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What Is Problem Solving in Project Management? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

• Written by Contributing Writer
• Updated on August 4, 2023

In project management , problem-solving is a crucial and necessary skill. Whether you have failed to consider every possible factor impacting a project, a problem arises through no fault of your own, or conditions change that create issues, problems must be addressed promptly to keep projects on track.

In this article, we will define problem-solving and how it impacts projects, provide real-world examples of problem-solving, and give you a structured, step-by-step process to solve problems. We’ll also show you how earning a project management certification can help you gain practical experience in problem-solving methods.

What Is Problem-Solving?

Problem-solving is a process to identify roadblocks or defects that arise during a project. A structured system to define problems, identify root causes, brainstorm and test solutions, and monitor results can affect change to improve performance and overcome challenges.

Effective problem-solving enables teams to deal with uncertainties or gaps in planning to minimize the impact on outcomes.

The Importance of Problem-Solving in Project Management

During a project and operation, problems can arise at any time. You may find that your planning before launching a product, for example, did not consider all the factors that impact results. You may find that you were too optimistic about project timelines, performance, or workforce. Or, as many of us discovered over the past few years, supply chain disruption may make even the best project plans obsolete.

Regardless, your job is identifying, solving, and overcoming these problems. Project managers must be skilled in leading team members through a structured approach to resolving problems.

Proactive problem-solving requires careful consideration of all the variables in a project, including preparation to:

• Achieve project objectives
• Address obstacles before they arise
• Manage project risks and contingency plans
• Manage communication and collaboration
• Provide a framework for time and cost management
• Provide a pathway for continuous improvement

Also Read: 10 Tips on How to Increase Productivity in the Workplace

Problem-Solving Steps in Project Management

While the process you choose to solve problems may vary, here is a seven-step framework many project managers use. This problem-solving method combines primary and secondary problem-solving steps.

#1. Define the Problem

• Gather data and information from key stakeholders, team members, and project documentation. Include any relevant reporting or data analysis
• Itemized key details, such as a description of the problem, timelines, outcomes, and impact
• Frame the issue as a problem statement

A good example of a problem statement might be: An unexpected demand spike has exceeded our current production capacity. How can we still meet customer deadlines for delivery?

#2. Analyze Root Causes

• Break down issues into smaller components to diagnose bottlenecks or problems
• Identify the organizational, mechanical, environmental, or operational factors that contribute
• Distinguish between one-time issues vs. systematic, ongoing areas that need improvement

When analyzing root causes, it’s common to find multiple factors contributing to a problem. As such, it is essential to prioritize issues that have the most significant impact on outcomes.

#3. Brainstorm Potential Solutions

• Holding specific sessions focused on brainstorming ideas to resolve root causes
• Build on ideas or suggest combinations or iterations
• Categorize solutions by types, such as process or input changes, adding additional resources, outsourcing, etc.)

In brainstorming, you should refrain from immediately analyzing suggestions to keep ideas coming.

#4. Evaluate Potential Solutions

• Reframe the problem and concern for team members, providing a framework for evaluation such as cost, timing, and feasibility
• With ideas in hand, it is time to evaluate potential solutions. Project managers often employ strategies such as weighted scoring models to rank ideas.
• Consider the pros and cons in relation to project objectives

As you narrow the list, getting additional insight from subject matter experts to evaluate real-world viability is helpful. For example, if you are proposing a process change in operating a machine, get feedback from skilled operators before implementing changes.

#5. Decide on a Plan of Action

• Make a decision on which course of action you want to pursue and make sure the solution aligns with your organizational goals
• Create an action plan to implement the changes, including key milestones
• Assign project ownership, deadlines, resources, and budgets

Defining what outcomes you need to achieve to declare success is also essential. Are you looking for incremental change or significant improvements, and what timeline are you establishing for measurement?

#6. Implement the Action Plan

• Communicate the plan with key stakeholders
• Provide any training associated with the changes
• Allocate resources necessary for implementation

As part of the action plan, you will also want to detail the measures and monitoring you will put in place to assess process outcomes.

#7. Monitor and Track Results

• Track solution performance against the action plan and key milestones
• Solicit feedback from the project team on problem-solving effectiveness
• Ensure the solution resolves the root cause, creating the desired results without negatively impacting other areas of the operation

You should refine results or start the process over again to increase performance. For example, you may address the root cause but find a need for secondary problem-solving in project management, focusing on other factors.

These problem-solving steps are used repeatedly in lean management and Six Sigma strategies for continuous improvement.

Also Read: 5 Project Management Steps You Need to Know

How Project Management Tools Can Help You in Problem-Solving

Project management software can guide teams through problem-solving, acting as a central repository to provide visibility into the stages of a project.

The best project management software will include the following:

• Issue tracking to capture problems as they arise
• Chat and real-time collaboration for discussion and brainstorming
• Templates for analysis, such as fishbone diagrams
• Action plans, assigning tasks, ownership, and accountability
• Dashboards for updates to monitor solutions
• Reporting on open issues, mitigation, and resolution

Examples of Problem-Solving

Here are some examples of the problem-solving process demonstrating how team members can work through the process to achieve results.

Sign-ups for a New Software Solution Were Well Below First-Month Targets

After analyzing the data, a project team identifies the root cause as inefficient onboarding and account configurations. They then brainstorm solutions. Ideas include re-architecting the software, simplifying onboarding steps, improving the initial training and onboarding process, or applying additional resources to guide customers through the configuration process.

After weighing alternatives, the company invests in streamlining onboarding and developing software to automate configuration.

A Project Was at Risk of Missing a Hard Deadline Due to Supplier Delays

In this case, you already know the root cause: Your supplier cannot deliver the necessary components to complete the project on time. Brainstorming solutions include finding alternative sources for components, considering project redesigns to use different (available) components, negotiating price reductions with customers due to late delivery, or adjusting the scope to complete projects without this component.

After evaluating potential solutions, the project manager might negotiate rush delivery with the original vendor. While this might be more expensive, it enables the business to meet customer deadlines. At the same time, project schedules might be adjusted to account for later-than-expected part delivery.

A Construction Project Is Falling Behind Due to Inclement Weather

Despite months of planning, a major construction project has fallen behind schedule due to bad weather, preventing concrete and masonry work. The problem-solving team brainstorms the problem and evaluates solutions, such as constructing temporary protection from the elements, heating concrete to accelerate curing, and bringing on additional crews once the weather clears.

The project team might decide to focus on tasks not impacted by weather earlier in the process than expected to postpone exterior work until the weather clears.

Also Read: Understanding KPIs in Project Management

Improve Your Problem-Solving and Project Management Skills

This project management course delivered by Simpliearn, in collaboration wiht the University of Massachusetts, can boost your career journey as a project manager. This 24-week online bootcamp aligns with Project Management Institute (PMI) practices, the Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification, and IASSC-Lean Six Sigma.

This program teaches skills such as:

• Agile management
• Customer experience design
• Design thinking
• Digital transformation
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

You might also like to read:

5 Essential Project Management Steps You Need to Know

Project Management Frameworks and Methodologies Explained

13 Key Project Management Principles and How to Use Them

Project Management Phases: A Full Breakdown

How To Develop a Great Project Management Plan in 2023

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Why Problem-Solving Skills Are Essential for Leaders in Any Industry

• 17 Jan 2023

Any organization offering a product or service is in the business of solving problems.

Whether providing medical care to address health issues or quick convenience to those hungry for dinner, a business’s purpose is to satisfy customer needs .

In addition to solving customers’ problems, you’ll undoubtedly encounter challenges within your organization as it evolves to meet customer needs. You’re likely to experience growing pains in the form of missed targets, unattained goals, and team disagreements.

Yet, the ubiquity of problems doesn’t have to be discouraging; with the right frameworks and tools, you can build the skills to solve consumers' and your organization’s most challenging issues.

Here’s a primer on problem-solving in business, why it’s important, the skills you need, and how to build them.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Problem-Solving in Business?

Problem-solving is the process of systematically removing barriers that prevent you or others from reaching goals.

Your business removes obstacles in customers’ lives through its products or services, just as you can remove obstacles that keep your team from achieving business goals.

Design Thinking

Design thinking , as described by Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar in the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , is a human-centered , solutions-based approach to problem-solving and innovation. Originally created for product design, design thinking’s use case has evolved . It’s now used to solve internal business problems, too.

The design thinking process has four stages :

• Clarify: Clarify a problem through research and feedback from those impacted.
• Ideate: Armed with new insights, generate as many solutions as possible.
• Develop: Combine and cull your ideas into a short list of viable, feasible, and desirable options before building prototypes (if making physical products) and creating a plan of action (if solving an intangible problem).
• Implement: Execute the strongest idea, ensuring clear communication with all stakeholders about its potential value and deliberate reasoning.

Using this framework, you can generate innovative ideas that wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise.

Creative Problem-Solving

Another, less structured approach to challenges is creative problem-solving , which employs a series of exercises to explore open-ended solutions and develop new perspectives. This is especially useful when a problem’s root cause has yet to be defined.

You can use creative problem-solving tools in design thinking’s “ideate” stage, which include:

• Brainstorming: Instruct everyone to develop as many ideas as possible in an allotted time frame without passing judgment.
• Divergent thinking exercises: Rather than arriving at the same conclusion (convergent thinking), instruct everyone to come up with a unique idea for a given prompt (divergent thinking). This type of exercise helps avoid the tendency to agree with others’ ideas without considering alternatives.
• Alternate worlds: Ask your team to consider how various personas would manage the problem. For instance, how would a pilot approach it? What about a young child? What about a seasoned engineer?

It can be tempting to fall back on how problems have been solved before, especially if they worked well. However, if you’re striving for innovation, relying on existing systems can stunt your company’s growth.

Related: How to Be a More Creative Problem-Solver at Work: 8 Tips

Why Is Problem-Solving Important for Leaders?

While obstacles’ specifics vary between industries, strong problem-solving skills are crucial for leaders in any field.

Whether building a new product or dealing with internal issues, you’re bound to come up against challenges. Having frameworks and tools at your disposal when they arise can turn issues into opportunities.

As a leader, it’s rarely your responsibility to solve a problem single-handedly, so it’s crucial to know how to empower employees to work together to find the best solution.

Your job is to guide them through each step of the framework and set the parameters and prompts within which they can be creative. Then, you can develop a list of ideas together, test the best ones, and implement the chosen solution.

Related: 5 Design Thinking Skills for Business Professionals

4 Problem-Solving Skills All Leaders Need

1. problem framing.

One key skill for any leader is framing problems in a way that makes sense for their organization. Problem framing is defined in Design Thinking and Innovation as determining the scope, context, and perspective of the problem you’re trying to solve.

“Before you begin to generate solutions for your problem, you must always think hard about how you’re going to frame that problem,” Datar says in the course.

For instance, imagine you work for a company that sells children’s sneakers, and sales have plummeted. When framing the problem, consider:

• What is the children’s sneaker market like right now?
• Should we improve the quality of our sneakers?
• Should we assess all children’s footwear?
• Is this a marketing issue for children’s sneakers specifically?
• Is this a bigger issue that impacts how we should market or produce all footwear?

While there’s no one right way to frame a problem, how you do can impact the solutions you generate. It’s imperative to accurately frame problems to align with organizational priorities and ensure your team generates useful ideas for your firm.

To solve a problem, you need to empathize with those impacted by it. Empathy is the ability to understand others’ emotions and experiences. While many believe empathy is a fixed trait, it’s a skill you can strengthen through practice.

When confronted with a problem, consider whom it impacts. Returning to the children’s sneaker example, think of who’s affected:

• Your organization’s employees, because sales are down
• The customers who typically buy your sneakers
• The children who typically wear your sneakers

Empathy is required to get to the problem’s root and consider each group’s perspective. Assuming someone’s perspective often isn’t accurate, so the best way to get that information is by collecting user feedback.

For instance, if you asked customers who typically buy your children’s sneakers why they’ve stopped, they could say, “A new brand of children’s sneakers came onto the market that have soles with more traction. I want my child to be as safe as possible, so I bought those instead.”

When someone shares their feelings and experiences, you have an opportunity to empathize with them. This can yield solutions to their problem that directly address its root and shows you care. In this case, you may design a new line of children’s sneakers with extremely grippy soles for added safety, knowing that’s what your customers care most about.

Related: 3 Effective Methods for Assessing Customer Needs

3. Breaking Cognitive Fixedness

Cognitive fixedness is a state of mind in which you examine situations through the lens of past experiences. This locks you into one mindset rather than allowing you to consider alternative possibilities.

For instance, your cognitive fixedness may make you think rubber is the only material for sneaker treads. What else could you use? Is there a grippier alternative you haven’t considered?

Problem-solving is all about overcoming cognitive fixedness. You not only need to foster this skill in yourself but among your team.

4. Creating a Psychologically Safe Environment

As a leader, it’s your job to create an environment conducive to problem-solving. In a psychologically safe environment, all team members feel comfortable bringing ideas to the table, which are likely influenced by their personal opinions and experiences.

If employees are penalized for “bad” ideas or chastised for questioning long-held procedures and systems, innovation has no place to take root.

By employing the design thinking framework and creative problem-solving exercises, you can foster a setting in which your team feels comfortable sharing ideas and new, innovative solutions can grow.

