Soft skills are a combination of people skills, communication skills, social skills, attitude, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients that allow employees to explore their work environment, work well with other team members, perform brilliantly and achieve their goals along with hard skills. Nowadays, considering soft skills as one of the hiring factors of an employee is becoming increasingly important as hard skills or tech skills. Hard skills on the other hand are easier to learn and are often more quantifiable than soft skills. Candidates with strong soft skills are in demand in the field of project and construction management because being a project manager involves a lot of teamwork and communicating with different kinds of people.
Let us walk you through a thorough explanation of the top 6 soft skills needed for a project manager to be effective at what he does:
Communication Skills
A project manager needs to have great communication skills because he/she will be talking to a lot of people like clients, co-workers and partners. Being able to relay information accurately in a polite and positive manner is of huge advantage in the construction industry.
Problem Solving Skills
Just like any project, a construction related project will almost always have to face challenges and problems. In order for a project to be a success, critical thinking and problem solvings skills are essential in this field. Problem solving skills generally refer to a person being able to identify, handle and solve problems correctly and effectively.
Emotional Intelligence
This soft skill has been one of the most sought after skills of employees in almost every industry because this is defined as the ability to recognize, understand and manage reason with emotions. Some even refer to it as the “ability to become human”. A project manager needs to relate, understand and identify the people and problems he encounters daily to be able to get along with the people and environment he works with. Emotional Intelligence plays a huge role in avoiding conflict.
Leadership
The ability to step up the game in a complicated situation and help resolve it is something employers look for when looking for an effective project manager. A leader guides his colleagues in a decent and polite manner to get a project done on time.
Teamwork
Every successful project manager knows how to work as a team member with their colleagues. Sharing ideas, collaborating with other members and listening to the opinion and needs of others are greatly needed for effective project management.
Conflict Management
Knowing what to say, when to say, and how to say things are a huge plus in project management to avoid conflicts and the link. But if conflict arises, knowing how to manage it in a classy, fair and decent manner is important for an effective handling of a project.
To sum things up, these are the most important soft skills employers look out for when hiring a project manager or assigning one to a certain task. Aspiring project managers should work on these soft skills and personal development as much as they train for tech or hard skills. A project’s journey will circulate and rely on these skills for it to be a success.
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