20 essential skills for a project manager
Are you wondering what skills are essential to succeed as a project manager and how to develop them? You are right, because becoming a good project manager is above all a question of mastering key skills, organization and mindset. Whether you are a beginner or want to improve your expertise, the 20 essential skills that we present to you will allow you to successfully manage your projects and achieve your goals.
What do we mean by “skills” for a project manager?
When we talk about “skills” for a project manager, we mean a wide range of skills, both technical and human, that allow you to successfully carry out your missions. These are both technical skills (mastery of project management methodologies, project management tools, etc.) and human skills (communication, leadership, decision-making, etc.).
Are soft skills as important as technical skills?
Soft skills (or human skills) are just as crucial, if not more, for the success of a project than technical skills. Indeed, a project is above all a human adventure. You are the conductor and you must unite a team, communicate with stakeholders, manage conflicts, but also maintain the motivation of employees.
Every good project manager must have both technical skills and human skills to face the varied challenges that are sure to arise during a project, regardless of your sector of activity or the size of the project.
The 20 skills that are useful for project management
Here are the 20 essential skills and how Wimi can help you exploit their potential.
1. Communication mastery
You must learn to communicate with clarity, precision, and impact for optimal collaboration and effective management of expectations. Wimi centralizes all your exchanges within a single and intuitive platform and offers you the opportunity to discuss in real time with the chat and to organize fluid videoconferences.
2. Inspiring leadership
Inspire, motivate, and guide your team toward a common goal and learn how to delegate to empower team members. With Wimi, share your vision, set clear goals and monitor the progress of each of your team through a personalized and dynamic dashboard.
3. Collaborative spirit
Every good project manager must succeed in creating a powerful synergy by promoting the sharing of ideas, collaboration and a positive work environment. Use Wimi to create shared workspaces, organize your tasks with a powerful management system, and simplify document sharing thanks to integrated version management.
4. Proactive problem solving
Expertly anticipate and overcome obstacles by identifying causes and finding effective solutions. Wimi allows you to document and monitor potential risks. Assign issues to team members and track their resolution through a transparent tracking system.
5. Strategic decision making
In order to maximize the performance of your team, it is necessary to know how to make informed and bold decisions by evaluating information while controlling risks. Access an overview of the project on the Wimi platform, analyze key performance indicators and generate customizable reports for a clear and precise vision.
6. Optimized time management
Increase your productivity and that of your team through careful organization and planning. By exploiting the potential of the Wimi tool, plan your projects with a Gantt chart, organize your tasks, manage dependencies and monitor the progress of the project in real time.
7. Resilience in the face of stress
As a project manager, it is also necessary to manage to remain calm and effective in the face of pressure by managing stressful situations with serenity. Wimi helps you by offering you a clear vision of the progress of the project at any time. Set up custom alerts to anticipate problems and respond quickly.
8. Persuasive negotiation
To succeed in your project, you must defend your interests with conviction and diplomacy by finding win-win solutions for all stakeholders. Using the Wimi platform, share documents securely, follow up on requests and centralize exchanges for transparent and effective negotiations.
9. Sharp critical thinking
Another essential skill: analyze situations with objectivity and insight in order to make informed and strategically relevant decisions. With Wimi, monitor project performance, identify areas for improvement and make strategic decisions based on facts.
10. Adaptability and flexibility
Being a project manager requires you to navigate with ease in a constantly changing environment by adapting to changes and unforeseen events at all times. The Wimi tool can adapt to changing circumstances. Customize your workspace, set up workflows, and choose modules that meet your specific needs.
11. Mastery of project management methodologies
To become a great project manager, become an expert in Agile, Waterfall, and other methods. Wimi adapts easily to your preferred method and offers you specific tools for each approach. Manage your sprints, backlogs, and Kanban boards fluidly, or organize your projects into phases and milestones with surgical precision.
12. Strategic planning
Establish a clear road map by setting clear goals, realistic deadlines, and a controlled budget. Via Wimi, define your tasks, allocate resources, manage dependencies and set your budget with an intuitive and efficient interface.
13. Proactive risk management
Without waiting for crises, it is necessary for any project manager to know how to identify, analyze and manage potential risks in order to minimize the unexpected and guarantee the success of the project. Wimi helps you identify and monitor risks thanks to powerful analysis tools.
14. Cost Management
Money is the lifeblood. An outstanding project manager must monitor and control expenses rigorously to optimize resources and respect the allocated budget. Wimi allows you to track costs in real time, compare forecasts to actual expenses, and generate detailed reports for in-depth analysis.
15. Culture of quality
Another essential skill is the ability to set up processes that guarantee the quality of deliverables and the satisfaction of stakeholders. Wimi integrates validation monitoring tools, customizable workflows and a version management system for optimal quality management.
16. Contract Management
To increase the performance of your project, negotiate and manage contracts with your partners and suppliers effectively. Thanks to Wimi, store your contractual documents, monitor their status, deadlines and key clauses.
17. Transparent reporting
At all times, the project manager must be able to communicate the progress of the project clearly and concisely to keep stakeholders informed. Generate personalized reports with Wimi and communicate the progress of the project to stakeholders easily.
18. Knowledge of project management tools
Every successful project depends on the good use of project management software such as MS Project, Jira, Asana or Wimi. The Wimi platform is an all-in-one solution that brings together all the tools essential to project management. So forget about multiple software and get straight to the point.
19. Data analysis
Collect and analyze key data to accurately manage your projects and make informed decisions throughout the project. Wimi gives you access to customizable dashboards and detailed reports to monitor the performance of your projects.
20. Business expertise
To gain relevance as a project manager, it is recommended that you constantly deepen your knowledge of the project's field of activity in order to better understand the challenges and needs of the project. By centralizing information, Wimi promotes the sharing of knowledge, helps you capitalize on collective expertise and develop collaborative intelligence.
How do you develop the skills needed to be a project manager?
To improve your interpersonal skills or soft skills, one of the most effective solutions is to follow targeted training courses on communication, conflict management, leadership or stress management.
For the technical aspect, it is essential to train in project management methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, etc.) via recognized certifications (PMP, Prince2, etc.) and to master digital tools such as Wimi. Learning takes place through theory, but above all through practice: you must confront real or simulated projects to ground knowledge in order to become an excellent project manager.