How to Build Problem-Solving Skills

The most obvious answer to how to build your problem-solving skills is perhaps the most intimidating: You must practice.

Again and again, you’ll encounter challenges, use creative problem-solving tools and design thinking frameworks, and assess results to learn what to do differently next time.

While most of your practice will occur within your organization, you can learn in a lower-stakes setting by taking an online course, such as Design Thinking and Innovation . Datar guides you through each tool and framework, presenting real-world business examples to help you envision how you would approach the same types of problems in your organization.

Are you interested in uncovering innovative solutions for your organization’s business problems? Explore Design Thinking and Innovation —one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses —to learn how to leverage proven frameworks and tools to solve challenges. Not sure which course is right for you? Download our free flowchart .

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Problem Solving Techniques for Project Managers

Learn which problem solving techniques and strategies can help you effectively handle the challenges you face in your projects.

Problem Solving Techniques: A 5-Step Approach

Some problems are small and can be resolved quickly. Other problems are large and may require significant time and effort to solve. These larger problems are often tackled by turning them into formal projects.

"A project is a problem scheduled for solution."

- Joseph M. Juran

Problem Solving is one of the Tools & Techniques used for Managing Quality and Controlling Resources.

Modules 8 and 9 of the PM PrepCast cover Project Quality Management and Project Resource Management.

Consider this study program if you're preparing to take your CAPM or PMP Certification exam.

Disclosure:   I may receive a commission if you purchase the PM PrepCast with this link.

Whether the problem you are focusing on is small or large, using a systematic approach for solving it will help you be a more effective project manager.

This approach defines five problem solving steps you can use for most problems...

Define the Problem

Determine the causes, generate ideas, select the best solution, take action.

The most important of the problem solving steps is to define the problem correctly. The way you define the problem will determine how you attempt to solve it.

For example, if you receive a complaint about one of your project team members from a client, the solutions you come up with will be different based on the way you define the problem.

If you define the problem as poor performance by the team member you will develop different solutions than if you define the problem as poor expectation setting with the client.

Once you have defined the problem, you are ready to dig deeper and start to determine what is causing it.  You can use a fishbone diagram to help you perform a cause and effect analysis.

If you consider the problem as a gap between where you are now and where you want to be, the causes of the problem are the obstacles that are preventing you from closing that gap immediately.

This level of analysis is important to make sure your solutions address the actual causes of the problem instead of the symptoms of the problem. If your solution fixes a symptom instead of an actual cause, the problem is likely to reoccur since it was never truly solved.

Once the hard work of defining the problem and determining its causes has been completed, it's time to get creative and develop possible solutions to the problem.

Two great problem solving methods you can use for coming up with solutions are brainstorming and mind mapping .

After you come up with several ideas that can solve the problem, one problem solving technique you can use to decide which one is the best solution to your problem is a simple trade-off analysis .

To perform the trade-off analysis, define the critical criteria for the problem that you can use to evaluate how each solution compares to each other. The evaluation can be done using a simple matrix. The highest ranking solution will be your best solution for this problem.

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Once you've determined which solution you will implement, it's time to take action. If the solution involves several actions or requires action from others, it is a good idea to create an action plan and treat it as a mini-project.

Using this simple five-step approach can increase the effectiveness of your problem solving skills .

For more problem solving strategies and techniques, subscribe to my newsletter below.

Related Articles About Problem Solving Techniques

Fishbone Diagram: Cause and Effect Analysis Using Ishikawa Diagrams

A fishbone diagram can help you perform a cause and effect analysis for a problem. Step-by-step instructions on how to create this type of diagram. Also known as Ishikara or Cause and Effect diagrams.

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• The Project Manager’s Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

Remember playing the game Clue as a kid? You’d collect evidence, analyze the possibilities, and come to your own conclusions based on what you knew (and what you didn’t). As a project manager, the skills you developed playing games like Clue are extremely useful. The acting gatekeeper for your team, you’re used to evaluating information and making decisions to benefit your department and the business as a whole. Whether you’re a seasoned project manager or just learning the ropes, knowing how to fine-tune your critical thinking skills will come in handy every single day.

Continue reading to learn: 

• A definition of critical thinking
• The six critical skills project managers need
• Why critical thinking skills are crucial for project managers
• How to work your critical thinking muscles
• Effective critical thinking techniques

Let’s get critical. 

What is critical thinking?

Ask five different people what critical thinking means and you’ll probably get five different answers. But, generally speaking, critical thinking refers to intellectual tactics used to observe and analyze information to draw better conclusions. A key factor in critical thinking is looking beyond the surface of an idea, a concept, or a piece of information. It involves asking questions — to yourself or others — to go deeper and draw better conclusions.

Critical thinking can be used by anyone, in any role, to make their job easier. You can find new insights, optimize an inefficient process, and get projects done faster. Developing your critical thinking means building habits that follow you throughout your career.

Here’s a breakdown of crucial critical thinking skills for project managers — or any other role.

6 critical thinking skills for project managers

Skill #1: observation.

Critical thinking skills starts with being more aware of what’s going on. Working on an important project? Being observant might mean keeping a close eye on comments from collaborators, or just paying better attention during meetings with your data team. Becoming a more observant person means you can identify problems others miss or pick up on context clues that help you solve problems down the road.

Skill #2: Analysis

Spotting problems, clues, and that one important comment in a Slack thread is just the beginning. If observation is how you bring in more information, analysis is how you determine what you’re going to do with it. Having an analytical approach to your problems means knowing what information you have available, knowing how relevant each piece is to the problem at hand, and being able to ask better questions. 

Skill #3: Identifying bias

This critical thinking skill ties in closely with analysis but is important enough to be its own skill. Bias is inherent in everything we do, from collecting data to creating content and solving problems. For instance, because this blog post is being written by a marketer, it might use different examples than a writer from a more technical team. You can spot a bias by asking yourself questions, like “are there elements of this person’s experience or perspective that might be affecting what they’re saying?” Bias can affect every role in an organization.

Skill #4: Inference

This is a fancy term for drawing better conclusions. This crucial critical thinking skill helps you make better use of the information you collect, the questions you ask, and the potential problems you spot. Think of everything you might have done so far as putting ingredients in a stew. You can have the best ingredients in the world, but if you leave the pot on too long, you’ll end up with something closer to charcoal than stew.

One of the quickest ways to improve your inference skills is, ironically, by slowing down. Instead of blurting out the first conclusion that comes to mind, start with a few educated guesses, and compare them to each other. Which one makes the most sense? Which is weakest?

Skill #5: Problem-solving

If inference is how you come to better conclusions, problem-solving is how you put them into action. This critical thinking skill encompasses the tactics and strategies you use to take something that looks good on paper and make it great in practice. Problem-solving includes  planning  how you’ll solve a problem, but also reacting to hurdles along the way and staying flexible. A great way to improve your problem-solving skills is asking yourself “is this still the best way to solve the problem?” at every stage of your plan. Sometimes, people can get set in their ways, meaning they stick to an ineffective solution long after they should have pivoted to something else.

Skill #6: Curiosity

This is less a skill than it is a characteristic every critical thinker should work to develop. Every other critical thinking skill is helped by broadening having access to more information and more knowledge. For instance, you can be the most observant person in the world, but you’d still struggle to pick out all the problems in a presentation from the data team if you weren’t at least a little familiar with data analysis. Beyond expertise in specific fields, critical thinking — and thinking in general — is easier when you have a breadth of knowledge and experiences to draw from. You can find links that others would miss and learn to think in different ways. Read more books, listen to more podcasts, and approach the world at large with more curiosity.

Why do project managers need critical thinking skills? 

When people hear the phrase ‘critical thinking’, they often picture a negative person. Being a critical thinker doesn’t mean you have a bad attitude or that you aren’t a team player. It’s quite the opposite. 

Critical thinking means questioning processes, projects, and even core business practices that are widely accepted as given. Not to tear them down, but to improve them for the benefit of the entire team. 

The Project Management Institute (PMI) outlines how important this skill is: 

“Corporate leaders have put critical thinking at the top of the list of essential competencies needed by their workers to understand these challenges, explore opportunities, and make good decisions in this new competitive environment.” 

When used in the context of project management, effective critical thinking can: 

• Encourage deeper, more  productive discussions
• Facilitate open communication between team members 
• Resolve issues between team members and stakeholders more quickly
• Develop better solutions to problems 
• Reduce stress throughout a project 
• Prevent repetitive issues
• Achieve better results faster 

Now that you know why critical thinking skills are priority for project managers, it’s time to find out how you can improve yours.

How project managers can develop better critical thinking skills 

There’s one core principle that will guide your critical thinking: question everything. Project managers can’t just approve all requests that come in from stakeholders across the organization — unless they want a stressed-out, overworked team.

A good project manager knows how to prioritize projects according to the business’ overall needs and goals. With every request that comes in, you need to be prepared to evaluate the project’s impact on the business, the necessity of the project, and the why. Building this process — this instinct — into your daily work is how you build and strengthen your critical thinking skills.

For every potential project, consider: 

• Why is this important right now? While most stakeholders will say their project is urgent, you need to find out exactly how true this is. Perhaps the project could be scheduled for a later date that works better for your team’s schedule. 
• Why does my team need to be involved? For example, if you manage the creative team and a request for a sales presentation comes in, figure out exactly what your team will need to do.
• Why is my team’s time better spent on this project than other projects? Does this project contribute more to the business than other work your team could be doing? 

Those are three important questions to ask yourself, but what about the questions you ask others?

When a new project lands in your inbox, you need to know what to ask of the sender and how to delicately frame those questions. There are a few question formats that work especially well for this stage of the project. These include:

• ‘tell me more’ questions (eg. Tell me more about what will be required from each member of my team)
• ‘help me understand’ questions (eg. Help me understand why this project is urgent)
• ‘can you give me an example’ questions (eg. Can you give me an example of the types of results you’re looking for here?). 

These questions allow you to get a better understanding of the project and make sure it’s a good fit for your team. They’re also usually well-received by whoever initiated the project.

Prioritization means making tough calls, and project managers need to be ready and equipped to do so. You can’t be afraid to say no when the project doesn’t make sense from a timing or business standpoint. However, you will also need to be ready to explain the reasoning behind your “no”. The following techniques will help you feel confident in your decisions and authority as a project manager. 

Critical thinking techniques for project managers 

Critical thinking skills are one thing, but when evaluating the priority of a new project, there are critical thinking techniques you can put into practice to boost results and team morale. 

• Avoid making or accepting assumptions 
• Identify potential issues (and their consequences) from the start
• Use the Five Whys to find the root of problems 

Let’s dive into these a little bit more. 

1. Avoid assumptions 

You know what they say about assuming things. When you make assumptions as a project manager, you’re missing out on and ignoring key information that could make or break your project. You can have the best critical thinking skills in the office, but making the wrong assumption can undo all your hard work.

A big part of critical thinking is digging into reasoning and probing for evidence rather than drawing your own immediate conclusions. When you’re pitched a new project — and during the course of the entire project — question any preconceived notions (yours or theirs). Ensure you’re given concrete evidence for the viability of the project, and look for any holes in the process or strategy that could impact your team. 

When challenging assumptions, consider the following questions: 

• Am I assuming all members of this project have all the information they need to complete their tasks?
• What assumptions am I making about each team members’ skill sets? 
• Am I making assumptions about each team member’s time and availability? 
• What are some possible issues that may arise with this project? How can I work backwards and challenge any assumptions in order to avoid these issues? 
• What assumptions have I made about the stakeholder or project creator? What do they need to know? 

Never take anything for granted. When your job is to facilitate and manage expectations, it’s important that you’re questioning and challenging your own assumptions — and those of team members and stakeholders — at all stages of the process. 

2. Consider potential issues 

When you’re questioning assumptions, you’re also working towards another big part of your job: risk management. By proactively questioning what could go wrong, you can prepare for any issues that might arise during the course of the project. Not only that, but you can consider the implications and consequences of when things go awry. 

Consider a cause and effect approach with hypothetical — but realistic — issues. Give yourself an hour to write down any possible issues that could arise with the project, along with a list of consequences associated with each one. For example: 

• Problem : The video editor won’t have enough time to deliver the final file. 
• Consequence : The rest of the project will be held up. Costs will increase and we could miss the deadline.  

In a perfect world, project managers wouldn’t face any problems and all projects would be smooth sailing. Since that’s unfortunately not the case, here are some helpful tools you can use to avoid the escalation of issues — as well as repeating roadblocks with future projects.

3. Use the Five Whys

In addition to the “why” questions outlined above, a proven project management technique called “The Five Whys” can help you explore the true cause or causes of any problem. 

Here’s how ProjectManagement.com explains it: 

“5 Whys is an iterative elicitation method used to explore cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem. The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question ‘Why?’. Each answer forms the basis of the next question.” 

To complete The Five Whys, you simply repeat the question “why?” five times until you come to the root of the problem. Each answer is understood to be a “contributing cause” that impacts the final result. 

For example: 

• Because multiple teams weren’t able to complete their tasks on time (contributing cause). 
• Because their time wasn’t prioritized properly (contributing cause). 
• Because multiple last-minute projects were assigned (contributing cause). 
• Because other stakeholders didn’t understand the prioritization and project assignment process (contributing cause). 
• Because they haven’t been properly trained or given the necessary information (root cause). 

Once you get to the root of the problem, you can take action to ensure these issues are minimized or avoided in the future. 

