Seven Characteristics of a Rock Star Project Manager

If you are a leader of a large organization, it is likely that you have interacted with “good” project managers as well as some “not-so-good” project managers.  Having a “good” project manager lead your most important projects is key to:

• “Successful” project delivery (on schedule, on budget, great quality, achieves desired business value)

• Minimal stress to you (great communication regarding project status, risks are being proactively managed, issues are being escalated as appropriate, and the project is being expertly managed with minimal supervision required by you)

Whether you are hiring an external consultant to serve as a project manager of your major initiative or you’re deputizing one of your internal team members to lead the charge, it’s important to keep in mind the following characteristics of rock star project managers.

1.  Inspirational Leadership

Top-notch project managers are required to manage by influence.  In most scenarios, project managers are responsible for leading a team of individuals who do not report to them.  That said, PMs are required to be strong leaders that can inspire team members to give their best effort and thinking for the project.  Great PMs are enthusiastic about the project, understand the importance of their project and how it fits within the context of the organization’s strategy, and are able to relay this information to the project team and help them be excited about the work as well.

2.  Project Management Competency

Many hiring managers primarily focus on the need for their project managers to have the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential over any other attribute.  After many years of working in the project management space in multiple industries, I can confidently say that the PMP credential alone does not translate to a strong project manager.  I have worked with many PMP-certified project managers who were not very good. I have also worked with some awesome PMs who do not have their PMP.  (And by the way, I always encourage those PMs to go ahead and get the credentials to support their awesomeness!)

Though having a PMP credential does not guarantee that the PM is a rock star…or even good, I highly recommend that professionals who are interested in pursuing or growing within the project management profession pursue certification.  To become certified the individual is required to undergo training to learn project management foundations and techniques.  To maintain the certification, professional development must be ongoing which helps project professionals stay on top of techniques and topics in the PM space.  Some very important foundational PM competencies the individual should possess are being able to: 

• Build a “good” project schedule

• Manage a project schedule

• Understand and document project requirements

• Manage scope creep

• Effectively engage and communicate with stakeholders

• Become adept at risk management

• Manage and work with budgets 

• Possess knowledge and apply principles of meeting management and best practices

• Understand key processes and techniques of waterfall (predictive) vs agile PM methodologies

3.  Flexibility

Though it’s important to understand waterfall and agile PM methodologies, it’s more important to understand how to navigate either approach and when to be flexible and possibly take a hybrid approach.  Most projects are not cookie-cutter. Strong, more experienced project managers will provide structure for the project approach and ensure all key stakeholders are on board with that approach, but they are flexible in areas where it’s appropriate and beneficial to the project.

4.  Team-building Skills

To optimize the performance of a project team, it’s key for project managers to have and utilize strong team-building skills.  This is incredibly important for project success.  Oftentimes project teams are made up of individuals across the organization who do not report to the same supervisor and may not have worked together before.  It’s important to establish a team culture and unity for this newly formed “pod” of individuals joined together for the purpose of successfully completing the project.  Team-building should take place at the beginning of a project, throughout project execution, and at project closure (celebration of success!!).

5.  Great Stakeholder Engagement

According to The Standard for Project Management, stakeholders are “individuals, groups, or organizations that may affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a portfolio, program, or project. Stakeholders also directly or indirectly influence a project, its performance, or outcome in either a positive or negative way.” For any project, it is important to define who your stakeholders or stakeholder groups are and then to proactively determine how to best communicate and engage with them throughout the project’s duration.

6.  Problem-solving and Decision-making Skills

Effective decision-making and problem-solving are key for project success. A PM is not expected to have all of the answers, but they should be resourceful and understand which stakeholders may have the information or authority to help resolve issues as they arise.  A project manager’s job is to “keep the train moving” so to speak.  When the PM is slow to determine next steps or makes decisions too quickly without seeking the needed information, they can easily lead the team down the wrong path or unnecessarily stall the effort.

7. Ability to Stay Cool and Display Grace Under Pressure

Over the course of a project, there will be things that go wrong and not according to plan. (For example – can you think of even one wedding that took place without a hitch despite months of planning?) When (not if) something occurs that is unplanned, it’s important for the project manager to have the ability to stay cool under pressure. You don’t want your project manager to get stressed out and reactive at every turn.  That said, your PM should also display grace under pressure. Project team members will at some point be late completing a deliverable, despite the target due date that *they* gave you. A business owner may neglect to share an important requirement for the project until a project is well underway. We know that things happen. It’s important for the project manager to keep their cool and remain that strong leader who is able to keep the team going.

This list is not an all-inclusive list of the characteristics of a rock star PM, but it’s certainly a great start to identifying or growing your team members into one.  If you’re interested in improving the project management capacity within your organization through Project Leadership Coaching for your team members (project managers), check out my coaching services page for more details and feel free to contact me for a discovery call. If you’d simply like to continue following my insights on strategy and project management, follow me on LinkedIn and join my email list.