What It Takes to be a Good Project Manager

Contrary to popular belief, anyone can become a good project manager given that they can be responsible, organized, be a people person and can lead a team for the success of their project. It also takes a little patience and some hard work. Methodology and soft skills combined will make you, or anyone for that matter a good project manager.
Listed below are some qualities that would make a good project manager:

The gift of foresight
Good project managers are able to anticipate and head off problems that can jeopardize deadlines, budgets and user acceptance. They must be able to foresee possible risks and problems that will be of great help in saving time, energy and money.

Leadership and Competence
A good project manager has to have a hold of all team members. He must be able to communicate well with the whole team-he must have authority but at the same time be approachable. Since many project team members don’t report directly to the project manager, the project manager has to find ways to motivate workers over whom they have no direct influence and who can make or break a project. Project managers also need to be able to inspire the confidence of stakeholders, clients and sponsors in the event the budget or timeline needs to be renegotiated or additional resources are needed to complete the project. Expertise in leadership skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if leaders are to be seen as capable and competent.

Good communicator
As mentioned, good project managers must be able to communicate well with the client and with all his team members. Successful project managers effectively use e-mail, meetings and status reports to communicate their ideas, get decisions made and resolve problems. They also understand that they need to discuss their project in the context of whatever is most important to their audience.

Ability to delegate tasks
Trust is an essential element in the relationship of a project leader and his or her team. You demonstrate your trust in others through your actions – how much you check and control their work, how much you delegate and how much you allow people to participate. Individuals who are unable to trust other people often fail as leaders and forever remain little more that micro-managers, or end up doing all of the work themselves. As one project management student put it, “A good leader is a little lazy.” An interesting perspective!