For project managers, sometimes taking a moment to just stop and consider all of the possibilities, consequences, and information can make all the difference between a well-thought-out decision and a future regret. Developing and exercising your critical thinking skills is a surefire way to drive positive business results.

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Problem solving: a Project Manager skill

Problem solving is a project manager skill that facilitates effective problem solving by combining creative thinking and strong analytical skills.

Problem-solving techniques: a 5-step approach

Problem solving step 1: problem definition, problem solving step 2: cause determination, problem solving step 3: ideas generation, problem solving step 4: best solution selection, problem solving step 5: act, problem solving: creativity, problem solving: communication, problem solving: willpower.

This is a skill that provides the capability to bring a different perspective to problems, helping to design and implement effective solutions.

It’s easy to realize how in problem solving the identification of simple solutions to big problems can provide benefits to the project and the company, but there are not always successful Project Managers capable of finding them.

In this article we will try to give a hand to the less creative and more accustomed to patterns minds by suggesting some techniques that if properly implemented can be extremely beneficial.

Let’s start from the premise that some problems are small and can be solved quickly, while others may involve considerable time and effort.

Regardless of whether the problem you’re focusing on is small or large, using a systemic approach to solving it will certainly help you be a more effective project manager .

Here are what are the five problem solving step s that you can use for most problems.

The most important step in problem solving is to properly define the problem.

How you define the problem will determine how you will attempt to solve it.

For example, if you get a complaint regarding one of your project team members from a client, the solutions you will assess will be different based on how you define the problem.

If you choose a poor performance approach for the team member, different solutions will unfold as opposed to an approach where you give little consideration to what the client said.

After you have defined the issue, you can proceed to dig deeper and begin to determine what is causing it.

This level of analysis is important to ensure that solutions address the actual causes of the problem rather than the symptoms of the problem.

If the solution solves a symptom instead of an actual cause, in fact, the problem is likely to reoccur because it was never truly solved.

After the hard work of defining the problem and determining its causes is complete, then it is time to get creative and develop possible solutions to the problem.

Two great problem solving methods that you can use to come up with solutions are brainstorming and mind mapping.

After figuring up with several ideas that could solve the problem, one way to decide which is the best solution is a simple trade-off analysis .

We can find this analysis when performing a project feasibility study as well.

To carry out the trade-off analysis, you must first define the critical criteria for the problem that you can use to evaluate the comparison between each solution.

After having established the solution to be implemented, it’s time to take action.

If the solution requires several actions or necessitates an effort by others, it’s a good idea to make a plan and treat it as a mini-project.

Yet, problem solving as a project manager’s skill is not just limited to this tangible process for solving problems.

Let’s see what other skills are key to problem solving.

This is not just something related to artists.

Creativity is about being able to simply come up with a unique solution and thinking “outside of the box”.

This means not responding to problems with a knee-jerk reaction or a safe solution that might lead to poor results.

What creativity requires is being able to actually take a look at a problem from multiple perspectives, not just the typical one.

Stepping out of your comfort zone, thinking outside the box , going beyond. This is what creativity in problem solving is all about.

Solutions to serious problems may in fact not be found within standard processes.

Like with almost everything, nothing can be achieved without the communication skills to provide the solution to those who must solve it.

Even simple ideas are often muddied by poor rhetoric, let alone failed attempts to convey complex ones and solve problems.

And we’re not just referring to being able to clearly impart orders; it’s also important to know the right channel to deliver your message.

That message needs to reach the right people, in the right way, and get to them as quickly as possible.

Finding a solution to a problem is just one link in a larger chain.

If that solution isn’t delivered to the parties that need it to fix the problem in order for the project to move forward, then it’s all in vain.

Not all people are born great communicators, but there are ways to learn how to better communicate, especially with team members .

It takes empathy and active listening to develop trust and loyalty and without this connection, no matter how explicitly you communicate a message, it will be misinterpreted or even ignored.

All of the above may be quite fascinating, but if the project manager is not committed to their work and to improving themselves in problem solving, everything is pointless.

There are exercises you can do to master problem solving skills that help you respond better to problems and solve them quickly.

For example, there are logical reasoning tests that help you clearly organize your thoughts, analyze them, and quickly choose the best course of action.

However, all this takes willpower; the project manager must be aware of what they are doing and must want to do it.

Only in this way will it be possible to develop the best problem solving skills .

When presented with a problem, some project managers may be inclined to procrastinate or avoid the problem altogether.

However, avoiding problems is a short-term solution. It is problem solving that keeps things moving forward.

Therefore, the faster and more effectively you can solve a problem, the faster you can get the job done and successfully complete a project.

Keep up with the times.

Related posts.

How to assess problem-solving skills for project managers

Being able to accurately assess a team member’s mastery of problem solving when managing a project is something of a hot topic. Every organization wants to future proof its activities, and problem-solving is typically seen as a magic bullet in this regard.

But what do we actually mean by problem solving skills, and how can these skills be accurately assessed?

There’s been a lot of chatter about whether or not problem solving is a soft skill , and this is at the heart of where the difficulty in assessing them often lies. Usually, problem solving involves a variety of other soft skill sets, such as decision-making, analysis, leadership skills, communication and creativity . So, yes, alongside being a great personal strength, for the most part it is considered to be a soft skill rather than something that’s learned through education or training . That said, the particular methods and processes that project managers in particular use to problem solve – those would be considered a hard skill.

For project managers and project teams , problem solving is their bread and butter and it relies on a huge variety of different techniques and skills that successful problem solvers will all be proficient in, so it’s no wonder that organizations are keen to accurately assess these skills so they can work together even more efficiently .

Why is problem-solving an essential skill?

These skills are a must-have for managers and pretty much all senior roles. In fact, they could be seen as an asset in any team. It wouldn’t be entirely unrealistic to say that good problem solvers are also often the people who most frequently come up with better ways to do things, fresh ideas and their communication skills are often top notch. And as far as employability skills are concerned , problem solvers are right there at the top.

Solving the proficiency question

Picture the scene: you’ve got a great team, but you want to be even better and you may even bring someone new onboard. On paper, everyone has great problem-solving skills, but you want to deep dive a little more and identify ways to work even more efficiently as a team.

This is an important thing to know (especially if you want to bring new people onboard), because according to recent research , up to 85% of resumes contain misleading statements and interviews alone are not always great predictors of role suitability and performance . In an ideal world, you’d start assessing these skills at the point of the recruitment process. Can they be measured by figures, or is it more complex than that?

The traditional approach would be to assess for problem solving skills in one of two ways.  Firstly, you could ask for examples of when the candidate previously solved a problem successfully. There’s quite a lot of merit in this approach: you’d get a feel for how comfortable the candidate is with talking about problem solving , whether something immediately came to mind, and whether or not they had the knowledge to back up what they’d written on their resume.

Another way to test their problem-solving mettle would be to provide a hypothetical scenario and ask for their take on it . Much like the previous approach, this would allow you to assess their response and get a feel for their way of working.

Depending on the organization you work for and the role you undertake, you could be looking for very different things than say, your friend who works in a different industry. But overall, checking out someone’s problem solving skills can be a great way to find out how a person uses creativity, logic, and analytical skills to get to the bottom of really complex issues and situations.

In the case of teams already in situ, you could use these same techniques in a cross-functional workshop environment .

Why do we care so much about problem solving?

Because quite simply, it’s about overcoming obstacles . In fact, this is often what is described as the ‘ultimate goal’ of problem solving from a project management approach.  And while what’s best for one situation may not be for another, it's hard to refute the fact that finding the best solution to resolve an issue is an alluring, if not downright attractive proposition. Problem solving involves a complex way of thinking, that covers discovery, analysis and resolution .

Of course, not everybody is good at problem solving. It’s not an innate skill and not everybody has the skillset required to carve a career out of finding solutions to other people’s problems, which is why it’s so important to use an objective way of gathering information about your workforce and their skill sets. The data you gather can and should be used to help you make informed decisions about who does what within your team and any continuous improvement measures that may be necessary.

Is there a winning strategy for assessing problem solving skills?

The answer is yes and no! It’s often possible to quantify things such as a person’s success ratio when it comes to reaching solutions, or to create a numerical value-based approach to the skills required for effective problem solving. There are also a number of frameworks and methods that can help a team assess and improve their problem solving skills.

Personality tests are often used in this scenario. These kinds of tests can help you spot patterns and characteristics that will likely be relevant to your role as well as putting the spotlight on how candidates will react in certain situations. 

Other employers prefer to use cognitive ability tests . These are all about aptitude and can be used to assess skills in the areas of verbal reasoning, critical thinking and other abilities which all feed into problem solving. These kinds of tests will provide a score which you can use for comparison and rating purposes.

When using these tests and assessing problem solving skills, it’s helpful to keep how you work front of mind as well. Afterall, if you have a hybrid or even a remote working model in place, this may be a better fit for some personality types or those with a more specific skill set. 

A focus on figures

Data analytics and problem-solving often go hand in hand. According to the abovementioned HRForecast* article, there are three key reasons why data analytics is important when it comes to problem solving, and how it can be used to measure improvements across your organization.

• Firstly, because it can help uncover hidden details , including trends. 
• Secondly, you’re more likely to be able to create automated models if you have a wealth of data, and this data can be used to help predict relevant solutions. 
• Thirdly, with relevant data analysis, you can efficiently store it and use later for solving other problems in more or less similar contexts. 

A complex framework

By and large though, a high performing team member who has strong patience, communication and cognitive skills is more likely to approach problem solving in a way that will lead to a successful outcome than not. However, there are a great many factors that can affect a person’s proficiency in problem solving, which makes it a complex beast to analyse. To be truly proficient in problem solving you need to really understand the problem that you’re dealing with . Without this, you’re extremely unlikely to be able to find a solution to your problem – no matter how good your skills are!

To understand the problem you’re facing, it’s important to see the bigger picture that surrounds it , the problems that might hold things up, as well as any key stakeholders, and whatever you identify as the root causes of the problem.

As a manager, you’ll want to look for team members who exhibit skills which more readily lend themselves to problem solving. While personality will play a part in this, communication, group working skills and cognitive skills should all be on your radar as the attributes that can lead to good problem solving.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that resources are an often-forgotten dependency when it comes to problem solving. Afterall, you can have the capabilities to solve problems, but if you don’t have the right resources to hand, you could find the process of solving your problem is seriously slowed down.

Think outside your organization

Another key piece of the problem-solving puzzle relates to external factors . What do we mean by external factors ? Well, things like competitors, economic circumstances and wider geo-political or environmental concerns. These things may not directly impact the problem you’re trying to solve, but they will have a knock-on effect to the overarching process, which means they shouldn’t be discounted.

What can we be sure about when it comes to assessing problem solving skills?

Effective problem-solving really does require a skill set that is both broad and allows teams and organizations to move forward to achieve their strategic and operational aims. 

It may not be black and white but experienced problem solvers understand the need to drill down into a problem so that they can then approach it in ‘chunks’ and increase the likelihood of coming up with a workable solution .

We’ve long been fascinated with the idea of problem solving, and in particular, solving the question of how to assess problem solving skills. We could be forgiven for thinking that it should be straightforward, but the reality is that problem solving is a much more complex process.

But in what is perhaps one of the most startling examples of why problem-solving skills are so important, the recent pandemic has made organizations of all shapes and sizes problem-solve on an almost unprecedented scale . Being able to quickly change ways of working , learn to use new pieces of tech and generally find work arounds for systems and processes that had been unchanged for years has been a critical element in the success or failure of organizations around the world.  

Now that a hybrid approach is an accepted part of the ‘new normal’, we’ve watched with interest the emerging design thinking methods and problem-solving strategies in companies. Over the last few years, they have become well and truly embedded in the everyday routines of many organizations, who once swore that traditional meetings and in-person discussions were the only way to solve a problem.

We like to think of problem-solving skills as a kind of superpower . Not dissimilar to thinking skills, they allow people to develop strategies that will inform their questions and ultimately lead to answers.

Your next steps

If you’re thinking about assessing problem solving skills within your team, or are looking for ways to assess those skills in a recruitment setting , it’s important to have a plan. Think about the end of goal of your assessment and then choose an approach that will support that.

Make sure you have the tools in place to allow your teams to problem solve to the absolute best of their ability. This may mean using new ways of holding workshops or switching to a design thinking approach and collaborating across a wider remote team.  Or it could be as simple as finding a way for every contributor to feel involved from wherever they are in the world.

Whatever you do, remember that in an age where the workplace is constantly evolving and economic turbulence looks set for some time, having a workforce that is both able and armed with the tools and culture to let them problem solve to a high level can truly be the difference between sinking or swimming.

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• Project management |
• The 25 project management skills you ne ...

The 25 project management skills you need to succeed

Anyone who oversees projects is a project manager, but to become a more thoughtful manager (with a higher impact), you need to develop the right project management skills. Learn what skills are necessary to become a successful project manager and how to build them.

If you’re interested in honing and developing your project management skills, you’re in the right place. In this guide, we’ll cover 25 key skills you need to succeed as a project manager or project administrator , and how you can develop those skills over time.

What are project management skills (and why do they matter?)

Project management skills are the attributes you develop to become a more experienced project manager. Building a project management skill set includes learning technical and hard skills, such as portfolio management and project scoping, and soft skills (for example, adaptability).In honing these skills, you’re preparing yourself to more effectively perform in your role. 

