems With Confidence

Confidence goes a long way in many domains. This is especially true in the cases of management and leadership, wherein team morale is affected tremendously. Likewise, people in management positions are often the main line of defense against adversity. This means stress tolerance is an essential part of the managerial package.

In times of uncertainty, your employees will look to you to see how they should feel. You must remain the bedrock foundation on which morale can thrive. Positive morale leads to better emotion, which breeds improved performance.

While everyone feels a degree of conscious or subconscious insecurity, being honest with your strengths and weaknesses is the first step to quelling self-doubt. Upon being reassured by your tried-and-true skills and waterproofing your weaknesses, you will naturally emanate confidence.

Seek Feedback

This is a strategy that benefits you no matter what your job is, but especially as a project manager. While leaning on the opinions of others entirely is probably ill-advised, the perspectives of others can certainly be a useful compass when commandeering your ship.

When seeking feedback, be sure to get it from reliable sources. When reviews of performance are only ever positive, it tends to remove a bit of credibility. Getting genuine criticism should be deemed a gift. If you accept the critique as truth, you can then transcend it and better your practice.

Give Feedback

Be sure to recognize your team’s adequacies, as well as places that could use improvement. This is where your communication skills will come in handy. Studies show that properly implemented criticism is welcomed by both the supervisor and supervised alike.