Interpersonal Skills in Project Management

Effective project managers acquire a balance of technical, interpersonal, and conceptual skills that help them analyze situations and interact appropriately. The following are some important interpersonal skills required for project management based on the project management of body knowledge (PMBOK® Guide):

• Leadership
• Team building
• Motivation
• Communication
• Influencing
• Decision Making
• Political and cultural awareness
• Negotiation

The appropriate use of these skills assists the project manager in effectively managing the project.

Decision Making Skills in Project Management

There are four basic decision styles normally used by project managers: command, consultation, consensus, and coin flip (random).

There are four major factors that affect the decision style: time constraint, trust, quality, and acceptance. Project managers may make decisions individually, or they may involve the project team in the decision-making process.

Project managers and project teams sometimes use a decision-making model or process such as the six-phase model shown below.

1. Problem Definition - Fully explore, clarify, and define the problem.
2. Problem Solution Generation - Prolong the new idea generating process by brainstorming multiple solutions and discouraging premature decisions.
3. Ideas to Action - Define evaluation criteria, rate pros and cons of alternatives, select best solution.
4. Solution Action Planning - Involve key participants to gain acceptance and commitment to making the solution work.
5. Solution Evaluation Planning - Post implementation analysis, evaluation, and lesson learned.
6. Evaluation of the Outcome and Process - Evaluate how well the problem was solved or project goals were achieved (extension of previous phase).

Influencing Skills in Project Management

Influencing is a strategy of sharing power and relying on interpersonal skills to get others to cooperate towards common goals.

Using the following guidelines can influence team members:

• Lead by example, and follow through with commitments.
• Clarify how a decision will be made.
• Use a flexible interpersonal style, adjust the style to the audience.
• Apply your power skillfully and cautiously. Think of long-term collaboration.

Source: Project Management of Body Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)