Project management is the practice of organizing and executing work efficiently—and helping your team do the same. For a while, project managers had to be trained and certified in complicated project management technology. Traditional project management tools were hard to set up and required constant maintenance, which is where the position “project manager” comes from.

Modern project management tools

Modern project management evolved from traditional project management in two distinct ways. As companies and teams democratized their project management processes, they needed more team members and team leads who were able to manage a process from conception to completion. In order to support those team leads, project management software has also evolved, from complex mechanisms to flexible and easy-to-use tools.

Today, any team member may be called upon to run a project and become the de-facto project manager—which is why modern project management tools are built to be flexible enough for anyone to use on any project, so you’re able to jump in and hit the ground running. 

These tools, like Asana , make it easy to track, manage, and organize work—without the learning curve associated with traditional tools. With today's project management tools , you can easily implement project management best practices and bring a new level of clarity and visibility to your project team. 

How to use your project management skills

Project management tools do the heavy lifting when it comes to reducing silos, increasing visibility, and facilitating cross-functional collaboration. As the project manager, you can use these tools to give your team the insight they need to get their best work done. While you don’t need to learn complicated skills or tools in order to become a successful project manager , there are hard, soft, and technical skills you can develop in order to improve your management and collaboration skills.

Some of these skills might not apply to you—while others might be things you’re already seasoned in. Like everything in the five phases of project management , approach this list with flexibility and work on the skills that are most relevant to you.

10 soft skills for project managers

Soft skills are what we call “non-technical skills,” or skills that can help you improve your quality of work—without a specific tool or technical requirement. These are also called “people skills” or “interpersonal skills” because they often help you work with and relate to others in your workspace. These 10 skills are the most important soft skills for project management:

1. Collaboration

Collaboration is the cornerstone of all project management skills. In project management, collaboration helps you get work done quickly and more efficiently. When you can coordinate across teams, you gain valuable insights into your project that you might not find within your team. If more minds are involved in the work, projects are inherently more creative and well developed.

To improve your collaboration skills, practice having conversations. Use techniques like active listening , where you stay engaged and focused when others are speaking to you. It sounds simple, but learning how to have open communication, reduce boundaries, and co-create are critical for a collaborative team.

2. Teamwork

Everyone on your team has something to bring to the table, and your team is more effective working together than they would be alone. Teamwork ensures that everyone feels welcome, valued, and they are supported to contribute.

If you’re working to boost your teamwork skills, dig deeper into team brainstorms , 1:1 conversations, and ask for feedback from your team—how can you be a better team member? Notice if there’s someone who hasn’t spoken up in a while, and be supportive when another team member has a new idea.

3. Communication

Miscommunications are common when you’re working with a group of people. Learning how to communicate well and avoid these will make projects run more smoothly and be more enjoyable. 

To develop your communication skills, practice being open and honest with your coworkers. This requires a lot of trust between you and your team members. To build this trust, encourage your team members to bring any thoughts into a discussion—even if you disagree with them.

4. Time management

Time management and organization skills go hand in hand. As you become better at organizing your tasks, you’ll also have a clearer sense of everything that’s on your plate and how long your upcoming tasks are going to take.

Still, it can be hard to buckle down and prioritize your work. To improve your time management skills and reduce procrastination, try prioritizing tasks. When you’re clear on which tasks are higher priority, you can tackle them first, to make sure nothing gets left behind or falls through the cracks.

5. Leadership

Even if you don’t think of yourself as a leader or have a role in team management, when you’re managing a project, your project team is looking to you for leadership, guidance, and support. 

To develop your leadership skills, practice approaching situations with empathy and understanding. Good leaders bring everyone together and make them feel supported to foster teamwork and collaboration.

6. Organization

For a lot of project managers, organization is the most intimidating soft skill. You might think organization is either something you “have” or “don’t have.” But, like every other project management skill in this article, you can develop your organizational skills and become a Marie Kondo in your own right.

The best way to become a better organizer is to create (and maintain) a central source of truth for your work and your team’s work. We’re often disorganized because work is disconnected—in fact, the average employee switches between 10 tools per day . Instead of splitting your time between 10 tools, try using a digital organization tool to act as that one central source of truth for your team.

7. Problem solving

Problem solving skills are collaborative, iterative skills that help you approach a problem and, ultimately, solve it. Developing problem solving skills isn’t about always having the “right” answer to every problem—rather, people with great problem solving skills practice approaching problems from new perspectives and methodically working towards a solution.

To become a better problem solver, use data-driven decision-making frameworks or routine analyses. For example, if you need to solve for how to boost sales by 10% over your competition, you can run a competitive analysis to determine where you currently stand in the market. Then, use that information to solve the problem of lower sales. In this case, you could develop a new marketing strategy coordinated with the sales team.

8. Critical thinking

Critical thinking, like problem solving, doesn’t have a “solution.” You can’t “win” at critical thinking, but you can practice approaching problems logically instead of making decisions based on your emotions. Good critical thinkers practice analyzing information in front of them and forming their own conclusions based on the facts—the way Sherlock Holmes solves a mystery.

To practice critical thinking, always take a step back and ask yourself: how did I come to this conclusion? Could there be another answer? Am I being swayed by something other than factual information? Emotional decisions aren’t necessarily bad—in fact, some of the best decisions are those we’re passionate about. But critical thinking is a helpful way to make sure you’re approaching a situation from the right perspective.

9. Adaptability

At some point, whether it’s this project or the next one, aspects of your project plan will change. Maybe your deadline or priorities shifts, and you need to adapt your workflow accordingly. Great project managers are able to pivot and adapt to new situations to continue steering their project team in the right direction.

Becoming more adaptable is all about understanding when and how to shift gears. To do this, you need to understand yourself. Developing other soft skills, such as self-awareness and mindfulness, can help you be more in touch with and manage your emotions, which are often in flux during times of change.

10. Conflict resolution

Inevitably, conflict will arise during the projects you manage. It could be that a stakeholder wants to change the project scope. Or maybe you missed your budget or deadline. Conflict resolution is about addressing both sides of the conflict so everyone feels heard and supported. If there are harmed parties, take the time to listen to them and try to find a solution that works for everyone. Even when that can’t happen, approaching the conversation with patience and empathy can help defuse a potentially frustrating situation and lead to a better result.

7 hard skills for project managers

Unlike soft skills, hard skills are quantifiable abilities. While the soft skills mentioned above are applicable for many work skills, these seven hard skills are relevant specifically to project management. Developing these will help you become a more well rounded and efficient project manager.

1. Project planning

At its core, a  project plan  (sometimes called a project charter) is a blueprint of the key elements your project needs to succeed. Typically a project plan will include seven things:

Goals and  project objectives

Success metrics

Stakeholders  and  roles

Scope  and  budget

Milestones ,  deliverables , and  project dependencies

Timeline  and  schedule

Communication plan

Some of these things, like your goals or your milestones, might already be defined in your project roadmap or brief. But your project plan is where all of these project elements come together to create a cohesive picture of your upcoming work.

A lot of planning goes into the beginning of the year for what our vision is and where we will be by the end of that particular year. Once that is done, we summarize it in a project so it's visible to everyone... Having that visual representation in Asana makes it easier to move things around.”

2. Project scoping

Project scope is the size, goals, and limitations (i.e., deadlines and resources) for your project. Your project scope will define what you can achieve within a certain timeframe and budget. Setting and defining your project scope is important in order to prevent scope creep , which is when your project deliverables outgrow your original project scope.

In order to improve your project scoping skills, practice setting project scope early and often. Once you’ve set your project scope, share it with stakeholders and surface it frequently, so everyone is on the same page about the project’s aims and limitations. Use it as a point of reference, so you know when to say no to new asks.

We have been able to reduce the number of products that we’ve oversold and the number of times we have to contact the customer to push a ship date out.”

3. Writing a project brief

Your project brief outlines your general project objectives and how you plan to get there. This can serve as a helpful North Star to guide planning sessions.

The most important thing to remember about your project brief is that it’s a living document. As you develop your project plan and get input from stakeholders, you can adapt and update your project brief. In general, your project brief should contain a link to your project roadmap if you created one, a list of your project stakeholders and their responsibilities  (sometimes called a RACI chart), other relevant documentation or files, and any other high-level information your team might need.

Having executive oversight and insight into projects is key so we can quickly get up to speed on what is happening at any point.”

4. Hosting a project kickoff meeting

A kickoff meeting is an opportunity to align with your project stakeholders. This is your chance to clarify your project goals and scope, and share any documents you’ve already put together like your project roadmap, project brief, or supplemental documentation like a bill of materials for a marketing campaign or a creative brief for a design team.

To host a successful kickoff meeting, plan to share the documentation you have put together with project stakeholders. Then, host a brainstorming or Q&A session to align on any additional variables, like budget,  resources , or final deliverables.

5. Project roadmapping

A project roadmap is a high-level overview of your project’s key deliverables and timeline. Project roadmaps are helpful for complex initiatives with a lot of stakeholders because they help the entire project team get on the same page before the project even starts.

Traditionally, project roadmaps are created in Gantt chart-like software , in order to display a general schedule of your project as a horizontal bar chart. To create a project roadmap, use a tool like Timeline in Asana to create a rough timeline of your project, adding key milestones or important dependencies.

6. Mapping your project timeline

Your project timeline is the order and duration of events during your project lifecycle. Knowing your project timeline helps your team track project success and deliver the right assets on time.

In order to build a great project timeline, make sure you clarify the start and end dates of your project, as well as any key milestones. As you continue building out individual tasks and deliverables, set dependencies between tasks, and clarify the start and end date of each piece of work.

7. Task management

Once your project is officially underway, task management refers to how well you manage your and your team’s time. The best project managers have visibility into what their team is working on in real-time, so they can help their team effectively prioritize and execute work.

But you don’t have to magically know everything that’s happening in your project—instead, use task management software.  Task management software  is more than a to-do list—it’s a way to get a holistic view of all of the work happening in your project. With effective task management, you can empower your team to work more productively, efficiently, and effectively.

With Asana, we can see project progress and blockers, plus feedback and action items, all in one place. We're now able to complete work more efficiently and effectively, which has become even more critical while working from home. We’d be lost without it!”

8 technical skills all project managers need

Soft skills: check. Hard skills: got it. The only thing you have left to master are technical skills!

Technical skills refer to your knowledge of specific tools and softwares within project management. These tools aren’t hard to learn—as we mentioned before, modern project management is built to be flexible and easy to use. These eight skills are aspects of project management roles you should become familiar with, so you know when and how to leverage them.

1. Project management software skills

Project management software  has come a long way from legacy tools that were difficult to use and required a project management professional to implement. But like any tool, even easy-to-use ones, the software you choose takes time to learn and truly master. Make sure the tool you select has a written  guide  and  helpful videos  to teach you the ins and outs of how to use it.

2. Gantt charts

Gantt charts are a way to visualize your project as a horizontal bar chart, where each bar represents a piece of work and the length of each bar represents the amount of time that work will take.

Project milestones

Dependencies

Real-time project progress

Start and end dates

Traditional Gantt chart technology can be tricky to use and limited in scope, which is why, at Asana, we took the best of Gantt chart technology and created  Timeline , a Gantt-chart like tool that helps you see how all of the pieces fit together.

Launching an album has so many moving parts, and Asana helps us track every detail, who’s responsible for it, and when it needs to be completed.”

3. Kanban boards

Another popular type of visual project management is the  Kanban board . Each column in a Kanban board represents a stage of work, like  New ,  In progress , or  Done . Individual work is represented by cards, which move through the columns until they’re completed.

Kanban boards tools  are a popular visual project management tool for lean project management teams, particularly product, engineering, and software development teams. They’re an Agile methodology , designed to be adaptable and flexible to adjust to development needs in real-time.

4. Agile management

Agile management is a lean project management methodology that’s particularly popular with product, engineering, and software development teams. Agile operates on a system of continuous improvement and incremental evolution, and it encompasses several lean methodologies, like lean portfolio management ,  Scrum , and  Kanban .

In order to manage an Agile team, it's the project manager’s job to coordinate between team members and stay flexible. This can mean changing the project schedule, aligning with teams working on a different project, or just staying in touch with effective communication.

5. Workload management

If you’ve managed projects before, you know how hard it is to gain clarity on who is working on what—but it doesn’t have to be.  Workload management  helps you measure your team’s bandwidth and make sure they aren’t over- or under-worked. It’s an interactive process that doesn’t have a beginning or end state—rather, an effective project manager will continuously monitor their team’s workload to ensure no one is burning out.

There are two steps to using workload management software . First, start by figuring out your team’s capacity, competencies, and current workload. From there, allocate resources based on individual workload, or rebalance workloads as needed.

6. Cost management

In project management, cost management is considering how each task impacts your budget at every stage of the project. Cost management is a key part of project leadership, and an important element of whether or not your project is a success. Staying within budget is as important as hitting your project due date, and cost management can help you get there.

To manage cost effectively, good project managers define their costs and budget at the beginning of a project. Make sure project stakeholders and team members all understand the budget. Then, during the project, keep cost and budget in mind. Check in on your spending several times during the project to make sure you aren’t overshooting your budget. Once the project is completed, tally predicted cost vs. actual cost to determine how effective your cost management strategies were. This can also help you benchmark for future projects.

