I don’t believe there is a concise list of the qualities that will make a person an excellent Project Manager, what I can say is that through out my career I have identified a number of area that a key and I continually develop personally.

Being a good communicator has to be one of the most valuable skills in a PMs toolbox. You cannot understate the importance of having the ability to provide clear and concise instructions to a design team or taking a brief from a client, effective communication is key. Never forgetting that in communicating the ability to listen is as important as speaking.

Whilst there is no denying the following a logical process is a key component of being an excellent project manager, I believe that technical expertise are absolutely necessity. When you’re working with a multi-disciplined design team on a large project such as a Data Centre, Pharmaceutical or Lifesciences you need a firm grasp of all of the technical aspects of a project to ensure that you can deliver it in line with your clients requirements.

Problem solving skills and knowing what you don’t know. As project manager I am firmly focused on the outcomes, projects are often complex and have tight timelines and budgets. You need to draw on your experience, your creativity to solve issues as and when they arise. Alongside this is recognising that you don’t have all the answers and that you are able to call on colleagues and team members to assist and ensure the best outcome for the project.

Having the ability to work under pressure is paramount, as Project Managers we love to plan ahead, track progress against program whilst hitting our milestones. People and projects are dynamic, issues can and do arise. Pressure comes in many forms, we can rarely control the causation of these pressures but we can ensure we have strategies and skills to deal with them when they do. Thinking on our feet, taking onboard the concerns and requirement of our key stakeholders and delivering.

Integrity. As Project Managers we are hardworking and honest, these are fundamental components of integrity. We need to be consistent in our actions and behaviours with all team members. Project Managers bring teams together, acting with integrity, recognising the hard work of others, sharing success and carrying burned in equal measure will ensure others bye into your vision. In client side Project Management we are clients reprehensive, acting without or not having integrity is a fundamental failure of our duties.