Top 10 Leadership Skills and Traits of Successful Project Managers

Here is the list of leadership qualities and traits a successful project manager possess:

1. Confidence
2. Decision making 
3. Honesty and integrity
4. Communication
5. Vision
6. Delegation
7. Empathy
8. Resilience
9. Emotional Intelligence
10. Accountability

The success of the project is highly dependent on project managers. Behavioral traits are very important when it comes to managing projects and people. Nowadays, projects are complex and the team size is bigger. Leadership attributes, traits, characteristics, and skills can be attained through practice. According to Project Management Talent Triangle, leadership is one of the most important skills sought by employers.

According to CIO,

PMI stated that,

“By 2020, reports estimate that there will be 700,000 new project management jobs in the United States and 66 percent of organizations rate leadership skills as the most valuable trait of a successful PM.”

Here are the list of leadership qualities and traits a successful project manager possess:

1. Confidence
2. Decision making
3. Honesty and integrity
4. Communication
5. Vision
6. Delegation
7. Empathy
8. Resilience
9. Emotional Intelligence
10. Accountability

1. Confidence

Confidence is the most important skill to lead a team. The more you believe in your abilities as a project manager the more you feel confident. In order to empower a team, confidence in yourself and the team is very essential. The productivity of the team is higher when you guide them with confidence. The ways to build confidence as a project manager are:

• Empower your knowledge
• Take Project Management Professional Certification
• Prepare yourself before going to any discussion
• Exude confidence and exhibit positive body language

The project manager with great confidence can address the problems in an effective way. The flow of the project becomes smooth with a confident project manager.

2. Decision making

The decision-making abilities of a project manager make a direct impact on the project. Successful project managers possess high decision-making skills. It is not always possible to make the best decision. A good leader takes responsibility for the decision and is accountable.

To be a strong decision-maker, you must possess high knowledge about the subject and be able to see the consequences of the decision made.

3. Honesty and integrity

Honesty and Integrity are the bottom line of ethics. You are recognized as an honest professional when you adhere to both ethical values and individual morality. Integrity means honesty with strong moral values. It requires professionals to always be clear and truthful. Honesty and integrity build trust between the stakeholders which makes the project highly successful.

“The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity”

                                                -Dwight.D.Eisenhower

Integrity involves:

• Apologizing for the mistakes
• When issues are unclear, giving them a benefit of doubt
• Appreciating time.

4. Communication

Effective communication skills are very important to run the project smoothly. The successful project manager clearly communicates the vision, goals, guidelines, expectations to the other stakeholders.

Listening is the most important part of communication. Being able to speak effectively is the foundation of effective leadership.

According to Forbes Insights 2010 Strategic Initiatives report,

• 88% of the strategists say that communications are critical to the success of their strategic initiatives
• 46% that communications are an integral and active component of the strategic planning and execution process.

The list of tools for effective communication are:

• Project Management Tools: Proofhub
• Real-Time Chat Tools: Microsoft Teams, HipChat
• Voice and Video Conferencing tools: Zoom, Skype
• Document Collaboration tools: Office365, G Suite
• Internal Communication Tools: Jive, Yammer

5. Vision

Successful project managers have great vision and purpose at the initiation stage of the project. They make their team members visualize their vision and make them understand the strategy and action plan to reach the goal.

When a project manager implements ideas, the chances of failure also exist. A good leader understands the changes, practices adaptability and becomes agile to reach the goal.

The project managers with great visionary skills will ensure the team members share the same goal and abe to see the bigger picture.

6. Delegation

Delegation is when you share the responsibility to perform a specific task. It is one of the important qualities a project manager possesses. Based on the positive attitude and willingness, the project manager selects the people to delegate the task.

Project Manager delegates the task for two reasons:

• To make the best use of team
• To be able to focus on the other tasks based on priority

The successful project manager picks the right person, matches the requirements, sets realistic goals, gives all the necessary information and delegates the task.

7. Empathy

The successful project manager possesses the ability to understand the team member’s aspirations, hopes, expectations, and problems. The dictatorial style of management doesn’t hold good in the current era of project management. A good leader has open-mindedness to understand the situation and not just be a nice person. Empathy enables a project manager to:

• Build a strong bond with team members
• Communicate work strategies effectively
• Make team members win the trust
• Be creative

8. Resilience

Resilience is a positive attitude of project managers to lead and manage the team no matter the circumstances. A great leader focuses on solutions rather than problems.

Resilience is a leadership quality that comes with experience. The changes are uncertain. Project managers with resilience will manage the change effectively with a positive attitude and are generally resourceful and agile in nature. The project managers exhibit resilience when the project goes through change and uncertainties.

9. Emotional Intelligence

Emotions can influence many aspects of leadership traits such as communication and decision-making skills. Projects involve a lot of face to face communications and discussions.  In order to make team members accept the ideas of leaders, project managers should connect with team members through emotional intelligence. The ability to sense and understand emotions and act accordingly in order to manage the team with emotions and empathy is called emotional intelligence in project management.

According to HR Daily,

According to HR managers, the greatest benefit of hiring an employee with the highest emotional intelligence is increasing morale.

10. Accountability

Good leaders make sure the team members working are accountable for what they are doing. Making team members accountable creates a sense of responsibility among themselves to perform better.

“A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.”

                                                                                                            -Arnold H Glaso

Being accountable is the best way to build trust with team members.

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