7. Project portfolio management

With project portfolio management (PMM), you can get a bird’s-eye view of your team’s work across multiple projects. Unlike traditional project management, PMM involves working on multiple projects or large-scale initiatives simultaneously. Project portfolio management tools help you get a holistic view of all of your team’s work in real-time, so you can connect strategy to execution.

Portfolios are also a key Asana feature for our team. It is a great tool for our executive team so they can see our big pieces of work all in a single place with the status, progress and ownership. Our CEO visits our portfolio daily and adds comments. He loves to be able to see what's going on in a snapshot.”

8. Change management

If you’ve ever rolled out a big organizational change, you’ve likely practiced change management, even if you didn’t know it. Change management is the process of introducing organizational change—like new processes or tools—over a set period of time to make them easier to adapt to.

At Asana, we use the Asana Way of Change, a six step process developed by our Customer Success team that incorporates proven change management strategies. To learn more,  read our guide to change management .

The standard of our creative team, for a while, was just to react to work. But we’ll never do the best work we possibly can without a clear process.”

How to build your project management skills

Twenty five skills might feel like a lot, but remember that you don’t need to master every skill in this list. Some, like Agile, are only relevant for specific teams. Others, like organization, become virtually effortless with a little focus and great tools .

Keep in mind that developing your project management skills takes practice. Challenge yourself to focus on one or two new skills for each project—whether that’s trying out a new  visual form of project management  like Kanban, drafting your first ever project plan, or leaning into time-management.

There are also classes you can take to develop hard and soft project management skills. Though you no longer need certifications in order to be considered a project manager, the  Project Management Institute  (PMI) offers courses, learning events, and their famous  Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) , which was the first project management guide ever published.

Finally, once you’ve  selected a project management tool , you can also take their classes to learn technical project management skills. At Asana, we’ve developed the  Asana Academy  and  How to Asana  series to help new project managers learn new soft, hard, and technical skills.

Build your project management toolkit

If you manage a project, you’re a project manager—and you likely already have some key project management skills. The most important thing is to be intentional, listen to your team, and collaborate with your team members. The rest will follow.

Project management doesn’t need to be complex. Asana was designed specifically to keep project manager’s organized, with tools, automations, and customizations built for collaborating and coordinating everything from a simple brainstorming session to a full-fledged product launch. 

Related resources

15 project management interview questions, answers, and tips

Critical path method: How to use CPM for project management

Unmanaged business goals don’t work. Here’s what does.

How Asana uses work management to drive product development

19 Sep 2020

A Project Manager's Short Guide to Effective Problem-Solving in 6 Steps

Role of the Project Manager | By Duncan Haughey | Read time minutes

For project managers and business analysts like you, effective problem-solving remains an ever-important soft skill that requires you to combine creative thinking and strong analytical skills. The simple six-step process outlined below will help you master effective problem-solving — a skill that will provide you with the ability to bring a new perspective to problems, helping you to design, and implement, effective solutions.

Step #1: Identify the Problem

First, make sure you're dealing with the real problem, not just its symptoms. In information technology, we use root cause analysis to trace back to the origin of a problem. Take the time needed to do this tracing and discover the real reason for a problem by looking at it from different angles. Here are a few tools that can help:

• Cause and effect diagrams: These diagrams help you gain a solid understanding of what's actually causing the problem.
• Drill-down technique: This technique helps you split problems into decreasingly smaller parts to gain an increasingly more in-depth understanding of the cause.
• 5 whys: This approach helps you drill down to a problem's root cause by asking why five times.

Ultimately, all problems fall into three basic cause types:

• Physical cause: Equipment has had a material failure and stopped working.
• Human cause: Someone made a mistake or forgot to do something.
• Organisational cause: A system or process was flawed and/or failed.

Step #2: List All Possible Solutions

Once you understand the problem, it's time to think about possible solutions. If your problem is simple, the solution will often be clear straightaway. But more complex problems may require a formal approach to finding solutions. Here are some potential techniques you could employ:

• Hold a brainstorming session with your team to identify and explore answers to the problem.
• Use mind mapping to focus your mind, gain clarity and quickly identify solutions.
• Ask a coach to employ the GROW model to help you identify the obstacles preventing you from achieving your goal.

Step #3: Evaluate the Solutions

Once you have your list of solutions, evaluate each one by asking a few questions:

• What are the pros and cons?
• Which measures will resolve the problem and prevent it from re-occurring?

Step #4: Pick the Best Solution

Weigh the solutions against a good outcome versus risk. Here are a few questions you should be asking to help guide this process:

• What options can you discard straightaway?
• Which option will have the best outcome at an acceptable risk level?
• What is your best option?

Step #5: Document the Selected Solution

Once you've identified the best solution, write it down. This action helps you think through the solution thoroughly and identify any implications of implementing the solution. This step is especially useful when solutions are complex, when they require organising, to ensure a specific process order is followed or when you don't want to rely solely on your memory.

Step #6: Create a Contingency Plan

Circumstances may (and often do!) change, so create a plan of what you will do for any foreseeable futures. Don't be caught unprepared when and if things change.

What Would You Do?

Here are three scenarios you may encounter as a project manager. Faced with these situations, what would you do? Click the down arrow to see answer.

Scenario 1: The Urgent Project You have been asked by your director to plan an urgent project. However, you cannot start the project because a colleague with vital information and expertise is away on an extended holiday, and both are essential for project success. How would you approach this situation?

Scenario 2: the unhappy customer your customer is unhappy with the service you're providing on their project. you have not done anything wrong. the customer has been the cause of several delays through last minute and unexpected changes. how would you approach this situation, scenario 3: the serious mistake halfway through a project, you realise you have made a serious mistake. the situation may require significant extra time to resolve and could cause you to miss an important go-live deadline. how would you deal with this situation to ensure you still met the deadline.

As is usually the case, there's no single right answer to each problem, and the answers provided in the example scenarios are just one possibility. Other solutions exist and may, in some cases, even provide a better outcome.

How would you tackle the problems outlined in these scenarios?

Recommended read: How to Perform a Project Handover by Duncan Haughey.

What's Next?

You may also be interested in, avoiding project management pitfalls.

• Common pitfalls that projects experience and some tips to help make a project more successful and avoid the potential for chaos.

Project Management Checklists

• Checklists are underused in the planning and managing of projects. Here is a high level twelve-point checklist for use during project planning.

Stealth Team Building

• The effective project manager takes advantage of every opportunity the team gets together to develop team synergy.

How Agile Practices Reduce Requirements Risks

• Every software project carries some risk, but many of these risks can be mitigated. That's true of problems related to product requirements.

The Key Project Management Skills You Need

In today’s fast-paced business world, project management has become an essential factor of success for companies of all sizes.

With projects growing more complex and demanding, what worked 10 years ago doesn’t work anymore. Project managers must keep up with the times and be able to deliver quality results on time and within budget.

To be a successful project manager, you must possess a range of skills that enable you to manage projects from start to finish. We’re talking about both hard and soft skills, as there are some skills you won’t be able to learn in a PM certification. They’re personality traits.

In this article, we’ll explore key project management skills that every project manager needs to master to deliver projects within budget, on time, and to the expected quality.

What are key project management skills?

Project management skills are the set of competencies, traits, and characteristics that enable a project manager to lead a project in its lifecycle .

These competencies include project planning, budgeting, and risk assessment — what we call hard skills. To bo a good project manager you also need communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills — the soft skills.

Hard skills refer to the technical and analytical abilities that help project managers to manage budgets, timelines, and resources.

On the other hand, soft skills refer to the interpersonal and leadership qualities that enable project managers to manage teams and stakeholders.

Successful project managers need a combination of both soft and hard skills to be effective.

So, what does it take to be a project manager? What are the skills you need to have, and how much do they matter? How can you develop those skills and master project management?

We’ll address all these questions in this article, so keep reading!

Read our guide to know what project management skills are .

Why do project management skills matter?

The success of a project is largely dependent on the project manager’s ability to manage the project effectively.

Recent data showed that 70% of projects fail . However, that same research has demonstrated that the intervention of a qualified project manager can decrease that failure rate to 20% or lower. 

Project management skills help project managers identify and mitigate risks, manage resources, communicate effectively with stakeholders, and ensure the project is delivered on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of stakeholders.

Without effective project management skills, projects can quickly spiral out of control, resulting in delays, overspending, and poor quality results.

That’s why it’s essential for those who intend to invest in a career in project management to bet on PM certifications , as well as seek to develop other soft skills that certifications do not address. Let’s dive in!

Hard skills that any project manager need

1. Project management methodologies

The first skill we decided to include in this list is mandatory.

Although some PMs can manage projects without in-depth knowledge of project management techniques and methodologies like Agile or Waterfall .

The most experienced and successful professionals have received formal education to be able to follow and complete projects from A to Z.

From Scrum to Kanban , passing through the ones we mentioned above, there are many approaches and methodologies you can use to manage your projects.

And there’s no better way to master them and determine which ones are best for your teams and projects than to study and put them into practice. You can acquire these skills in PM online courses or project management books , for example.

2. Subject matter expertise

Project managers work across a broad range of industries, spanning from construction and software development to marketing. Although not mandatory, possessing a fundamental understanding of the industry and the specific projects being overseen can benefit project managers.

This knowledge and expertise can enable them to make more informed and quick decisions and precise projections regarding potential risks, expenses, schedules, and resource necessities.

Also, individuals who can comprehend and utilize the jargon and terminology commonly used by subject matter experts within their organization are likely to communicate more efficiently with their teams.

Read also: Types of project reports

3. Budgeting and cost management 

Before the project even starts, it’s up to the project manager to estimate the project time , and the budget needed to complete the project within the ideal timeframe. Therefore, a good professional must know all the variants involved in planning a project, especially money.

One of the most common reasons for a project to skid is overspending, which can be caused by poor budget management or even a poor initial budget forecast. 

Great project budget management is a vital skill that project managers must possess. This involves tracking project expenses , monitoring cash flow, and recognizing opportunities for cost reduction.

On top of this, they may have to make difficult decisions when the budget is exceeded, giving up certain features, phases, or even resources.

Get to know all the different roles and responsibilities of a project manager .

4. Risk Management  

Each project has some degree of risk. You must try to avoid it and prepare for when a setback comes.

Situations such as the unavailability of required resources or approval delays from a client that may result in schedule delays. Project managers are responsible for navigating and anticipating such risks to avoid potential delays or cost overruns.

To achieve this, project managers should possess the ability to identify, evaluate, and mitigate risks. They need to develop comprehensive risk management plans , monitor potential risks, and undertake corrective actions where necessary, ensuring the project is completed without any delay or cost overrun. 

This skill is one of the most difficult to attain but the experience is a good companion and as the years go by it becomes easier and easier to make this risk assessment.

5. Project management software

The best project managers know better than to try to coordinate all of the elements of a project with jumbled spreadsheets and random task lists.

Instead, they become experts at using the best project management software to centralize communication, streamline collaboration, manage budgets/ resources, and iron out project plans. 

A practical understanding of popular project management software can have a positive impact on a project manager’s work.

So we recommend you research which one works best for you and your team and become an expert at it. Then, educate and encourage other project stakeholders to use the software too. 

In today’s world, this means project managers must also constantly evolve, learning how to leverage the newest technologies available to lead a project to completion successfully. 

Read also: What is and why tracking project management is important.

Soft skills that any project manager need

Soft skills are non-technical, interpersonal skills that are critical for project managers to lead and collaborate with their teams successfully.

They are crucial in building and maintaining positive relationships among project team members, stakeholders, and clients.

Good soft skills enable project managers to motivate, influence, and inspire their teams, leading to higher job satisfaction and better project outcomes.

6. Communication 

The truth is that it’s hard to find a job where communication is not an essential skill. For a project manager, communicating effectively with stakeholders to ensure they are informed about the progress of the project is crucial. 

In addition, PMs must be able to communicate clearly and be excellent listeners — listening to all parties involved in developing a project is half the battle in anticipating unforeseen events and adapting the plan to circumvent them. 

Finally, a good project manager must be able to adapt his communication style to different audiences.

It’s possible that in a single day, he or she will have to talk about the project to his/her management, clients, and team. For each of these audiences, you should be able to adapt your attitude, trying to communicate positively and efficiently.

Learn how to create a project management communication plan .

7. Time Management 

As the primary contact for various departments and team members, project managers face multiple demands on their time. It’s, therefore crucial for them to manage their time efficiently, along with the capacity of all key project players.

Effective time management is essential for project managers to ensure the timely completion of the project.

They should be able to prioritize tasks, handle competing priorities, and set achievable deadlines. By doing so, project managers can optimize their team’s performance and mitigate the risk of delays or cost overruns. 

Did you know that Tracking time contributes to better personal and project time management? By using time-tracking software you’ll probably be better able to analyze how to use your time more effectively.

TIP: Read our blog and find out why time management is crucial .

8. Negotiation 

Project managers often have to work with various stakeholders, including team members, clients, suppliers, and vendors.

Negotiation skills are essential for project managers because they help them to communicate effectively, persuade, and identify win-win solutions.

When dealing with other project stakeholders, negotiation skills enable project managers to negotiate effectively and manage everybody’s expectations by addressing concerns, clarifying requirements, and managing any conflicts.

