The project manager is an important resource responsible for leading the entire project team and delivering high-quality projects on time. The manager must possess a high level of project management skills for implementing the project successfully from its initiation to the closure phase. This can be supported by a report from the Project Management Institute that states, “40% of the project success relies on the manager’s essential project management skills.”

So let us learn about the top 7 essential project management skills a manager must possess.

1. Leadership - This is the most important skill a project manager must possess, as he is not going to
manage the project alone but lead his team to deliver the best outcome.

2. Communication and Negotiation - The project manager must possess great communication skills as he
needs to communicate not only with his team but stakeholders and external resources to the project.

3. Team Management - The project manager must be skilled enough to manage his team efficiently and
bring out the best skills in them.

4. Time Management - “Time is more valuable than money, you can get more money but you cannot get
more time.”- By Jim Rohn. Time management is one of the key skills that a project manager must
possess.

5. Risk Management - Project risks are always not clear, so it is the manager who needs to smartly envision
the upcoming risks and get his team ready to work on it.

6. Cost Management - The project managers must effectively utilize the cost assigned to every project. For
this, they need to plan in advance as to how they will distribute this budget for various tasks that need to
be covered.

7. Technical Expertise - The successful project managers are well informed about all the latest technologies
and industrial domains.

So a successful project manager must have all the above-mentioned skills and lead his team with the right attitude.