3 Power Skills That Fuel Advancement

Bruce is the founder of ProjectManagementHacks.com, a resource for growing IT project managers.

  Career Development  

Skills are the keys that open the doors to career success. In some professions, everyone focuses on technical skills, which always matter (I recently signed up for a Power BI course to refresh my technical skills). Yet technical skills will only take you so far.

My focus for this article is different: It’s about power skills, the ultimate examples of transferrable skills that can be applied in many different contexts. This guide will focus on three skills that stand out to me: problem solving, strategic thinking and self-discipline. (For more, see PMI's Pulse of the Profession® 2023: Power Skills, Redefining Project Success).

Developing Problem-Solving Skills
Project managers are required to deliver results despite uncertainty. You work with unfamiliar people, processes or technology…or all of the above in many projects! Problem solving is a skill that you will draw on constantly. This skill can be broken down into three sub-skills: diagnosing the problem, generating solutions, and selecting a solution.

As we explore these sub-skills, ask yourself where you have blind spots and where you might improve. For illustration, let's assume that you are trying to solve one of the most common problems: the project is overdue.

1. Diagnosing the problem: Effectively diagnosing the cause or nature of a problem may be the most impactful way to…

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