Additionally, PMs often need to negotiate with other teams or departments within the organization to secure necessary resources for their project, such as budgets, staff, equipment, or software.

By mastering negotiation skills, project managers can ensure project success and build a positive reputation within their organization.

9. Critical thinking and problem-solving 

When you’re responsible for managing projects from start to finish, you’ll often encounter various problems and obstacles. This is why having both solid critical thinking and problem-solving skills is critical for a good project manager. 

Firstly, problem-solving skills enable project managers to assess problems and develop effective solutions. You’ll need to understand the root cause of the problem and use critical thinking skills to identify possible solutions. 

Secondly, problem-solving skills help project managers to manage risks effectively. They need to anticipate potential problems and develop contingency plans in case things do not go as planned.

By proactively identifying and addressing problems using critical thinking and logic, project managers can minimize the impact of risks and ensure the project stays on track.

10. Quality management

Project managers are responsible for managing quality to guarantee the desired outcomes of a project. This includes creating quality management plans, monitoring and running audits, and taking corrective actions.

Quality management ensures that the project outcomes meet the desired standards and expectations of the stakeholders, and nobody ends up feeling disappointed.

The ability to develop quality management plans and implement them effectively can also help prevent issues that may arise during project execution.

Finally, having good quality management practices can also improve team morale and motivation. This happens because team members are more likely to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in their work when the project delivers high-quality results.

11. People management 

In any position that requires teamwork, people management is one of the key project management skills a leader must have.

People are complicated, especially when egos get into the discussion. Project managers must have strong leadership skills to manage teams effectively . They must motivate team members , delegate tasks , resolve conflicts, and provide feedback.

Strong people management skills also help project managers build positive relationships with stakeholders, including clients and vendors, and manage any external factors that may impact the project.

In short, people management is a vital component of project management, and without effective management of people, projects are likely to encounter obstacles and fail to meet their objectives.

12. Conflict management

No matter how good your team is, a universal truth applies: where there are people, there’s conflict.

When you work with professionals who have pride in their work, with tight deadlines and high expectations, it’s normal for conflicts to arise.

Frustration and finger-pointing can easily escalate on a project team without a skilled project manager to help work through inevitable conflicts.

So, when problems and disagreements arise, project managers rely on their conflict resolution skills to stay cool, calm, and collected and help the feuding teams or people talk about their issues and reach a mutually beneficial solution. 

How to improve key project management skills

You can take several steps to develop essential project management skills. We’ll talk about three different possibilities. But, if you want to go further, read our article and learn how to improve your project management skills .

Practice makes perfect

One of the best ways to develop key project management skills is by practicing them in your current role. Identify the areas you want to improve on and actively work to develop those skills.

Seek feedback from colleagues and mentors to understand areas where you need improvement.

Additionally, you can seek out opportunities for hands-on learning by volunteering for projects or taking on additional responsibilities.

This can help you gain practical experience and develop your skills in a real-world setting.

Stay up-to-date with the latest trends

Attending industry events and workshops is a great way to learn best practices, gain new insights, and stay up-to-date with the latest trends in project management.

You can participate in local or online events, such as webinars or conferences, to network with other professionals and learn from their experiences.

Professional associations, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), offer regular events and workshops to help you stay connected to the latest industry practices.

Did you know that project management podcasts might be a good way to improve your pm skills?

Consider taking a project management certification

Earning a certificate in project management can help you develop your skills and provide you with the practical knowledge and technical expertise needed to lead complex projects to completion.

These project management courses provide opportunities for experiential learning, where you can apply your skills in real-world situations. Additionally, returning to school can connect you with industry experts who can offer insights into the latest trends and practices in project management.

Developing hard and soft project management skills is essential for success in today’s business environment.

Effective project management skills can help you lead teams, manage resources, and deliver successful projects on time and within budget.

Whether you are new to project management or an experienced professional, there are many ways to improve your skills.

Remember, learning and developing any skill is a continuous process; with dedication and effort, anyone can become a skilled project manager.

You might be interested in:

• Time estimation in project management
• How to create a project monitoring plan
• The best project management blogs
• The best YouTube channels for project management
• The best tips to improve communication skills
• What is project billing?
• Examples of project management goals

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Home » Employment & Management » Importance of problem-solving for potential managers

Importance of problem-solving for potential managers

• October 8, 2021

Effective problem solving is a crucial skill for managers to possess because they’re expected to be able to overcome challenges in everyday operations to more complex conflicts and missed goals.

Being able to identify problems, analyse the cause and take practical and logical steps to resolve them requires a calm and clear head. The sum of this expertise is a huge bonus for businesses looking to achieve their organisational goals and create a collaborative, stress free work environment.

In this article, we’ll further discuss the importance of problem-solving for potential managers, how to assess whether someone has good problem-solving skills, and how you can improve your problem-solving.

Why do managers need to have problem-solving skills?

Finding the best solutions to problems in the workplace is very important as it helps employees to succeed. Some of the reasons why effective problem solving by management is so important are:

• Achieve goals- A good manager that can effectively get rid of problems and obstacles that are in the path of your employees will help employees achieve the goals that have been set for them.
• Manage teams effectively- Efficient management and problem-solving means that teams can be managed properly, and each team member will know exactly what is expected of them.
• Build collaboration- With problems taken care of, it is easier to build collaboration, cohesion, and a welcoming workplace environment.
• Client satisfaction- When it comes to client satisfaction, speedy problem solving is an absolute must.
• Meeting deadlines- With problems eliminated, the path is clear for employees to meet deadlines and deliver work in a timely manner.
• Eliminate stress from the workplace- even the tiniest problems such as a broken printer can cause enormous stress in the workplace, so having a manager that takes problem-solving seriously will be a massive asset when creating a calm and stress-free working environment.

How do you identify whether someone has good problem-solving skills or not?

If you are looking to hire potential managers for your business, you’ll need to identify whether they are good problem solvers or not. This can be quite tricky, as you often can’t get a well-rounded idea of someone’s problem-solving skills in just one interview, but you can do the following:

Ask them to come up with solutions to theoretical problems

In the interview setting, why not ask the candidate to come up with solutions to recent problems that you experienced in your workplace. Encourage them to ask questions about the specifics of the situation so that they have an accurate idea of the issue at hand. Don’t rush them, as good solutions require some brainstorming (so ensure you provide them with a paper and pen should it be an in-person interview). Hearing the solutions that they come up with should give you valuable insight into their problem-solving skills and whether or not they would be a good fit for your workplace environment.

Ask them about their previous experience with problem-solving

Even if the candidate has no previous experience as a manager, everyone has to solve problems in their own lives, whether it be at school or as an employee. Ask about what other problems they have recently had to solve, and this should show you how well they can use logic and whether they stayed calm within the problem-solving process. Ask about how they felt and what obstacles they experienced along the way when it came to their problem-solving.

There are also many online tests that you could make use of and ask potential candidates to take in an effort to get a clear idea of their problem-solving skills.

How do you improve your problem-solving skills?

If you are someone that is looking for a management position, is perhaps already in a management position, and are looking to improve your problem-solving skills, you could look at the following for answers.

Gaining any sort of experience in the workplace, even working as a waiter or cashier, can help you develop your problem-solving skills. Of course, a management position would be the most valuable, but if that is not yet possible, just try to put your problem-solving skills to the test in your everyday life. Whether it be a flat tyre or a personal matter, test yourself by always trying to come up with the most effective solution.

Online courses

There are so many online courses out there that can help give you the skills that you need to become a better problem solver. These online courses may focus on soft managerial skills or even focus on the skill of problem-solving itself. Many of these courses are very affordable and even free, so go the extra mile by enrolling in one of these courses.

Applying yourself

When you are faced with a problem in your life, always push yourself to go the extra mile in coming up with solutions for your problems. Shy away from being lazy and rather apply yourself in as many aspects as you possibly can, and you’ll soon see that your problem-solving skills will blossom and develop.

Gain knowledge

As a manager in the workplace, it is important that you are constantly improving your knowledge when it comes to industry regulations, current industry trends, etc. Take the time to read relevant articles and up your knowledge for your chosen industry. This way, when problems arise, you’ll be armed with relevant knowledge that may help you in your quest to find the ideal solution.

Helping others solve their problems

If you really want to up your problem-solving skills, you could let your friends and family know, and spend time with them discussing their current problems and frustrations, and help them find solutions.

You could also practise coming up with solutions to theoretical problems that you are not currently facing but could face in the near future.

Practice stress relief

If you are someone that gets stressed out very easily, this is definitely going to be a hindrance to you when it comes to solving problems. Stress clouds your brain, which can cause you to make snap, erratic decisions that you may regret later.

If you want to be a good problem solver, practice maintaining a peaceful state of mind, and look into stress relief techniques such as meditation, self-care, etc.

4 steps to problem-solving

When it comes to solving problems both in and out of the workplace, there are four steps that you can take for effective problem solving; these include:

Identify the problem

The first step is to identify the problem as soon as possible. The sooner you spot a problem, the easier it may be to solve it. Allowing problems to go unnoticed means that they’ll probably become more complicated and grow in size. So ensure that you are always keeping an eye on things so that you can identify problems as they arise.

Analyse the problem

Once you have identified the problem, the next step is to analyse it. Look at the problem from a few different angles and ensure that you understand the source of the issue at hand before coming up with solutions. If you understand the root of the problem, you’re more likely to come up with solutions that will be most effective.

Come up with solutions

Practice techniques such as brainstorming when developing solutions. Come up with a variety of solutions and decide which is most fair, affordable, time-effective, and convenient in the given situation. Try to avoid making impulsive, snap decisions that you could end up regretting at a later stage.

Come up with a plan that you can use to implement the solution you have come up with, and if it involves any other parties, ensure that they know about it. Act on this plan and carry it out with precision and confidence. There should also be a contingency plan in place so that your Plan A has a fall-back should anything go wrong along the way.

Skills that are associated with problem-solving

Problem-solving can be used as an umbrella term for a diverse skill set that aids in effective problem-solving. People who are known as fantastic problem solvers often have the same sort of skill set, and if you are on the lookout for a potential manager, the following skills may be an indicator that they’d be good at solving problems. Some of the skills that are associated with problem-solving include:

Communication

Communication is a very important skill for any manager. Even if a manager comes up with great solutions if they cannot effectively communicate these solutions to their team, then what is the point? As poor communication results in good ideas getting lost in translation.

Communication skills also help managers find the root of certain issues as they’re able to easily talk to their team and ask the right questions to find the source of any workplace issues.

Good communication and transparency also help build trust in the workplace, allowing employees to report their problems to the manager without hesitation.

Confidence is one of the main features of a good leader. It takes confidence in one’s abilities to come up with great solutions, and even more, confidence to implement them and carry them out. Employees will be distrustful of a manager that is not confident and may question their problem-solving skills even though their solutions may be effective. It is all about confidence when leading a team!

Ability to keep calm under pressure

There is no doubt about it…dealing with a wide variety of problems every day can be incredibly stressful, and many managers find that they are just not cut out for the job as they succumb to the stress. A good problem-solving manager should be able to keep their stress in check and ensure that they are always calm and clear-headed when coming up with solutions. Stress will only cause a cloudy brain and increase the likelihood of making ill-informed, erratic decisions.

Logical thinking

As we have mentioned in this article already, there is a step-by-step way to logically deal with problems. Logical thinkers will easily be able to assess all of the possible solutions and choose the one that makes the most sense. Logical thinkers are also often talented when it comes to maths and finding the most affordable and convenient solutions to workplace problems, both big and small.

Creativity 

As much as logical thinking is very important, creativity plays a role that is just as important. In many instances, it takes thinking a little outside of the box in order to come up with custom solutions that best suit your specific situation in the workplace. Sometimes the best solutions are the ones that are the most creative.

A great problem solver will have a healthy relationship with their intuition and will have a keen sense of when a problem may be arising, sometimes before it even happens. A good problem solver should be able to trust their gut instinct and use their intuition as a clue to look for any issues around them.

Final Thoughts

Problem solving is a key trait for successful managers. Being able to analyse situations, people and products to come up with ways to resolve conflict or difficulty takes creativity, interpersonal skills, logistical thinking, communication and the ability to remain calm under pressure.

Whilst many people have these skills naturally, others are not natural problem solvers. If lacking in the core personality traits to be a problem solver, people can learn through example and training how to become better in these areas.

Businesses should consider problem solving as an important trait to look out for when hiring business managers and leaders to stand the best chance of the organisation being able to work through challenges and build success.

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The Project Management Skills You Need

In this video, Jennifer Bridges, PMP, breaks down the top management and leadership skills you need to have to be a great project manager.

In Review: Top 13 Project Management Skills All Project Managers Need

Whether new to project management or looking to do a skills refresh, Jennifer advised us about the top skills used most frequently by project managers.

There are two types of skills: behavioral and technical . The behavioral skills Jennifer notes are:

• Change Management – Both the formal  change management process , and the art of being able to navigate change effectively with your team
• Process Management – The ability to manage processes effectively.
• Problem Solving – Breaking down issues to the essence of the problem and finding a way to solve it.
• Communication – And communicating with different levels of leadership, whether it’s at the team level, the stakeholders, the change control board, or the executive level.
• Organizing and Planning – Able to organize things into different components to manage them effectively.
• Reading Systems – Meaning, understanding when things are operating smoothly, or when systemic change is needed.
• Team Building – Being able to get teams working together
• Commitment – Staying committed through the project, during the good times and the bad.
• Diplomacy –  Being able to navigate politics artfully in order to get things done.

