Being a project manager is interesting and creative but at the same time a very responsible role. It will be up to you to divide the assignments, make schedules, negotiate terms, monitor the progress of every team member, and send feedback. Basically, it will seem like the whole project is laying on your shoulders. As it is since you are its main organizer. Sounds exciting or too intimidating? Not so idealistic as you have imagined? Well, being a successful project manager requires a lot of persistence, studying, and also the right mindset. Before you steer your career ship in this direction, find out what it takes to be a project manager.
Are you a natural multitasker?
The ability to do more different things simultaneously is a necessity for all good managers. However, in project management, this skill is even more important. You will often be interrupted by queries of your team members, requests for help or project emergencies you have to handle immediately.
The word “urgent”’ may become the most frequent word you hear on a daily basis.
Being able to put aside what you are working on and then pick it up again is the characteristic that a project manager must possess. Multitasking is the only way you can reach the project management milestones and goals you have set.
A project manager has to know how to prioritize tasks
If you are considering project management as a career, ask yourself do you have the ability to measure the importance and necessary time scales of incoming tasks. While this is a skill that can be learned, in this line of work it should be one of your personal traits. Project managers need to have this particular skill or work hard to develop it.
When you’re prioritizing a task, there are some basic questions you might wish to consider:
- If this task isn’t completed, will that affect the other ones and cause delays?
- Will lengthening completion time for this task have a significant financial impact?
- Can I safely delegate finding a solution to this issue?
- If this task isn’t finished, will that have an impact on the personnel?
The organization is not the most important trait for a project manager – planning on the go is
While good organization skills are necessary when managing people and projects, adaptivity to change plans is more prominent in project management. Simply because you are always facing changes, questions and schedule rearrangements.
Surely, it doesn’t mean that every workday will have some unexpected interruptions. But it also doesn’t mean it won’t. If you make a rigid schedule and insist on sticking to it no matter what, the project realization may suffer.
Let’s take a hypothetical situation for example. You are managing the marketing strategy for some brands, and you have a team of writers creating content. Each of them has certain writing tasks and deadlines for their completion.
What if one of your writers is justifiably unable to deliver their work? Will you let the whole project delay or will you change the original plan and find a different viable solution that won’t cause unpleasant consequences?
With multitasking and prioritizing, being able to adapt the original plan according to new demands or solutions is what makes one suitable to be a project manager.
You have to know how to delegate and manage teams
When you are a project manager, you don’t only have to delegate tasks — you have to delegate them to the right colleagues. It is your job to know their qualities and make the best of them. Different people have different skills. Delegating them the assignments tasks will make them shine and excel.
On the contrary, if you assign a task to someone who will struggle and deliver poor results, the overall project will have bad results. Not to mention that it will be demotivating for that staff member, but also for the entire team.
A project manager is only as good as the personnel he or she employs. Failing to allocate tasks properly can be damaging to both morale and project stability.
When your colleagues start to offer their services when they think you need them, you will know that you are doing a great job as a delegator.
Always have new tricks up your sleeve
The work of a project manager is very diverse, dynamic and unpredictable. It is a career that is constantly changing and progressing. Meaning the ability to learn new skills is essential. As in any aspect of life, in project management, you can always improve your knowledge and learn some new tricks. Not only that you can, but you really should if you want to progress in your career.
There are a ton of articles, courses, videos, podcasts and guides that can help you widen your project management knowledge. Just make sure to get valid information from reliable and reputable sources. Subscribing to the industry journals is also a great idea since they are a constant pool of the newest project management trends.
So, do you have what it takes to become a project manager?
Now that you know what crucial characteristics a project manager has to possess, you can decide if it’s a position you can see yourself at.
Be honest and determine whether you are lacking some of the necessary project management skills.
If you are, but this line of work really interests you — don’t give up just yet. With a lot of effort, dedication, and persistence, you can be anything you want. Study courses, enroll in academic studies — never keep learning and the dream of becoming a project manager might come true sooner than you think.
