Soft skills are vital for project managers and you will often see them referred to as “power skills”. Whatever you call them, these skills related to interacting with other people are linked directly to project success. 72% of high-performing organisations in fact place a greater significance on these skills rather than technical ones, which can be more easily taught via training and development courses.
Here we take a look at exactly how these skills can be the most effective in your role.
Listening not just talking
A recent PMI Pulse of the Profession Report found that ineffective communication can contribute to the failure of projects around one third of the time. When you consider the cost of the average project – many of which a huger commercial or publically funded infrastructure projects, then a 30% failure rate has a huge economic impact.
Yet more effective communication is not an insurmountable issue. Simply by listening to the people involved in the project you could have an extremely impactful effect on project outcomes.
Managing stressful situations
Research shows that approximately 75% of project managers firmly believe that soft skills like emotional regulation are far more important than technical skills when it comes to achieving success.
Yet more than tree quarters of project managers believe that their main project had either caused them stress or was currently making them stressed. Whilst it is understandable that there will always be an element of stress involved in any project we are experiencing an upwards trend in the industry that could be seen as worrying.
Collaboration is key
Teams that have strong collaboration practices are more likely to deliver their projects on time and to stay on budget. According to an Association for Project Management (APM) report, projects are likely to be around 2.5 times more successful when there are project management best practices implemented correctly. APM project management focuses on the belief that effective project management relies on empowering people, applying a structured but adaptable framework, with continuous emphasis on business benefits rather than just measuring processes. Combined with an emphasis on the best way to collaborate in stressful and complex situations, and, in theory, that should result in more successful projects.
Do you have effective soft skills?
As if that wasn’t enough, The CHAOS Report: Beyond Infinity, published figures that show that 59% of all project failures stem from deficiencies within soft skills rather than as a result of technical issues. This underscores the critical importance of having effective soft skills within your project team.
Emotional intelligence is one of the top three predictors of effectiveness in project leadership, but how much effort goes into training project managers to improve not only their technical skills but also their soft skills.
Burnout is far more widespread than many employers and even employees realise. Those who are burned-out are 63% more likely to take a period of sick leave, which can have longer term consequences for projects. Employees who were burned out are not just tired, they are also both mentally and physically exhausted – something that taking a sick day is unlikely to resolve.