For technical skills, Jennifer broke down three distinctions:

• Tools – Having a software tool that you can use to manage your projects effectively, and that your team can use too.
• Techniques – Practical applications on how to do, well, anything on the project and any of the behavioral skills, too.
• Methodologies – Knowing when a method (Agile, Waterfall, etc) is the right approach for your team and how to implement it across an organization.

For most, these skills are often used in concert with each other, not as stand-alone processes. It is definitely part art, part science.

Pro-Tip : Never stop learning. Watch  Jennifer’s guide to keeping up your project management skills .

We hope you found this useful! Thanks for watching.

Transcription

Hello, I’m Jennifer Bridges, director at ProjectManager.com. Welcome to our whiteboard session today on the skills that you need as a project manager, no matter if you are new to project management and trying to understand what skills are required going into the profession, or, if you’ve been in the profession for a long time and are really frustrated, wondering why certain things aren’t working, and trying to learn the new skills that you need. Hopefully, this whiteboard session will help to clarify the skills.

There are so many different terms thrown out in the industry. If you go to Google or look up the word ‘skill’, it means “the ability to do something well”. It’s like expertise. If you think about project management, there truly is the art and the science, using the right brain and the left brain. Some skills are working with people, and some of the things that are more on the art end, and then there’s the craft, or the science. There are a lot of different skills that one has to know. Let’s break it down into behavioral and technical skills. If you look at the behavioral side, these are some of the skills that are required to influence behaviors, like leadership skills, knowing how to influence others, and how to get them to follow you on the team.

“Change Management”, not just the change management process, but the art of being able to manage change effectively within an organization. Again, getting others to buy into initiatives within an organization where it’s creating massive change. Usually, where change occurs, fear occurs, so it’s a matter of navigating those waters.

“Process Management”, really understanding and having the ability to manage processes effectively. Not only is it the project management discipline, but understanding and having a clear way of managing processes for your project.

“Problem Solving”, being able to take a problem and break it down into the segments to understand what the real issue is, and solve that, and take decisive actions to get things done.

Also, there’s the “Communication”, communicating with different levels, whether it’s at the team level, the stakeholders, the change control board, or the executive level. Literally, with project managers, you have to communicate up, down, and all around. It’s written, verbal, and all different forms of communication.

“Organizing and Planning”, being able to look at a project and be enabled to organize things into different components, and plan them correctly and effectively, so that you can manage the project.

“Reading Systems”, being able to look around and see what’s being done, and hear what’s being said, and see how those line up, and also being able to read when things aren’t going well or sounding right, being able to tune into the system.

“Team Building”, when projects are longer or shorter, sometimes intense, or when projects are failing, specifically, when emotions are high and sensitivities are high, being able to get teams working together. Also important, being able to understand each other, bridging the gap between maybe some of the skills, maybe some of the cultures, doing those things that are needed to get the team to work together towards a common goal.

“Commitment”, commitment to task, staying committed throughout the project. You may have seen those times, or may have experienced them yourself, when things aren’t going well, so you want to eject the project or maybe get out of there as quickly as you can. It’s really, staying committed through the project, during the tough times and the good times.

“Diplomacy”, knowing whether you’re talking to an executive or team level, knowing how to be diplomatic in order to get things resolved. Diplomacy doesn’t mean selling out or conflict avoidance, it’s understanding the diplomacy needed to be able to navigate the politics or the levels that you’re dealing with in order to get things done.

Those are some of the behavioral skills, and then, there’s the technical skills. There’s also a knowing about tools, and having a software tool that you can use to manage your projects effectively, and others can get in and access the software, too, like at ProjectManager.com. Then, there are the techniques, whether it’s having a methodology, knowing how to build a Gantt chart, or being able to map things out, and decision-making processes. Also, having a clear methodology that you can use, communicate to the team, and use for the project. A methodology helps not only to get the project done, but to help others in communicating.

By using these skills, again, it goes back to the art and science. It’s a difficult role, as a project manager, but these are the skills that you need to handle some of the issues that arise, whether there are people issues, process issues, or technology issues. These are the things that we found to be helpful skills for a project manager, for those projects that do well.

Looking for project management software that will support all of your skills? ProjectManager.com helps you plan, manage, communicate and report on every aspect of your projects, from start to finish. Give us a try.

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Why Are Strong Leadership Skills Critical For A Project Manager

Key takeaway:.

• Strong leadership skills are critical for project managers as they enable efficient project completion and task management.
• Strong leadership skills reduce stress and improve focus, leading to better project outcomes.
• Team-building and delegation skills are important for project managers, as they help in building trust, unity, and calmness under pressure.

Project managers play a pivotal role in the success of any project. In this article, we explore the importance of strong leadership skills for project managers. Throughout the following sections, we will examine how effective leadership skills contribute to a project’s outcome by discussing aspects such as vision and inspiration, problem-solving and decision-making abilities, as well as team-building and delegation skills. So, let’s dive into why these skills are critical for project managers and how they can make a difference in achieving project goals.

Importance of Leadership Skills for Project Managers

Leadership skills are essential for project managers. They must be able to envision the desired outcome and motivate others to achieve it . Problem-solving and decision-making abilities are also vital. Team-building and delegation skills are key to success.

Benefits of strong leadership skills include efficient project completion, trust-building , and remaining calm under pressure. To develop these skills, gaining management experience is crucial. Reading project management principles and attending courses can help, too. Mentorship from experienced leaders can be beneficial. Personal development and self-awareness are also important.

Vision and Inspiration

Vision and inspiration are must-haves for project managers. They point the team in the right direction and drive everyone to reach the same goal. This vision gives team members a sense of purpose and commitment. It also lets project managers tell the team what to expect. This way, they all stay on the same page and work together.

Plus, vision and inspiration get people thinking outside the box. This creativity can lead to great results and success. It’s also important for project managers to stay ahead of industry trends. This lets them adjust their plans and strategies to make sure the project works long-term.

Inspiring people goes beyond setting a vision. It also calls for active listening, empathy, and understanding each team member’s motivations. This encourages growth and unity within the team.

Project managers who are great problem solvers can make the impossible possible. They have their own PhD in achieving success .

Problem-solving and Decision-making Abilities

Project managers with strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities possess many unique qualities. These include:

• Analytical skills for breaking down complex problems into manageable components.
• Critical thinking to evaluate different options and choose the most appropriate course of action.
• Creativity to come up with innovative solutions.
• Risk assessment to develop contingency plans.
• Effective communication to gather insights.

Moreover, they demonstrate adaptability in dynamic situations. They remain calm, considering multiple perspectives before making well-informed decisions.

A classic example is the Apollo 13 mission led by Gene Kranz . The leadership team used their problem-solving skills to quickly assess the situation, make tough decisions, and bring the crew back safely.

Project managers need strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities to effectively navigate challenges and ensure successful outcomes.

Team-building and Delegation Skills

Team-building and delegation are vital for project managers. They help ensure success and efficiency. Building an environment of unity, where each team member feels valued, motivated, and supported , can improve communication, cooperation, and collaboration.

Delegation requires project managers to identify the strengths and competencies of each team member. This ensures each team member is working on tasks they are good at , which builds trust, growth, and accountability.

Leadership skills in project management involve motivating team members. A skilled project manager creates a compelling vision, sets clear goals, and provides feedback and recognition . This motivates the team and boosts morale and productivity.

Team-building, delegation, and strong leadership skills are essential for project managers. They allow for effective collaboration, efficient task allocation, and increased motivation. Who needs a stress ball when you have these strong leadership skills ?

Benefits of Strong Leadership Skills in Project Management

Strong leadership skills are crucial for successful project management, offering a multitude of benefits. From efficient project completion and task management to reduced stress and improved focus, these skills play a vital role. In addition, they foster trust-building and team unity, while enabling project managers to remain calm under pressure. With these abilities, project managers can drive teams towards success and overcome challenges with ease.

Efficient Project Completion and Task Management

Efficient task management is key for successful projects! Breaking down goals into smaller tasks, assigning them to members based on their strengths, and setting clear deadlines are all important steps. Regular communication and coordination with the team is also essential. Plus, utilizing tools like project management software or collaboration platforms help make management easier. All these steps contribute to efficient task management and project completion!

Reduced Stress and Improved Focus

For project managers to effectively lead their teams, it is crucial to maintain a calm and focused mindset. Reducing stress and improving focus can boost decision-making abilities, promote efficient task management, and create a positive team environment.

Leading with reduced stress and improved focus benefits the entire team. It promotes better decisions, a collaborative work atmosphere, and encourages creativity and innovation.

Pro Tip: Self-care is essential for reducing stress levels and improving focus as a project manager. Take breaks, meditate, exercise, delegate tasks, and seek support when needed. Remember, taking care of your well-being is key for leading effectively, like conducting a symphony in a room full of cats!

Trust-building and Team Unity

Trust-building and team unity are key to successful project management. A great leader knows the importance of trust between team members and unity within the group.

• Building Trust: Honesty, integrity, and transparency must be shown by the leader to build trust. This allows team members to feel comfortable and communicate openly, sharing ideas and worries.
• Uniting the Team: Leaders must encourage teamwork, facilitate communication, and sort out conflicts quickly to make a cohesive team. This creates a positive atmosphere where everyone feels valued and inspired to give their all.
• Collaboration: When there’s trust, people are more willing to exchange knowledge, help each other, and work together. This helps productivity, creativity, and the success of the project.

By focusing on trust-building and team unity, project managers create an environment where people can grow professionally while working towards common goals. This improves relationships, collaboration, and productivity – all essential for project success. Stay cool under pressure like a zen master, or be ready to see your project collapse like a shoddy sandcastle.

Calmness Under Pressure

Remaining calm under pressure is a must-have quality for project managers. Tight deadlines, tricky situations, and unexpected obstacles? This skill helps handle them all, by keeping composure and making logical decisions. It enables focused teams and helps navigate through stressful moments.

Calmness under pressure brings benefits:

• It helps project managers think without emotions or external pressures, leading to better problem-solving and decision-making. Projects stay on track even in high-stress situations.
• It also creates stability and trust for team members. Composure instills confidence and promotes collaboration. This enhances productivity and keeps morale high.
• Calmness helps maintain a positive work atmosphere. Project managers can reduce stress among team members, preventing burnout.

Sharpen your leadership skills like a project manager sharpens their pencil – with precision and purpose.

Developing and Improving Leadership Skills for Project Managers

Developing strong leadership skills is crucial for project managers. In this section, we explore effective strategies to improve leadership abilities. From gaining hands-on experience in management roles to studying project management and seeking mentorship, these sub-sections provide valuable insights on how project managers can enhance their leadership capabilities. By focusing on personal development and cultivating self-awareness, project managers can elevate their leadership skills to drive successful project outcomes.

Gaining Experience in Management Roles

Project managers can acquire experience in management roles by taking on new responsibilities and challenges in their current organization. This hands-on experience builds crucial skills, such as decision-making, problem-solving, and team management.

They can also volunteer to lead cross-functional or high-priority projects within their company. This provides invaluable experience in managing teams, coordinating tasks, and ensuring project success.

Many companies offer rotational programs that let employees experience different areas of the business. Project managers can use these programs to work in diverse roles, expanding their skill set and developing a well-rounded outlook on management.

Failing and overcoming challenges also gives project managers an opportunity to learn and grow as leaders. Seeking mentorship from experienced leaders can help them gain guidance and knowledge from others’ experiences. By doing this, project managers can advance their leadership capabilities quickly.

Lastly, studying and attending courses can assist in improving project management skills and avoiding common mistakes.

Studying Project Management and Attending Courses

Gaining specialized knowledge in project management is possible by studying and taking courses. These educational opportunities provide comprehensive understanding of the principles, processes and methodologies for effective project management.

Gaining expertise in planning and organization is also possible – courses teach participants how to make detailed plans, efficiently organize tasks and manage resources. This helps in creating clear timelines and allocating resources effectively to complete projects.

Additionally, communication skills are essential for project management. By studying and taking courses, individuals can enhance their communication abilities like active listening, persuasive speaking and concise writing.

Risk analysis and mitigation are also vital – courses cover topics such as risk assessment and mitigation strategies. These enable aspiring project managers to identify potential risks, assess their impact on the project and create contingency plans to mitigate them.

Furthermore, engaging in project management studies and courses allows individuals to network with experienced professionals in the field. This provides valuable insights, mentorship and potential career growth prospects.

Moreover, studying and attending courses offer individuals the opportunity to gain recognized certifications. These certifications validate their skills and expertise, providing evidence of their commitment to professional development in the field.

By investing time and effort into studying and taking courses, aspiring project managers can equip themselves with the necessary knowledge, skills and qualifications needed for success. Finding a mentor is an invaluable tool that can help navigate the rough waters of project management.

Seeking Mentorship and Guidance

Seeking guidance and mentorship is essential for project managers to boost their leadership capabilities. Experienced mentors can provide valuable knowledge and advice, customized to the individual’s needs.

Mentorship programs offer chances to hone communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Learning from mentors who have already conquered similar challenges can help project managers choose wisely.

