What Makes Project Managers Great?

Michael R. Wood is a Business Process Improvement & IT Strategist Independent Consultant. He is creator of the business process-improvement methodology called HELIX and founder of The Natural Intelligence Group, a strategy, process improvement and technology consulting company. He is also a CPA, has served as an Adjunct Professor in Pepperdine's Management MBA program, an Associate Professor at California Lutheran University, and on the boards of numerous professional organizations. Mr. Wood is a sought after presenter of HELIX workshops and seminars in both the U.S. and Europe.

 

Maybe you know one, or maybe you are one: a great project manager. You know, that rare individual who consistently delivers on time, on budget and meets or exceeds the objectives of the projects they lead.

Have you ever thought about what makes these people exceptional? In some cases, great PMs (or GPMs for the sake of this article) may not be well-versed in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) or other PM frameworks; so technical project management skills can’t be their secret sauce.

However, almost all GPMs have finely honed skills such as:

• A collaborative mindset
• Empathy
• A “whatever it takes” attitude
• The ability to build trust and confidence with others

But even those skills are pretty common in PMs today. For me, the real differentiator between typical PMs and great PMs are their…

• Instincts
• Superior judgement and decision-making skills
• Clarity in purpose and action/single-mindedness of purpose
• Ability to inspire and connect
• Ability to persuade
• Ability to facilitate, build and align consensus

Of course, having years—often decades—of seasoned experience across multiple industries; relevant expertise in specific applications and environments; and a finely tuned “crap detector” can’t hurt either.

In considering the above list of GPM …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.