The role of a project manager isn’t just limited to managing projects and overseeing requirements, but they also deal with people management. A successful project manager should use their experience and technical skills to get the job done without much ado. The success of a project manager is dependent on the soft skills they carry and the way they manage people.
People management skills can at times mean more than technical prowess and experience combined together. Project managers have to make sure that they understand what people want and meet their requirements.
We understand that not every project manager knows what they should do about people management. In this article, we take a look at what project managers should know about people management. This list has been created after due interaction with project managers and includes all their people management skills and requirements in one place.
Learn to be Patient
Patience is one of the most important skills for project managers to have. Most project managers are often misguided about how patient they actually are. Project managers think they are really patient until a situation strikes and they find out that themselves running thin on it. Some people are born with more patience than others, but this in no way means that patience isn’t a virtue that can be developed.
Patience is always something project managers can learn along the way, especially once their facing situations that trigger their anxiety. The best way to manage stressful events is to:
· Close your eyes shut.
· Take deep breaths through your mouth and your nose.
· Start slowly counting from 1 to 10. This will ensure that the situation is settled in time.
This simple technique can work wonders to calm down your anxiety and allow you to be patient in stressful situations.
Believe in Communication
Good communication comes through the display of a wide range of skills, including:
· A project manager should display the ability to easily get along with others.
· Project managers should know how to persuade others without coming across as too aggressive or invasive.
· Project managers should know how to get others to listen to the ideas you’re presenting.
· Communication comes through the clarity of ideas.
The last point in the list above is particularly important. Clarity in ideas is absolutely necessary, especially since project managers are dealing with a tight time limit. Project managers might feel overwhelmed and confused in the ideas surrounding them, which is why it is best to clearly express requirements in a manner that is comprehensible to all employees.
Start Relating to People
Projects, if we come to look at them this way, are all about people. Every project is meant to satisfy certain individuals, it is managed on the back of people, and it requires managerial expertise from people. With this in mind, project managers should be able to relate to people. You can avoid misunderstandings by understanding perspectives and knowing where people come from.
Also, keep in mind that most managers equate relating to others as being a pushover. This isn’t entirely the case. Relating to others does not mean you are a pushover. In fact, it means that you can see and understand where a person is coming from. Always remember to agree to disagree.
Be Flexible in Your Dealings
Flexibility means knowing that there are numerous ways of completing a task. You can go by any of these ways that are available to you. Just because someone from your team faces difficulty in completing the tasks according to the given schedule does not mean that the approach they are using is wrong or you should lose hope in them.
Flexibility also means developing and amending your plans to meet the changing circumstances around you.
Trust Your People
Being a manager is all about trust and empowerment. You should trust your team members enough to make sure that they have your best interest at heart. You should trust that your employees will work together to complete tasks that come their way and will have the company’s best interests at heart.
Also, you have to trust that the care and concern employees show under your supervision will also be shown when you are not micromanaging them. You cannot do everything. You will have to delegate certain tasks to team members in the project and have to then trust them enough.
Listen to Team Members
Being someone in a leadership position, you should always live by the principle of using your ears twice as many times as your mouth – there is a reason why you were given two ears and one mouth. The bulk of your role as a manager should, hence, come through listening rather than through talking.
Listen to what your employees say to you, rather than just giving work to them. Project management is all about compiling resources together to achieve objectives. The resources you have at hand cannot come together to get you the right outcomes if you don’t believe in listening.
Be Empathetic
Empathy is known as the ability of employees to understand and share the feelings of other employees. You should think of empathy as basic compassion. If a team member is going through a tough personal relationship experience, such as a divorce, you should show empathy and not berate them for any dips in performance.
If you were going through a similar experience, you’d want others to cut you some slack as well. Being empathetic allows you to work with the imperfections your employees' display and ensure that you’re able to get the right outcomes regardless of those imperfections.
Project management is no mean feat and comes with a long list of requirements, people management being one of them. We hope you know more about managing people and team members now and can incorporate it within your project management routine.
