Top Attributes of a Successful Project Manager
BY John Handel, MBA, PMP | 6 MIN READ
A career in project management is both challenging and rewarding. To become a successful project manager, it’s not enough to simply manage tasks and deadlines—you need a well-rounded set of project management skills that combine formal knowledge with practical experience. We’ll discuss the three core competencies that are crucial for project managers to possess. This way, you can excel throughout your career as you lead future projects from start to successful finish.
The Three Core Competencies of a Successful Project Manager
1. Project Management Methodologies
The first area of competency is understanding project management methodologies such as the Agile or Waterfall method. You can obtain this by taking formal courses in college leading to:
- A master’s degree in project management (MPM)
- Certifications such the Project Management Professional (PMP)
- The Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI)
Your education provides you with a solid foundation upon which you can build your career as a project manager.
2. Industry-Specific Project Management Knowledge
The second area of competency required has to do with the industry or technology that you are going to work in. For example, if you are planning to be the project manager for an oil refinery, then you should know how the refinery works. In addition to project management expertise, you might want to have a degree in chemical engineering to better understand how the refinery works. Or be employed at the refinery and your experience in that field will give you the skills required to manage a project involving some aspects of the refinery operation. Regardless of the industry you choose to work in, experience in that industry is necessary to be successful at managing a project within that industry.
3. Understanding Corporate Culture as a Project Manager
The third area of expertise required is knowledge of the corporate culture within the company that you are working for. You need to understand how things get done within the company. If you oversee a project within the company that you work for, then your experience at that company will help you understand the culture within the company. You will be able to network with other employees to determine who is in favor of your project and be able to determine who might be opposed to the project you are in charge of.
If on the other hand, you are going to manage a project that is external to your company, then you need to figure out the corporate culture of that company. Basically, you are an outsider coming in to run a project for this company. A successful project manager will adapt to the new environment and network with internal employees to better understand the corporate culture.
Why All Three Project Management Competencies Matter
Think of these skills as the three legs of a stool. If one is missing or underdeveloped, the stool becomes unstable. Balance is the key to long-term project success.
Project Management is More Than People Management
Some believe that if you’re good with people, you can manage any project. While that might work on small teams, larger projects require:
- Technical awareness
- Strategic decision-making
- Tactical execution
One real-world example: a team delayed delivery for weeks, citing technical dependencies. Upon review, it was discovered that a solution had existed all along—they had simply stalled progress due to a lack of oversight. The lesson? Without some technical competency, your team may end up steering the project instead of you.
Key Components of Project Management Success
1. Be a Self-Starter
Project management competency is more than just having a certification in a particular methodology. You need to proactively identify roadblocks and resolve the issues. Look ahead at least two weeks for potential problems and start working on a resolution. Do not wait until Monday morning and determine that you have an existing problem that you now must react to.
2. Be a Strong Communicator
Another attribute required to be a successful project manager is strong communication skills. As a project manager, you are the focal point for communication. You need to provide senior management with periodic status reports, provide timely updates to the project team members and may be required to communicate with an external customer or other key stakeholders. Being a successful project manager requires that you are able to discuss the project in layman’s terms to senior management or to the customer and to conduct intelligent conversations with the technical experts on the project.
3. Be Able to Shake It Off
With all this communication comes a lot of heat. Upper management is pressuring you to make more progress, team members are upset with you because they say you are asking them to do too much, or the customer is upset because some pet feature is still not passing a test. Don’t take criticism personally, as a project manager needs to understand that pressure from all sides is part of the job.
4. Be Honest
Honesty and integrity are key to succeed as a project manager. Always present information accurately. If you or someone made a mistake, then report the issue as soon as possible. Report on the steps being taken to correct the mistake and never point fingers at people you believe to be the cause of the problem. Hiding errors will put your credibility on the line, compromising management’s trust in you and putting the prospect of running another major project at that company at risk.
In Conclusion: What Makes a Project Manager Successful?
The most successful project managers thrive in formal project management training, technical and industry expertise, cultural intelligence, proactive leadership, effective communication and uncompromising transparency and integrity. By balancing all three competencies—methodologies, industry knowledge and cultural understanding—you can lead with confidence and deliver high-impact results.
If you’re looking to grow in these areas, consider a master’s in project management. Elmhurst University offers a flexible, real-world program designed to equip future project leaders with the technical expertise, strategic mindset and leadership tools needed to thrive as a project manager in any industry.
Learn more and take the next step toward your leadership career at elmhurst.edu/MPM.
John Handel, MBA, PMP is a certified PMP and former AT&T Bell Laboratories Project Manager, where he had a key role in high-visibility national and international projects, including Carrier Interconnect (1985), ISDN (1987) and Japan’s first digital wireless application (1992–94). John was awarded a U.S. patent in 1994 for his work on the International Credit Card Validation project. From 1995 to 2000, he served as a certified project manager for AT&T’s Subscriber Line Carrier Business Unit.
