This article was originally published at: https://medium.com/@nadegeminois/5-traits-that-make-great-project-managers-do-you-have-them-3097dc41bb37

If you are reading this piece, you are likely a project manager. And you are not alone.

There are many project managers around the world and the demand for project managers is still increasing.

But not all project managers are equal. Here is my take on what is needed to be a great project manager.

The negative side is that you may not have these competencies yet,especially if you are early in your career. The positive side is that all the points I will talk about can be learned.

There is always room for improvement!

In this article, I will give an overview of 5 traits essential to be successful as a project manager. I will then detail each of these traits in subsequent articles.

An adaptable communication

There is probably a word that sums up quite well the project environment: diversity. Of course, diversity of tasks and activities, and also diversity of people.

When you think of all the various stakeholder groups you need to manage in every project, it can be overwhelming. They go from your team members to end users, regulatory bodies and audit committees for instance. You will interact daily with some, a lot more sparingly with others. They need different information, conveyed in different ways.

So, when you can adapt your communication – both the content and the way you deliver this content – to your varied audiences, you convey more meaningful and impactful messages. People are clear about the project and their role in it. They will also be more engaged and ready to contribute.

A flexible leadership

You will have all read that now, it is not enough to be a manager; you need to be a leader. And I agree with that. People have very different expectations about how they ought to be treated and valued at work. The time has finally come when it is recognised that people must be respected and valued.

Just telling people what to do, when and how, will not cut it. Remember that you and your team members deliver the project. Without them, there is no project, nothing will be done. In short, people are the most important aspect of a project.

We all have a preferred leadership style. However, great project managers can use all the different leadership styles as and when necessary. The style needed will depend on the persons involved, their level of knowledge and experience, and the task at hand.

Big picture and details

The role of project manager has also evolved on that point, not just on leadership. Strategic thinking is high on the agenda these days. It means that now, any project manager worth its salt needs to keep an eye both on the big picture and on the details.

You need to think strategically, keep a focus on strategic alignment, business goals alignment, benefits and value the project will bring. But if you do only this part, you can lose track of the tasks to be done and end up with the project going nowhere.

On the other side, attention to details and ensuring the daily work is done is still a big part of any project manager’s role. However, if you concentrate only on this part, you end up just micromanaging the project and your team members will resent you for that.

Organisation

There is a lot to do in a project! So many things to juggle in parallel.

As the project manager, you need to keep track of what is happening in your projects and what needs to be done.

Long to-do-lists on loose pieces of paper will not do it. Or thinking that you’ve got it all organised in your head.

Organisation is paramount for efficiency in a project. Organisation will breed organisation. If you are organised and that your project tasks are well organised, your project team will be more organised too because your team members will be clear on what to do.

It will also streamline planning and make the project more adaptable when things need to be shifted around, as it happens often in projects.

Technical agility

That takes us to the last trait I want to cover. Here, technical agility doesn’t refer to your knowledge in the industry oft he project. You don’t need to bean IT expert to manage IT projects for instance.

What I refer to here is the ability to use the right tools that will make the project more efficient.

We covered organisation in the previous section. Being able to use the tools that will allow you to organise the project will be paramount.

It is also being able to decide which tools to use for the project: project management tools, communication tools and so on.

And this is not including Artificial Intelligence (AI), a whole area on its own.

So, now you have read this piece, which ones of these skills do you have already? Which ones need some improvement?