Personal vs professional development in project management

Project managers are a very special breed of person; they require a complete and often unique set of skills requiring a whole range of organisation, budgeting and scheduling capabilities, but also those that are referred to as “soft” personal skills – the ones that are so vital when it comes to dealing with other people. Companies that offer project management training and development understand that the project environment is often uncertain (see https://www.parallelprojecttraining.com ), and this forces the project manager to constantly adapt to circumstances around them and look for new ways in which they can deal with issues. 

Roles for project managers are in demand now, more than ever, and as technology continues to advance, and the marketplace becomes increasingly competitive it is likely that this demand will keep on growing. Whilst it is true that a good project manager is made and not born there are a number of skills that the best project manager swill have on instinct; and really it is all about choosing the right project management courses to help develop those skills in order to be the best in the world of project management. The combination of training and on the job experience is what helps any project manager to develop the full set of skills needed to succeed in the role. The journey might not be as smooth as they would like, there will be plenty of lessons to learn along the way, and some of these will be learnt through mistakes. But by working with a range of different people on a selection of projects a project manager will make improvements both on a personal and professional level.

What is personal development?

Any project manager, whether they are new to project managing or have been doing it for a long time, will need to deal with a wide range of people from stakeholders to team members. And there are relatively few instances where they will be able to choose their own team members. With possibly the exception of one or two key individuals who have the skills necessary to assist with the project, where these skills are not already in the team. In many instances the project manager will need to work with the team they are given and develop the capabilities to deal with this. 

The ability to deal with individuals effectively is where personal development is so important. The personal or soft skills that are worth developing include:

• Networking – this is the ability to take a look at the quality of your working relationships and work out where you need to make better relationships in order to get the project completed and develop a better, wider, support network
• Building rapport and trust – being able to develop a positive attitude to those individuals who might be called on for support
• Listening – this is one of the greatest skills that any project manager can develop. Being able to listen to a range of different people at all levels of your project and even recognise when there is something they are not telling you, for example when an element of the project is falling behind, is so important
• Winning commitment to the goals of the project – this is not just a case of having goals for a project but rather making sure that everyone is motivated enough to help you as the project manager when it comes to delivering them
• Counselling skills – this doesn’t mean that as the project manager you should also become a counsellor but rather that you should develop skills to help in cases of personal emergency
• Appropriate use of power – power can be necessary as a project manager but should always be used appropriately, if it is abused you lose the trust and motivation of your team
• Conflict management and negotiation – conflict isn’t always a bad thing, if it is managed well then, a project manager can win respect and the commitment from others to look for better solutions
• Delegation – a basic and vital project management skill. Some managers find delegating difficult, but it is important to learn how to do it appropriately and sufficiently

What is professional development?

Professional development is an ongoing process, and with methods and ideas constantly being improved upon it is necessary for any project manager to not only keep abreast of these but also keep up to date with industry developments. Even a project manager who has been in the field for a number of years will still be completing professional development goals all the time. 

It can be a good idea to set out a development plan, this is something that will give a project manager a list of goals that they would like to achieve on a professional level; it is something that is often agreed with their supervisor or mentor. 

It may be that there is a new methodology that has come out or in which further advances have been made and for which there are new training courses or development programmes. Attending these will obviously count as continuing professional development (CPD) for the project manager but will also help the team they work with, the projects and, therefore, the company as well. 

Time should be set aside by the project manager and their supervisor for professional development goals to be met on a regular basis. Some of this might be as a result of attending external courses but there may also be internal opportunities for a project manager to attain these professional development goals, particularly in the case of a newly qualified project manager who may be able to learn on the job from a more experienced project manager. 

The professional development goals that a project manager sets for themselves can be things that they would like to achieve in the next six months, the next couple of years or even in the longer term – it can, of course, be all three. The important thing is to set some goals and work towards them.

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