Damien Coffey is Linesight’s Director of Project Management in the USA. Having amassed extensive industry experience, he reflects on why People Management is the number one skill needed by a PM.
I was recently asked what the number one skill that a Project Manager needs to be successful was. I initially thought about all the skills that the established educational institutions would say that you need, like Scheduling, Resource Management, Risk Management, Budget Management, Safety and Change Management. I could not rank any of these as the number one skill, as they are all arguably equally important. But then it struck me; the number one skill that a good Project Manager needs is People Management. A good Project Manager will need this skill in order to manage his project team, as they are the essential component to enable successful management of all the other project elements. When I gave my answer, the inquirer was taken aback, having expected me to rattle off Scheduling, Risk, Budget or Change Management. He then asked me why I had answered People Management, and I recounted this story.
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