Mentorship also provides a supportive atmosphere where project managers can talk about their struggles. Mentors offer emotional support, motivation, and a new angle to tackle difficult problems. They can also aid project managers in attaining self-confidence, strength, and the capability to deal with uncertainties.

Seeking mentorship not only boosts professional growth, but also enlarges one’s network in the industry. Mentors’ vast networks offer project managers more learning opportunities or job possibilities. By utilizing these links, project managers can broaden their knowledge and stay informed with industry best practices.

Self-awareness is essential to personal growth; just make sure you don’t forget how dark your humor can get!

Personal Development and Self-awareness

Project managers must increase personal growth and understanding of themselves to become more efficient leaders. They must recognize their strong points as well as areas needing improvement. This helps them realize how their actions affect others, resulting in better communication and teamwork.

Continuous learning and gaining new skills is essential. For example, attending workshops or conferences on leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence provides knowledge to manage projects successfully.

Also, personal development boosts problem-solving skills. Project managers can be more creative and adaptable with heightened self-awareness. This allows them to identify possible issues early and come up with solutions before they arise.

Strong leadership skills are a must for project managers! They are vital for success and smooth project execution. Leaders who are effective will inspire and motivate their team, creating a positive work environment with collaboration and productivity. They can communicate project objectives, delegate tasks, and offer guidance when needed. Also, strong leadership skills let project managers make informed and timely decisions, manage conflicts, prioritize tasks, and achieve successful project completion.

Project managers with strong leadership skills can manage and coordinate diverse teams with varying skills and personalities. They can build relationships, trust, and open communication with team members, stakeholders, and clients. Moreover, they can navigate through difficult situations, adapt to changes, and resolve conflicts professionally. Furthermore, they can identify strengths of team members and delegate tasks accordingly to maximize productivity.

A crucial detail emphasizing the importance of strong leadership skills is that project managers can handle high-pressure situations and drive results. They can remain calm under stress and make rational decisions. Plus, they can motivate team members during tough times, providing the necessary guidance and support. By exhibiting strong leadership, project managers can instill confidence in the team, leading to successful problem-solving and project outcomes.

An example of strong leadership skills in action is the successful completion of a complex construction project. The project manager, with great leadership skills, was able to communicate with stakeholders and coordinate a large team. Their strong leadership and task delegation enabled each team member to understand their responsibilities and work together to achieve project goals. By proactively addressing challenges, resolving conflicts, and offering guidance, the project manager was able to complete the project on time and within budget. This shows how important strong leadership skills are for project success.

Some Facts About Why Strong Leadership Skills Are Critical For A Project Manager:

• ✅ Strong leadership skills are crucial for project managers to effectively communicate with their team and stakeholders. (Source: Team Research)
• ✅ Good leadership in project management helps ensure timely project delivery and client satisfaction. (Source: Team Research)
• ✅ Project managers with strong leadership skills can identify potential issues and design strategies for successful project completion. (Source: Team Research)
• ✅ Building relationships and managing tasks are key responsibilities of project managers that require strong leadership skills. (Source: Classic Informatics)
• ✅ Strong leadership skills in project management help create a positive office environment, motivate the team, and achieve project goals. (Source: Classic Informatics)

FAQs about Why Are Strong Leadership Skills Critical For A Project Manager

Why are strong leadership skills critical for a project manager.

Strong leadership skills are critical for a project manager because they play a crucial role in guiding the project team and bridging the gap between different groups and stakeholders. Effective leadership allows project managers to communicate effectively with their team, make the right decisions, and stay calm under pressure. It also helps in building a unified team with the same goals and vision, which is essential for the success of a project.

What are the vital skills that a good project manager should have?

A good project manager should possess a range of vital skills, such as excellent communication, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills. They should be able to effectively communicate with people at different levels within the organization and externally. Additionally, they should have a clear vision and the ability to inspire others, a positive attitude and enthusiasm, integrity, competence, strong decision-making abilities, and the ability to remain calm and collected in challenging situations. They should also focus on team-building, delegation, and managing expectations.

How can project managers achieve tasks efficiently?

Project managers can achieve tasks efficiently by utilizing their project management skills and good leadership qualities. This includes effectively communicating with the team, staying focused and organized, delegating tasks to the right individuals, and remaining calm under pressure. Efficient task achievement allows project managers to have more time and energy to focus on other important aspects of the project, leading to overall success.

What is the importance of team-focused leadership in project management?

Team-focused leadership is important in project management as it helps in building a strong and unified team. A good leader in project management focuses on the people aspect, gathering requirements, building relationships, and managing tasks. Team-focused leadership fosters better communication, trust, and collaboration among team members, leading to higher productivity and project success.

How can project managers effectively manage remote teams?

Project managers can effectively manage remote teams by adopting strategies such as clear instructions and expectations, utilizing project management tools for progress tracking, ensuring adequate resources for remote developers, and fostering a positive work-from-home culture. It is also important for project managers to plug tech gaps, provide support and guidance to remote developers, and leverage effective communication channels to bridge the distance gap.

What is the role of leadership in project planning and execution?

Leadership plays a crucial role in project planning and execution by guiding the project team, identifying potential issues, and ensuring targets are feasible and achievable. Strong leadership skills help in designing effective strategies, managing resources, resolving conflicts, and making the right decisions. It also contributes to maintaining a good market reputation, preventing project delays, and ensuring timely delivery to meet client’s needs.

Project Bliss

9 reasons why problem solving skills are critical for your career.

When considering your career, you’re likely looking for a way to set yourself apart from everyone else at work.

You may be looking for ways to grow in your career.

And you’re possibly wondering what skills will be most beneficial.

And you want to ensure you have job security, or that you’ll be able to get a job easily if anything happens to the one you have now.

You want to make sure you’re seen as a valuable asset to your organization.

But perhaps it’s not only out of fear that you want to develop new skills. Most likely you really do want to bring value to your team.

Problem solving skills are an amazing way to do that.

Here’s a list of nine perfect reasons why problem-solving skills are great for your career.

9 Reasons to Develop Problem-Solving Skills

1. Your project is likely going to encounter problems.

No matter how well you plan, problems will likely arise. When you can pull your team together to address the problem, you give your project a greater chance of succes.

2. As a project manager, it’s your role to help your team solve problems.

Your team is looking to you to lead them through problem-solving. You may not have all the answers, but you need to know how to facilitate problem-solving sessions with your team.

3. You can apply these skills across teams.

If you work for a large organization and want to move around the company, problem-solving skills can work with any team.

You’ll be able to take these skills to any other team you move to, and start working right away!

Every problem is a gift. Without them we wouldn’t grow. Tony Robbins

4. You’ll stand out…in a good way.

If you can work with a team to solve problems, others will notice.

The ability to walk a team through problem-solving sessions and come up with solutions will get you noticed, in a good way.

And others will begin to trust you as a resource to help solve problems.

5. You’ll have the confidence to handle tough problems that arise unexpectedly.

Whether you’re new in your role and suffer from imposter syndrome , or have been in your role for years, the ability to solve problems will increase your confidence.

And you’ll be calm in the face of challenges since you’ll have the tools to work through them.

6. There will always be problems and the ability to solve them will make you indispensable.

Alright…no one is completely indispensable.

But your ability to solve problems will make you a much more valuable team member than if you had a narrow skillset.

7. With problem-solving skills, you can make improvements in many situations.

Even if your organization isn’t staring at a glaring problem, there are always opportunities to improve. You’ll be able to isolate problem areas so you can increase efficiency, save money, or make customers happier.

This is a huge asset to any organization.

8. Problem-solving skills are highly valued in all businesses and organizations.

Even if you do become the Most Valuable Team Member (MVTM), you can’t guarantee there won’t be market disruptors that impact your job. Taxi drivers didn’t anticipate Uber , after all.

Or there may be a merger that displaces you.

You need to be ready for anything.

This means you need to develo valuable skills that will get you hired elsewhere quickly.

Problem-solving skills are a perfect addition to your skillset.

9. You don’t have to have all the answers to solve problems.

Many problems shouldn’t be solved in isolation. They require collaboration for the best results.

Knowing how to lead a team through a collaborative problem-solving session gets you the best results in many situations.

And knowing how to identify experts, bring the right stakeholders together, and come up with and execute the best solution will make you a superstar.

As you can see, there are many ways problem-solving skills are great for your career.

Learn about several problem-solving tools with these posts:

• 5 Whys Root Cause Analysis: a Problem-Solving Tool to Get to the Root of the Problem
• How to Use the Ishikawa Fishbone Diagram as an Awesome Problem-Solving Tool
• How to Run a Successful Brainstorming Session for Productive Problem-Solving

About The Author

Leigh Espy is a project manager and coach with experience working in startups, government, and the corporate world. She works with project managers who want to improve their skills and grow in their career, and entrepreneurs and small businesses to help them get more done. She also remembers her early career days and loves working with new project managers and those who want to make a career move into project management.

Hi Leigh, I’m a project manager in a energy efficiency project & would like to touch base on some of the challenges I encounter. Let me know how best to communicate with you. Thanks for your useful posts. Thad

Hi Thad! Email me at leigh[at]espy.net. Looking forward to talking with you. I’m glad you’re finding the posts helpful!

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Problem Solving In Project Management: A Helpful Guide

Problem-solving skill is an asset in the project management profession. Project managers face a lot of problems while conducting a project. These problems might be expected or unexpected.

You must know how to solve any problem that arises in your project. There are sets of problem-solving skills that can help you.

However, this article is going to let you know more about problem-solving skills in project management.

Table of Contents

Why Is Problem-solving Important In A Project?

Project managers have the difficult task of handling a whole project. You must be skillful if you want to be a good project manager. In fact, problem-solving is an important skill that every project manager needs.

Problem-solving skills can let you solve any unexpected situation. Moreover, projects can be finished on time even with interruption if managers can use effective skills. This skill also helps in identifying risks and taking proper actions for them.

You can boost up your team greatly if you are a reliable problem solver. This skill can improve performance. On the other hand, the more you solve problems, the newer opportunities and loopholes you know. In this manner, problem-solving is important in a project.

What Are The Project Management Problem-solving Techniques?

Problems can be solved very easily by applying some techniques. You can make an easy approach by following these techniques:

• Identify the problem and define it with all drawbacks.
• Find the reason why this problem arises.
• Generate ideas to solve or minimize the loss.
• Choose and apply the best solution.
• Implement proper solutions accordingly.
• Think creative. Try to find something out of the box and get a good outcome from the problem.

By following these techniques, you can handle any project lightly. These techniques will boost your problem-solving skills.

10 Problem solving Skills In Project Management

You must have some problem-solving skills to be a successful project manager. In fact, these skills will help you overcome many challenges in your work. The common problems that arise in most of the projects can be solved by this set of skills.

Let’s know about 10 problem-solving skills that are essential as a project manager.

Communication:

Communication is a very important skill. You have to communicate with many people like clients, team members, project staff, etc. as a project manager. If you lack communication skills, you will face a lot of difficulties in managing projects.

By showing good communication skills in meetings, calls, and conferences, you can manage a project relentlessly.

Leadership:

A good leader can manage all the staff and tasks efficiently. To be a worthy project manager, you must have leadership qualities. Leadership quality helps in solving any problem, good management, and smooth articulation of a project.

Leadership also influences the vision of development in a project.

Decision making:

Decision-making is a difficult and vital skill. A project manager has to make many important decisions. If any project manager lacks this skill, nothing will go planned. This skill is also very important for the adjustment of the budget.

Conflict management:

Project managers often need to solve conflicts. Conflicts may arise between two or more project members. The skill of handling these conflicts is quite needed.

If the conflicts can be solved very fast, the progress will not be affected. Moreover, this skill will ensure there is no big trouble.

Negotiation:

You must know how to negotiate when you are handling a project. Negotiation can happen between clients, staff, and managers. Every project manager should learn to negotiate properly.

You should not only negotiate money. As a project manager, you should also negotiate for time properly.

Relationship building:

A good project manager always builds good relationships with clients. You can satisfy your clients well when you maintain a good relationship with them. Not only clients, building a good relationship with every member of the project is necessary.

You must practice building relationships and maintaining them. Project managers can arrange various events for the team members to ensure a good bond.

Balance and self-care:

Self-care is very necessary for a project. If the manager and all other members know self-care, they can remain stress-free. You can maintain a proper balance of work and refreshments by giving regular breaks. This will moralize the team spirit and confirm better performance.

So, you must understand balance and self-care and implement it wisely.

You can have an overview of everything in a project if you work as a project manager. Thus, the skill of an organizer is very important. You can prioritize the important tasks and allocate time. You can keep every task organized and calculated.

You can ensure not missing any important deadline by the skill of the organizer. Every project manager should learn this skill.

Comfort with ambiguity:

Working on a project uninterruptedly is great. But most of the time, managers face sudden situations. These unexpected troubles can slow down work rates and affect deadlines. Project managers must be skilled at comforting and adapting to unfavorable circumstances.

The skill of comfort and flexibility can handle unconditional situations. You should know this skill as a project manager.

Time management:

Time is money. The better you can manage time, the more money you can make. Time management skill is very important in the completion of a project. You can succeed greatly in a project if you have good time management skills.

Problem-solving skill is necessary to be successful in any profession. But for professions like project or event management, this skill is mandatory.

You can learn this skill to become a better project manager. This skill can be developed by the application of proper techniques and practices.

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