Project Manager Characteristics BY

ALLAH DAD KHANProvincial Project Director CMPII MINFAL

Pakistan 03329221298

Set Clear Vision

• According to Bennis They offer people opportunities to create their own vision, to explore what the vision will mean to their jobs and lives, and to envision their future as part of the vision for the organisation. (Bennis, 1997)

Good Communicator

• Clear and effective communication is crucial. The effective manager keeps all team members and stakeholders informed and up to date. He consults with them regularly. He asks questions and listens to answers. He's receptive to new ideas and suggestions only if they help to move the project forward more effectively. He shares the rationale behind his decisions and actions.

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Enthusiastic

• Enthusiastic leaders are committed to their goals and express this commitment through optimism. Leadership emerges as someone expresses such confident commitment to a project that others want to share his or her optimistic expectations. Enthusiasm is contagious and effective leaders know it.

Competence

• Simply put, to enlist in another's cause, we must believe that that person knows what he or she is doing. Leadership competence does not however necessarily refer to the project leader's technical abilities in the core technology of the business. As project management continues to be recognised as a field in and of itself, project leaders will be chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning track record is the surest way to be considered competent. 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.

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.

Cool Under Pressure

• In a perfect world, projects would be delivered on time, under budget and with no major problems or obstacles to overcome. But we don't live in a perfect world - projects have problems. A leader with a hardy attitude will take these problems in stride. When leaders encounter a stressful event, they consider it interesting, they feel they can influence the outcome and they see it as an opportunity

Team-Building Skills

• A team builder can best be defined as a strong person who provides the substance that holds the team together in common purpose toward the right objective. In order for a team to progress from a group of strangers to a single cohesive unit, the leader must understand the process and dynamics required for this transformation.

Problem Solving Skills

• Although an effective leader is said to share problem-solving responsibilities with the team, we expect our project leaders to have excellent problem-solving skills themselves. They have a fresh, creative response to here-and-now opportunities,and not much concern with how others have performed them. (Kouzes 1987)

Thrive under pressure:

• In the course of developing a project, project managers face many experiences that could take a toll on the project’s momentum. Thus, to avoid such circumstances, a project manager must be calm and have a balanced state of mind and not indulge in negative thoughts.

Tolerance for ambiguity

• – a project manager can often be unfamiliar with the kind of work the client does and needs to be able to adapt and move the project forward, even if all aspects of the company aren’t understood perfectly.

Flexible management style

• – a project manager is constantly dealing with new people and environments and must adjust accordingly. They do not have the luxury of an established rapport with their project associates.

Manage by example (MBE).

• Team members will be closely watching all actions of the project manager. Therefore, project managers must be honest, direct, straightforward, and knowledgeable in all dealings with people and with the project. A good manager knows how to work hard and have fun, and this approach becomes contagious.

A positive attitude

• . Project managers must always have a positive attitude, even when there are substantial difficulties, problems, or project obstacles. Negative attitudes erode confidence, and a downward spiral will follow.

Good Sense of Organization

• • Not every project is going to involve a busload of team

members and an eye-watering budget. The same sorts of rules can be applied to every project though, and if you can run a small project in an organized manner, than a big one shouldn’t be a problem either. Personally I like to take advantage of the free time which is often available at the start of a project to get all of the templates set up, system folders organized and team members working together.

Can React to Changes

• You could work for 50 years as a project manager and still not come across all of the different situations which this role is capable of throwing at you. It certainly isn’t the position for someone who wants an easy life of sitting in the same desk and doing the same things every single day until they reach retirement age

Action-Oriented

• A good project manager is action-oriented and results-driven. She has the ability to focus on her goals and doesn't get distracted or discouraged by problems that inevitably occur. She doesn't procrastinate or avoid unpleasant parts of the project. She perseveres until she gets the necessary result.

pragmatic.

• Sometimes project managers can be too analytical, says Kondo. "They analyze things to do death before they move ahead," she notes, which slows progress on a project. Good project managers focus on getting work done with the resources available to them.

They possess the gift of foresight.

• Good project managers are able to anticipate and head off problems that can jeopardize deadlines, budgets and user acceptance.

Good Listener

• As important as confidence is, the PM must also know when to listen and rely not on their own understanding. As PMs, we are doomed to fail if we do not listen to others and look to our PMO, our team and the customer for vital information and feedback as the project progresses. Too many times we end up working heads-down as we push toward a critical project deadline or milestone and miss some of the critical things going on around us. Remember, the rest of the project team also has their hand on the pulse of the project and at any given time may have more vital information than the PM to share including wise views on the direction…or re-direction…needed on the projec