Career Center - Tips and Advice

5 Tips to Grow as a Project Manager

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When you got your first job, your project manager would have been your role model. You may have admired how they communicated, gathered feedback, helped you gain new skills and ensured that the project stayed on track. Now that you have become a project manager yourself, you may have started to wonder how you can grow and become better at the project manager job.

A project manager job is present in almost every industry and businesses of all sizes. The role is multi-faceted and demanding. It is also one of the most exciting jobs in any firm. The job of the project manager offers tremendous opportunities to expand your horizon and improve various skills.

Here are a few ways that you can grow as a project manager.

1. Communicate Effectively
A project manager job implies that you are often the link between the management, the clients and the development team. It is your responsibility to ensure that the team understands the client's requirements and also that the client understands the scope of the project.

You also have to assign tasks to your team members and resolve conflict within the team. All of these rely heavily on your communication skills. You have to convey the message clearly and concisely without any room for ambiguity.

Communication is a two-way street. You have to learn to listen to the concerns of all the stakeholders to come up with a solution.

2. Improve Your Negotiation Skills

Negotiation is another key aspect of a project manager's job description. You will be negotiating almost every aspect of the project with the client and the team.

You have to negotiate with the upper management to get the resources that will help you finish the project on time. You have to negotiate with the client regarding the finer details of the project. You have to negotiate with the team to ensure that they stick to the project schedule and finish all tasks as per the deadlines.

How well you negotiate will determine how much you can grow in project manager jobs.

3. Encourage Feedback

Feedback is a way for you to find out how well you are doing as a project manager. A good leader always encourages feedback. It enables you to identify issues that are impacting the project. You can then come up with solutions for these issues.

If you truly want to grow as a project manager, feedback is essential to the process. Feedback from clients as well as your team can help you identify areas where you need to improve professionally.

4. Improve Time Management Skills

How you manage time can dictate whether the project is a success or not. Since setting schedules is a part of the project manager job description, you have to do it with utmost care.

You must allow as much time as you can for the team to complete development while also ensuring that you can deliver the product on time to the client. You have to split the large project into smaller chunks and pay close attention to their completion. You also have to ensure that you leave enough room for reviews and revamps.

5. Learn From Your Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes. It is natural. However, your strength lies in what you learn from these mistakes and how you implement those lessons in the future. If you want to further your career as a project manager, you should always analyse your mistakes and think of how you could have avoided them pre-emptively.

Project manager jobs demand a lot more than domain knowledge. You have to always be open to changes and feedback. You must pay close attention to your time management, leadership and communication skills. With these, you will be able to handle every problem that comes your way with finesse and become an excellent project manager.

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