25 Project Management Skills Every Project Manager Needs to Succeed

Today's companies must ensure that their projects are managed with competence, efficiency, and creativity to stay ahead of their competitors. Project Managers help to create and maintain an environment in which teams can effectively collaborate to achieve their goals. If your goal is to fill that role, it's vital to know which project management skills you'll need to be successful.

In this post, we'll explain why these project management skills are so important and highlight 25 key project management skills. By developing these skills, you'll ensure that you have what it takes to lead any project team to success.

What are project management skills?

The skills required of a Project Manager encompass a wide range of technical abilities, soft skills, and key interpersonal strengths that enable someone to successfully guide a project from inception to completion. 

Project management skills are used to lead team members, organize workflow, and ensure that everything is done accurately, efficiently, and within assigned budgets and deadlines. Effective Project Managers are able to plan out every detail of the project, coordinate their team, and execute the project strategy to produce an end product that meets stakeholders' needs and expectations.

Why are project management skills so important?

Without the right project management skills, leaders will struggle to manage their team members and complete assigned project tasks in an efficient and effective way. With the right skills, however, a good manager can effectively lead the project, delegate responsibilities to the right people, and motivate their entire team to ensure that the project goals are met and exceeded.

The top 10 Project Manager skills

Project Manager software

There are several types of project manager software that a Project Manager can use to build efficiency into projects and make their lives easier. These programs allow you to track a project from start to finish, including assigning individuals to the project, adding deadlines, and managing tasks. Examples of project manager software include:

• Asana

• Monday

• Smartsheets

• Microsoft Project

• Basecamp

• OpenProject

• Hive

Task management

One of the most important skills that any Project Manager can possess is the ability to manage the various tasks involved in completing the project. Successful task management requires leaders to identify those tasks, organize them in an effective way, and assign them to the right team members. 

Many Project Managers use some form of project management software, such as those noted above, to coordinate this aspect of the process. Therefore, it is helpful to be familiar with some of the most common tools in use today.

Time management skills

Projects invariably come with deadlines, and it's the Project Manager's job to ensure that the team's time is managed in a way that meets those expectations. 

This requires soft skills like organization and attention to detail, as well as the hard technical skills needed to monitor task progress, adjust workflow to maintain that progress, and create any necessary reports along the way.

Project scheduling skills

This skill is critical when a project is being created and organized, since it establishes labor and resource allocation, identifies risk elements, and sets expectations about the final product and its anticipated completion date. Effective time managers frequently refer to these plans as they monitor their teams' progress and make any necessary adjustments.

Budgeting and cost management

Experienced Project Managers should also have sound budgeting skills. Project development always involves monetary costs, and it's the Project Manager's job to create a budget that's within expectations and then to monitor expenditure throughout the project process.

Risk management

Every project comes with a certain amount of risk. That's why assessing risks and managing them are vital skills for project managers to have during the project planning stage. Leaders who can effectively identify potential risks and create solutions to minimize those hazards can increase their teams' chances of successfully meeting project expectations.

Policy knowledge

A Project Manager will be expected to understand the company's policies and procedures, as well as important regulations that might impact their team's efforts. This knowledge can include familiarity with everything from best practices and specific company guidelines to various safety, environmental, or health regulations.

Project brief development

A project brief includes the objectives of a project and the road map to completion. It’s a helpful tool for Project Managers to use when sharing information with key stakeholders upfront, ensuring they’re informed about the project and demonstrating that the Project Manager has a plan for success. 

Technical writing skills

The best Project Managers will have sound technical writing skills. These skills are used to develop project plans, document important information over the course of a project's lifespan, and create memos, progress reports, and final assessments for team members, clients, and management.

Workload management

Those working on a project need to be able to complete their assigned work efficiently and within the timeframe permitted by the project. That means they can’t have too much assigned to them that sets them up for failure. A skilled Project Manager understands the estimated time required to complete tasks and assigns workloads accordingly. 

Another critical aspect of workload management is ensuring that team members aren’t overworked, which makes it more difficult for them to meet project demands. 

8 key Project Manager soft skills

Communication skills

Effective communication is an absolutely critical project management skill. These leaders are responsible for communicating their plans to superiors, explaining project goals and strategies to team members, and potentially interacting directly with clients. 

These skills should include both verbal and written communication abilities to ensure that Project Managers can consistently deliver clear and precise messages at every stage of the project process.

Leadership abilities

The most effective Project Managers have the skills needed to obtain team buy-in for their projects and personal traits that inspire team members to follow their lead. Abilities such as vision, honesty, decisiveness, and empathy are essential for any effective leader. 

Related reading: For more information on effective leadership, check out our article, These 14 Leadership Traits Can Fuel Your Career Success.

