In any other engineering field, project management is not just about technical skills and intelligence. Equally important are people skills, the ability to listen, and to present technical concepts to just about anybody. Below we break down the skills required of a project manager for those aspiring to be one in the Philippines:
Technical Skills
We’ll start with the obvious one: project managers need technical knowledge and skills. It’s the foundation of the work: they need to show mastery in engineering to be able to handle project management work.
As always, grades during university do not give the full picture of someone’s skills but it does give people an idea of how well they understand concepts that are needed at work. There’s a board exam in this field exactly because there are important concepts and information engineers need to know.
People Skills
Aside from technical construction knowledge, people skills are also important. Project management involves handling different types of people with not just different expertise but different personalities. A project manager has to be able to synergize all of those. Unlike technical skills, this is not something you can master by reading. This is usually learned by practice and through experience.
Planning
As they always say: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. In project management, bulk of the work is planning, which is so important. There is so much to consider and a lot of scenarios and risks to foresee to be able to plan and execute well for a construction project. The best planner sees all worst-case scenarios and knows what to do in case they do happen.
Aside from this, good project managers are on-time. No matter what happens in a project, it is finished on schedule.
Negotiation
Great project managers are always on-budget. However, like what everyone knows in the industry, that could be challenging given there are unexpected expenses that would pop up. Aside from that, it could be hard to stick to the original plan. This is where negotiating skills come in.
Good negotiation skills are honed through understanding the current landscape, the culture where you are coming from, and some communication skills.
Leadership
The best teams are led by the best leaders. You need technical skills to be able to do projects but it takes a great leader to be able to plan and execute them well. Great project managers are great leaders.
At JCVA, our project managers are our best assets. With their wealth of experience, skills and knowledge, they will deliver your project to success. Have any questions about our services? Email us at info@jcvassociates.ph and visit www.jcvassociates.ph to know more about our consultancy offerings.
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