CATEGORY | Project Manager Soft Skills

Writing Skills For Project Managers - These 6 Are Essential For Success
Project Management

Writing Skills For Project Managers: These 6 Are Essential For Success

When one imagines a Project Manager, they may picture a person meeting with team mates, reviewing reports or giving presentations. While Project Managers do all of these things, there’s one task that nearly every P.M. spends quite a bit of time on, especially these days: writing. Whether it be writing letters or responding to endless emails, a significant portion of a Project Managers’ performance is underpinned by their ability to write. For many Project Managers (myself included), it takes years of time and experience to finely hone their writing skills. While the best way to get better at writing is to simply spend time doing it, there are many easy ways to improve writing abilities too; many of them are more about what not to do than anything else! Let’s talk about 6 essential writing skills for Project Managers that I’ve picked up over the years. Note that some of these tips aren’t necessarily about writing per se, but rather the intent and strategy behind why you should sometimes write a certain way. Let’s go!

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When Your Boss Criticizes You in Front of Others, Do These 5 Things
Project Manager Soft Skills

When Your Boss Criticizes You in Front of Others, Do These 5 Things

Bad bosses are the bane of many employee’s existences. No matter what industry you work in, how old you are or even what your position is, the vast majority of us have dealt with a bad boss at some point in our careers. There’s plenty of ways a boss can be “bad”: poor understanding of the company’s needs, terrible at planning ahead, being clueless on what’s happening day-to-day, and so on. Situations like those are surely annoying to deal with, but few boss behaviors are more insidious than bullying. One common way bosses bully employees is through humiliating them in front of others. These reasons bosses behave this way are varied and complex, but one thing is for sure – we all want to put an end to it. If you’re wondering what you should do when your boss criticizes you in front of others, don’t miss the five tactics we discuss below.

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Working Remotely As A Project Manager - How To Manage A Remote Team
Project Management

Working Remotely As A Project Manager: How To Manage A Remote Team

Working remotely, whether it be from home or a hotel room, has become more common with each passing year. It makes sense. Business owners can save money by having less office space and employees spend less time getting to and from work. Technology makes working remotely easier than ever. When this is combined with the “new normal” we’re experiencing thanks to the Coronavirus (aka COVID-19), working remotely has become mandatory in many cases. What about working remotely as a Project Manager? Is it possible? In this article, we’ll talk about the intricacies of managing a remote team as a Project Manager.

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Underpaid Project Manager - How To Get A Raise Or Promotion
Career Planning

Underpaid Project Manager? Here’s How I Got A 43% Raise In 24 Months

Let’s be honest. Even if we love project management, we still want to get paid. Not only that, but we want to be paid what we’re worth. While many of us manage projects – even difficult, challenging ones – our salary does not always line up with our skill level. Some of us grind away at our job for years on end while feeling like we should be getting more. Despite growing immensely in skill and experience, we simply don’t ever seem to get that big raise or jump up the ladder like we think we deserve. It can be frustrating to work at an organization for while, having far surpassed the skill-level we had when hired, only to find out a new-hire for a similar position is making a heck of a lot more money right off the bat. What gives? If you’re an underpaid Project Manager looking to get a raise, then stick around. In this article, I’ll be talking about how I got a 43% increase in pay over a 24 month period and what I did to get there!

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How To Deal With A Coworker You Don't Trust - The Do's & Don'ts
Project Manager Soft Skills

How To Deal With A Coworker You Don’t Trust: The Do’s & Don’ts

Trust is a vital aspect of any relationship. This applies to our family, friends, romantic partners and coworkers alike. Just like our family and romantic partners, we must see our coworkers for an extended amount of time every day. In most instances, we spend more waking hours with our coworkers while working full-time than we spend with our families – that’s a lot of time at work! When we have great coworkers who we can trust, this doesn’t feel nearly as harsh as it sounds. What happens when we just can’t trust coworkers? It could be something they’ve done, rumors we hear or just our gut feeling – regardless, a situation like this puts a tremendous strain on our work life. In this article, we’re talking about how to deal with a coworker you don’t trust!

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Managing Jerks As A Project Manager - What To Act On & What To Accept
Project Management

Managing Jerks As A Project Manager: What To Act On & What To Accept

As Project Managers, we get the ‘pleasure’ of working with people of every variety. Not only are we expected to work alongside everyone else involved with the project, but we’re also expected to help them, answer questions and provide direction. Simple enough, right? Well, on paper it is. Management gets difficult when personalities begin to clash. Maybe a teammate thinks you’re stupid and doesn’t want to listen to you. Perhaps they think you’re too smart and are threatened by you. Even more vague – they might just not like you for their own reasons. While this seems like a big deal when it’s happening to us, it’s statistically inevitable – no one can please everyone. Manage enough people over time and you’ll run into difficulty with some. Today, we’re taking about managing jerks as a Project Manager, along with which behavior we should act on vs. let slide. Let’s get into it!

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7 Simple, Effective Ways To Get Ahead As A Project Manager
Project Management

7 Simple, Effective Ways To Get Ahead As A Project Manager

We talk a lot on this website about whether Project Managers are born or made, and we always arrive at the same answer – there’s elements of both in the best P.Ms out there. That being said, the most polar opposites of ‘born’ Project Managers out there can still boost their skill levels tremendously through learning and experiences. Said another way – there’s a strong possibility of success for even the most unnatural P.Ms. In this article, we’ll be exploring 7 simple, effective ways to get ahead as a Project Manager! Let’s dive in.

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Working For Difficult Clients As A Project Manager - Avoid These 5 Things
Project Management

Working For Difficult Clients As A Project Manager: Avoid These 5 Things

The Clients you work for as a Project Manager are like chocolates in a box – some of them suck. Such is life! We don’t always get to work for Clients that are nice, reasonable or even people we like on an individual basis. This is made ten times worse when we consider that Clients control most of the cards on the table – including payment! On projects like these, we need to work even harder as Project Managers to manage not only the work, but the Client too. In this article, we’re talking about working for difficult Clients as a Project Manager, along with 5 things to avoid at all costs.

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10 Email Sins At Work To Avoid At All Costs! Do These Sound Familiar?
Project Manager Soft Skills

Email Etiquette In The Workplace: 10 Email Sins To Avoid At All Costs!

Emails are thoroughly engrained in the work culture of our modern society. On average, Americans spend several hours of their day on work-related email activities! That’s an incredible amount of time when you consider that email barely existed at work 25 years ago. Make no mistake – email is incredibly useful. The rate at which information is exchanged is unreal. With this great power comes great responsibility, though. Many people wield the power of email with reckless abandon, wreaking havoc in its’ path. In all seriousness, we’re talking about 10 email sins at work to avoid at all costs! Do any of these sound familiar?

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The Importance Of Office Administration: 4 Key Aspects & Responsibilities
Project Management

The Importance Of Office Administration: 4 Key Aspects & Responsibilities

We talk about Project Management a lot on this website. While that is our core focus, I’ve realized that we don’t discuss an extremely important aspect of running any business or organization – the administrators. This holds true across every field, including and especially the construction industry where I hail from. While we can all agree that administrators play a vital role in the larger picture, there are several different areas in which they’re particularly helpful. In this article, we’re talking about the importance of office administration and the 4 key aspects and responsibilities behind their role.

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