Project Management Officers are responsible for running the projects of the organization. The project management officers must have multiple skills needed not only to manage a project but also to manage various tasks simultaneously within the Project Management Office. There are many skills required to be an effective project manager, but to emphasize the few needed skills, I have mentioned them below.
Relationship Management & Communication
PMOs should have the skills to communicate effectively and also, at the same time, build a strong relationship between the employees. They are responsible for understanding the people’s work and how effectively they use their knowledge and skills.
Negotiations, Persuasion & Influence
Negotiation skill is a must to be in the Project management office. Making strategic discussion a win-win situation is a significant role of the PMO. The projects and the vendor management will successfully survive through solid negotiation skills. PMO must have a positive influence on the organisation’s people by depicting their strengths and virtues. The PMO should be persuasive enough to motivate and set the right example for the workforce.
Critical/ Analytical Thinking
PMO should be able to make rational and unbiased analyses or evaluations of the solid pieces of evidence available. Thus being a critical thinker will help him perform his role the best.
Social & Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence, along with social Intelligence, will make a PMO a successful PMO. Having a combination of Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Motivation, Empathy, and Social skills is a must for being emotionally intelligent. And being emotionally intelligent will surely make you interact socially well and be an influencing and supportive leader.
Understand Organizational Culture
Organizational culture can vary from organization to organization, but there are certain commonalities within each organization at some point.
The basics include the retention of good talent, attracting good talent, and developing them. Managing the performance of the employees and creating leadership teams are also crucial. Moreover, Making decisions and Reorganizing to capture value quickly is a must for PMOs.
PMOs are responsible for reducing overhead costs in the long term. Understanding the competitive advantage and Leading transformational change makes a PMO the best. The PMOs are responsibly transitioning to new leadership roles.
Planning, Organizing, Controlling & Leading
The general management principles are must to be implemented by the PMO. Planning, Staffing, leading, organizing and controlling are the most crucial management principles. Practising these will help the PMO be successful.
People management
People management is to manage and control the way the employees work, behave, engage and grow. PMO should be able to Delegate correctly, and he should be able to create a feeling of trust, and he also must practice active listening. He must have the ability to make fast and accurate decisions. Besides, he should acknowledge good performance and give rewards. He should establish clear lines of communication and demonstrate expertise. He not only should recognise performance but also share successes and be open to taking employee feedback.
Knowledge of Technology Trends
The PMO must know the changes in the technology in this industry to provide competitive service to the clients and he should manage the projects well.
Mastery of a PM tool
There are many tools available to manage project but the PMO should have the mastery of any one PM tool so that he manages the project well at the same time guide the employees for its usage.
Project methodologies
Project management methodologies differ from project to project. Some may need a different method, while others may need different ones. They require various deliverables, workflows and even project management software development. To name a few Project management Methodologies, an organization can adopt any one of these, such as Agile, Kanban, Scrum, lean waterfall, Six Sigma, PMBOK and many more.
Portfolio management skills
PMO has to select, prioritize, and control an organization’s programmes and projects according to its strategic objectives and capacity to deliver. Managing changes as well as working the optimum utilization of the resources in what the essential role of the PMO
Conclusion
Thus considering the above points we can say that a PMO has to multitask while he not only performs a manager’s role but at the same time technical role in managing the projects effectively. Be Certified PMO from GSDC: PMO Certification
