PMP Exam Tip: The Project Manager’s Essential Interpersonal Skills

A successful project manager must have many different types of skills. Those that come to mind immediately are the technical skills that we need to put together a project plan, schedule, budget and all of the necessary documentation. It is also important for us to have the conceptual skills needed to “see” the project as it is being developed.

However, those skills won’t ensure a successful project unless the project manager is able to complement his / her technical skills with many different types of interpersonal skills.

These essential skills include the following:

Leadership
Team building
Motivation
Communication
Influencing
Decision making
Political and cultural awareness
Negotiation

Being able to call upon and apply these skills at the right moment in your project can help ensure success. We will review each of these skills in our upcoming weekly exam tips.