Organizational skills

Organizational skills are another critical ability for project management. An effective manager must be able to prioritize tasks, delegate work in an orderly manner, and maintain oversight of resource use, team member activities, and project progress.

Adaptability

The ability to adapt to changing circumstances is a vital component of any Project Manager's skill set. That adaptability can involve everything from meeting unexpected challenges to keeping pace with new technologies, trends, and processes.

Attention to detail

Since the Project Manager is responsible for ensuring that every element of project development contributes positively to the final outcome, attention to detail is crucial. This involves tracking team members' activities and results to ensure that every aspect of the project is completed as intended.

Critical thinking skills

Good leaders rely on sound critical thinking skills to help ensure that problems are dealt with in the most logical way. Project Managers should have this skill in abundance and use their critical thinking at every stage of the project planning, development, and execution process.

Problem solving skills

Every manager needs to possess some type of problem solving skills to ensure that they can lead their team to find solutions to challenges. In fact, the ability to find solutions to problems is one of the most coveted skills that employers look for when assessing job candidates.

Creativity

Creativity is an essential soft skill for a Project Manager. Creativity allows project managers to come up with solutions and problem solve more effectively. 

7 interpersonal skills every Project Manager should possess

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Team building skills

Leaders who have excellent team building skills will always be more successful than those who lack these abilities. That holds true for Project Managers as well, who need to facilitate collaboration and ensure that everyone on the team is committed to meeting a shared objective.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a necessary project management skill. A good leader needs to be able to help a team to manage emotions that might inhibit progress and show empathy and understanding to maintain harmony among team members.

Negotiation

Negotiation is the art of finding solutions that can end disputes and bring people together. That bargaining skill is key for Project Managers who often find themselves trying to manage team members, clients, and superiors whose ideas and expectations can sometimes be at odds with one another.

Learning focus

As a Project Manager, you might find yourself in the role of teacher, identifying team members' training needs and trying to fill those gaps. The best Project Managers are committed to providing their teams with the knowledge and skills they need to find success.

Stress management

Project management can be a high-stress job, so a good manager needs to be able to manage their own stress to avoid frustration, burnout, and mistakes. If you believe that your own stress management could be better, check out “12 Tips to Manage Workplace Stress.”

Conflict management

Like other types of managers, Project Managers will often need to resolve disputes and disagreements between team members. With sound conflict management skills, an effective Project Manager can quickly identify the root causes of a conflict, help the parties find an acceptable compromise, and assist in restoring team cohesion.

Collaboration

Project Managers need to have great collaboration skills if they want to guide any team effort. This involves utilizing an array of interpersonal and other soft skills, while fostering open lines of communication and a conscientious mindset that prioritizes the team's success over individual contributions.

How to show project management skills on your resume

To make the most impact, highlight your project management skills throughout your resume. Here are some pointers to keep in mind as you include them:

• Choose the most relevant skills to incorporate. Refer to the job description and ensure that you include all skills listed that you possess. 

• Use quantifiable data to highlight your past successes in using your project management skills.

• Include them in your resume summary, core competencies list, and work experience section. 

• For soft project management skills, demonstrate how you applied them rather than merely listing them. 

Below are some examples that incorporate these pointers. 

Resume Summary example

The following resume summary example for an HR professional includes quantifiable data related to a project and emphasizes critical project management soft skills, including leadership, management, and motivation. 

HR Manager proficient in HR operations, strategy, employee relations, benefits, and compensation design. Astute at managing teams, leading projects, and motivating teams to meet goals. Launched new employee development program, increasing productivity by 10% over a 12-month period. 

Core Competencies list example

The core competencies list goes below your resume summary. You might also include a skills list below your education in the Education section of your resume. Here’s an example of some project management skills you might find in a core competencies or skills list:

Asana | Cost Management | Agile Management | Advanced Excel | Project Mapping | Budgeting

Work Experience section example

The following are examples of work accomplishments you might find in the Work Experience section of a resume. They each emphasize various project management skills and showcase quantifiable achievements related to the projects completed.

• Led $1.5 million pipeline project from inception to completion with 15 contractors, completing the project on schedule.

• Led cross-department team of 10 to implement new HRIS platform, increasing data input efficiency by 15%.

• Managed 10 projects for marketing and communication clients, consistently completing projects ahead of schedule and at least 5% under budget. 

Reflect project management skills on your resume

Project management skills are essential for any leader tasked with guiding a project from planning to handover. Whether your job title specifically identifies you as a Project Manager, or you lack the title but are regularly tasked with leading project efforts, these skills can ensure that you provide the kind of leadership that your team needs to be successful.

Do the project management skills on your resume convey your value to employers? Find out by getting your free resume review today!

This article was originally written by Ken Chase. It has been updated by Ronda Suder.