14.project manager characteristics By Allah Dad Khan

2. Project Manager Characteristics
BY
ALLAH DAD KHAN
Provincial Project Director CMPII
MINFAL
Pakistan
03329221298

4. Set Clear Vision
• According to Bennis They offer people opportunities
to create their own vision, to explore what the vision
will mean to their jobs and lives, and to envision
their future as part of the vision for the
organisation. (Bennis, 1997)

5. Good Communicator
• Clear and effective communication is crucial. The
effective manager keeps all team members and
stakeholders informed and up to date. He consults
with them regularly. He asks questions and listens
to answers. He's receptive to new ideas and
suggestions only if they help to move the project
forward more effectively. He shares the rationale
behind his decisions and actions.
• .

6. Enthusiastic
• Enthusiastic leaders are committed to their goals
and express this commitment through optimism.
Leadership emerges as someone expresses such
confident commitment to a project that others want
to share his or her optimistic expectations.
Enthusiasm is contagious and effective leaders know
it.

11. Competence
• Simply put, to enlist in another's cause, we must believe
that that person knows what he or she is doing. Leadership
competence does not however necessarily refer to the
project leader's technical abilities in the core technology of
the business. As project management continues to be
recognised as a field in and of itself, project leaders will be
chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others
rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a
winning track record is the surest way to be considered
competent. Expertise in leadership skills is another
dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire,
enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if
leaders are to be seen as capable and competent.

12. Ability to Delegate Tasks
• Trust is an essential element in the relationship of
a project leader and his or her team. You
demonstrate your trust in others through your
actions - how much you check and control their
work, how much you delegate and how much you
allow people to participate. Individuals who are
unable to trust other people often fail as leaders
and forever remain little more that micro-
managers, or end up doing all of the work
themselves.

14. Cool Under Pressure
• In a perfect world, projects would be delivered
on time, under budget and with no major
problems or obstacles to overcome. But we
don't live in a perfect world - projects have
problems. A leader with a hardy attitude will
take these problems in stride. When leaders
encounter a stressful event, they consider it
interesting, they feel they can influence the
outcome and they see it as an opportunity

18. Team-Building Skills
• A team builder can best be defined as a strong
person who provides the substance that holds
the team together in common purpose toward
the right objective. In order for a team to
progress from a group of strangers to a single
cohesive unit, the leader must understand the
process and dynamics required for this
transformation.

20. Problem Solving Skills
• Although an effective leader is said to share
problem-solving responsibilities with the
team, we expect our project leaders to have
excellent problem-solving skills themselves.
They have a fresh, creative response to here-
and-now opportunities,and not much concern
with how others have performed them.
(Kouzes 1987)

22. Thrive under pressure:
• In the course of developing a project, project
managers face many experiences that could
take a toll on the project’s momentum. Thus,
to avoid such circumstances, a project
manager must be calm and have a balanced
state of mind and not indulge in negative
thoughts.

23. Tolerance for ambiguity
• – a project manager can often be unfamiliar
with the kind of work the client does and
needs to be able to adapt and move the
project forward, even if all aspects of the
company aren’t understood perfectly.

24. Flexible management style
• – a project manager is constantly dealing with
new people and environments and must
adjust accordingly. They do not have the
luxury of an established rapport with their
project associates.

25. Manage by example (MBE).
• Team members will be closely watching all
actions of the project manager. Therefore,
project managers must be honest, direct,
straightforward, and knowledgeable in all
dealings with people and with the project. A
good manager knows how to work hard and
have fun, and this approach becomes
contagious.

26. A positive attitude
• . Project managers must always have a
positive attitude, even when there are
substantial difficulties, problems, or project
obstacles. Negative attitudes erode
confidence, and a downward spiral will follow.

28. Good Sense of Organization
•
• Not every project is going to involve a busload of
team members and an eye-watering budget. The
same sorts of rules can be applied to every
project though, and if you can run a small project
in an organized manner, than a big one shouldn’t
be a problem either. Personally I like to take
advantage of the free time which is often
available at the start of a project to get all of the
templates set up, system folders organized and
team members working together.

31. Can React to Changes
• You could work for 50 years as a project
manager and still not come across all of the
different situations which this role is capable
of throwing at you. It certainly isn’t the
position for someone who wants an easy life
of sitting in the same desk and doing the same
things every single day until they reach
retirement age

32. Action-Oriented
• A good project manager is action-oriented and
results-driven. She has the ability to focus on
her goals and doesn't get distracted or
discouraged by problems that inevitably occur.
She doesn't procrastinate or avoid unpleasant
parts of the project. She perseveres until she
gets the necessary result.

34. pragmatic.
• Sometimes project managers can be too
analytical, says Kondo. "They analyze things to
do death before they move ahead," she notes,
which slows progress on a project. Good
project managers focus on getting work done
with the resources available to them.

35. They possess the gift of foresight.
• Good project managers are able to anticipate
and head off problems that can jeopardize
deadlines, budgets and user acceptance.
•

39. Good Listener
• As important as confidence is, the PM must also know
when to listen and rely not on their own
understanding. As PMs, we are doomed to fail if we do
not listen to others and look to our PMO, our team and
the customer for vital information and feedback as the
project progresses. Too many times we end up
working heads-down as we push toward a critical
project deadline or milestone and miss some of the
critical things going on around us. Remember, the rest
of the project team also has their hand on the pulse of
the project and at any given time may have more vital
information than the PM to share including wise views
on the direction…or re-direction…needed on the projec