“People Skills / Soft Skills”

“These days, it’s the people skills that matter and will increasingly determine an organization’s success.”

The secrets behind the project success that are shared below are not the result of my own experience, infect they have derived from one of the premium school of thought  i.e. Humans.

The role of a Project Manager isn’t just about delivering on time, scope, budget and quality. It’s about developing people – teams and individuals. Projects are nothing without people; there are team members, clients, management, subordinates, peers, account managers, suppliers, contractors, regulators, and numerous other stakeholders.

A manager’s most important, and most difficult, job is to manage people. Because people come with differing opinions and you should value them, personality conflicts as no two employees have same personality type, office politics in order to gain the higher positions in the hierarchy, and sometimes hidden agendas that might be against you or in favour of you. Your people skills often make the difference between road blocks versus opportunities, and project success versus failure. Therefore “People/Soft Skills” are more and more acknowledged as vital to the ultimate success of projects, because it is all about People – not machines.

People skills involve the abilities to communicate effectively on interpersonal levels, wear different leadership hats and consult the team members, apply a system that identifies individual differences and resolve them, motivate individuals and teams to increase moral and retain them, productively manage conflicts, adaptable and flexible, manage and mediate personal and professional stress, Coach and mentor and become active in ongoing career management. Like e.g. “which employee do you retain when times are lean? The one whose attitude is positive and upbeat, and who is always willing to help; or the one who is inflexible and has a hard time admitting mistakes?

While your technical skills may get your foot in the door, your people skills are what open most of the doors to come. Your work ethic, your attitude, your communication skills, your emotional intelligence and a whole host of other personal attributes are the people skills that are crucial for career & project success. We can Say people skills are the tools of influence and implementation. Without the necessary people skills, Business analysis & project management professionals may miss important opportunities for project success.

Don’t wait for others to help you develop your people skills. Take the responsibility for this, and begin today by taking small steps in that direction. It’s important for you to recognize the vital role people skills play within your team and not only work on developing them within yourself, but encourage their development throughout the organization. People skills have a significant impact on the attitude a person brings to interactions with clients, customers, colleagues, supervisors, and other stakeholders. The more positive someone’s attitude is, the better that person’s relationships will be. That’s what fosters great team performance, and leads people to contribute strongly to the organization’s vision and strategy.

When people skills are cultivated and developed all relations are improved among stakeholders and therefore the project success probability is increased from the client’s point of view as well as the project team.

“The successful technology professional of today and tomorrow owns a meld of people skills and Technical skills.”

PMI conducts a role delineation study for the PMP credential every five to seven years to ensure the credential reflects contemporary practice, evolves to meet current needs in the profession. In Delineation Study, the role of the Project Manager has changed—and the PMP® exam must be updated. In response to what will likely be thousands of questions from students

What are not Changed?

No Chnage in Education and Experience, Eligibility Requirements, Application Process, or Passing Score for the PMP credential and exam will still be based on PMBOK Guide Version 4.

What are Changed?

PMI has adviced that about 30% of the PMP Exam questions will get changed to reflect the project manager’s role as defined by the recent Role Delieation Study. The Professional and Social Responsibility content area (Domain 6) will now be tested in every domain rather than as a separate domain on the examination

You can download the New PMP Exam Content Outline and Question Distribution here. For More details visit PMI Website for PMI’s Updates on PMP Exam