Your Soft Side, Part 1

  ProjectsAtWork  

Successful project managers bring a mix of tangible and intangible skills to their projects. But the 'soft stuff' can be hard to define. Here are 10 non-technical qualities that project managers should work on developing.

This article outlines some of the intangible skills project managers need to be successful. Part II will review methods to measure these "soft skills."

A project manager can make or break a project. There are many cases where undersized teams far exceeded their projects’ objectives, while other highly funded and visible projects failed. The right project manager can empower the team to perform small "miracles," which, when pieced together, can represent a major accomplishment.

Despite the fact that project managers play a major role in the outcome of any project, many organizations fail to realize that the selection, assessment and recognition of their project managers should be based not only on tangible competencies such as technical acumen and methodology knowledge, but also on intangible skills such as political savvy and communication abilities.

With that in mind, here are 10 essential soft skills that organizations should seek — and reward — in their project managers. Likewise, all project managers should work on adding developing these intangible qualities to their skill sets.

1. Vision
A project manager needs to be inspirational — a cult …

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