The 12 Attributes of an Effective Project Manager
The 12 Attributes of an Effective Project Manager
By Lonnie Pacelli
Recently I did an interview talking about the most important attributes of an effective project manager. It was fun putting together the list and I thought I would share my raw bullets with you, as follows:
- Skill in negotiating win-win solutions between stakeholders and the project team
- Ability to understand the needs of the stakeholder organization and take those into account when making day to day project decisions
- Ability to objectively present decision alternatives and consequences and drive to a rational decision based on the alternatives
- Staying calm particularly during turbulent times
- Avoiding showing biases toward any team member or stakeholder organization
- Skill in clearly articulating a project workplan, its dependencies, and the resulting deliverables
- Desire to hold the team accountable for deliverables
- Ability to clearly articulate and communicate the mission of the project and continually remind the project team of the business purpose behind the project
- Ability to earn the respect of the team regardless of reporting relationships
- Willingness to be held accountable for results and not deflect blame when things don’t go well
- Ability to effectively leverage a project sponsor to get him/her to help the project manager through difficult issues
- Skill in managing virtual teams
Lonnie Pacelli is an internationally recognized project management and leadership author and consultant with over 20 years experience at Microsoft, Accenture and his own company, Leading on the Edge International. Read more about Lonnie, subscribe to his newsletter, see his books and articles, and get lots of free self-study seminars, webcasts and resources.