Those who want to pursue a career in project management or those who wish to transition to a project manager`s role from another position are often interested in what skills are needed to become a successful project manager. At the same time, heated debates are taking place among those already in the field about what is more important for project managers – soft skills or hard skills. Or let’s take another one: should a project manager in a technical project have hands-on experience in technical skills, or is it not necessary? In this article, I will outline the essential soft skills that every project manager should possess, drawing on my experience as a project manager.
Which is more important for a Project Manager: Soft Skills or Hard Skills?
The short answer to the question of what is more important for a project manager, soft skills or hard skills, is “both”. However, depending on the role in a specific project and company, there may be a tilt toward one or the other. For example, the role may require more team management; in this case, soft skills such as communication and team building may be relevant. Another case may require focusing on project delivery, which assumes good planning and process improvement skills.
Of course, you, as a project manager, should know which skillset is more natural for you and therefore which roles suit you better. But if you want to be a really valuable professional, you should never stop developing those competencies where you have gaps.
Key Soft Skills for Project Managers
Soft skills are usually defined as a set of non-technical, non-domain-specific skills. It is a set of personal attributes and interpersonal abilities that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with others and with their surroundings. Unlike hard skills, which are technical and job-specific, soft skills are more about how you work and relate to others. Let`s try to figure out what the main soft skills a project manager should possess.
Top-Tier Soft Skills (Foundational Leadership & Communication Skills)
1. Servant Leadership
If you’re a modern project manager, you should know that old managerial styles and techniques, such as directional top-down management, are no longer favored, and they also do not work, to be honest. That’s why it’s very important to master a skill that’s a must-have for a project manager nowadays: servant leadership.
Servant Leadership, in its essence, is a leadership philosophy in which the primary goal of the leader is to serve others, particularly their team members, rather than to accumulate power or control. A servant leader puts the needs of others first, helps people develop and perform as highly as possible, and views leadership as a means to elevate others, not as a privilege or right.
2. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is another highly valued and beneficial skill in the modern environment. It is the ability to manage your own emotions, especially under pressure or during conflict.
This skill manifests itself as the ability to stay calm, composed, and constructive in stressful situations. It means not overreacting to problems, criticism, or delays, and instead responding thoughtfully and professionally.
It matters because projects often involve tight deadlines, cross-functional teams, shifting priorities, and unexpected challenges. A project manager who can manage their emotional reactions creates a stable environment where the team can stay focused, motivated, and solution-oriented—even under pressure.
3. Decision Making
Projects in today’s world take place in highly dynamic environments, where it’s crucial to assess the current situation quickly, connect the dots, and make timely decisions. Action must be taken fast — otherwise, even a well-thought-out but delayed decision can have disastrous consequences for the project. That’s why decision-making under pressure is one of the key skills a good project manager must have today.
But it’s not just about speed — it’s also about clarity and accountability. As a project manager, you often won’t have all the information you’d ideally want. Despite that, you still need to move forward. The best project managers are those who can make informed, confident decisions using available data, past experience, and stakeholder input — and take full ownership of those choices.
Moreover, effective decision-making isn’t always about choosing the perfect solution; sometimes, it’s about selecting a solution and keeping the project moving forward. Indecision, or fear of being wrong, is often more damaging than a suboptimal call that can later be adjusted. You need to be able to commit, communicate your reasoning, and lead the team through uncertainty with conviction.
4. Active Listening
Active listening can be considered a subskill of broader communication skills, and it is crucial for a modern leader. By actively listening, you, as a project manager, can fully grasp project goals, client needs, and stakeholder expectations, reducing the risk of miscommunication and costly mistakes.
When PMs listen carefully to team members’ feedback and concerns, they can assign tasks more effectively, ensuring that responsibilities match skills and workload capacity. Additionally, active listening enables you to identify underlying issues early, empathize with diverse viewpoints, and mediate conflicts constructively.
Overall, this skill is highly beneficial in building trust with your project stakeholders and subordinates, preventing misunderstandings, and ensuring that everyone feels heard and valued.
5. Team Building
Projects are implemented by teams, and it is crucial to ensure that the team members work together as a unified, cohesive unit. This is a PM`s job first to hire people and then turn that recently formed group of individuals into a performing team. That’s why team building is one of the most essential skills in a project manager’s toolkit. To leverage it effectively, you must be good at reading people, organizing, and motivating them.
In the context of project management, team building goes beyond icebreakers and off-site activities. It involves creating a shared sense of purpose and aligning everyone with project goals and expectations. A skilled project managers foster open communication, psychological safety, and mutual respect, the elements that are vital for resolving conflicts constructively and encouraging innovation. They also recognize the importance of diversity in teams, using varied perspectives as a resource rather than a challenge.
Mid-Tier Soft Skills (Execution, Adaptability & Motivation Skills)
6. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a vital skill for project managers, enabling them to draw clear, logical conclusions and make informed decisions in complex and rapidly changing environments. It enables you to analyze problems, evaluate options objectively, and avoid bias or snap judgments.
In project management, this skill is key for identifying root causes of issues, assessing risks, and making decisions that align with both project goals and business strategy. Whether reviewing proposals, resolving team conflicts, or adjusting plans, critical thinking ensures choices are reasoned, evidence-based, and aligned with long-term success.
7. Influence
A project manager, as a team leader, should definitely be an influencer. Influence is a vital soft skill, often more impactful than formal authority. Good project managers possess the ability to inspire trust, build credibility, and influence the attitudes and behaviors of others, even when they don’t have direct control over them. The best project managers use this skill to unite stakeholders around a shared vision, motivate teams through uncertainty, and drive progress without relying on top-down directives.
Ultimately, teams are willing to follow true leaders who are influencers above all else. And it is precisely these teams, led by such leaders, that achieve success.
8. Flexibility
In today’s fast-paced world, change is the one constant and inevitable thing. The same applies to the projects. You never know what can await you around the corner, and whatever worked well yesterday might stop working tomorrow due to changes in the environment you operate in.
The targets and stakeholders’ expectations may also change over time. What never changes, though (unless you quit or get fired), is your responsibility for the final project outcome. And the only way to achieve a positive result in a constantly evolving and changing environment is to be flexible. It is the ability to change your approach, your point of view, and sometimes even principles…Sorry guys, there will be times when you just have to bite your tongue and play along, even if it goes against your beliefs.
9. Negotiation Skill
Although negotiation may seem more suitable in other professions and areas, such as sales or politics, it is also very important in project management. In particular, negotiation skills are beneficial in situations such as discussing project scope and budget with clients, resolving conflicts within the team, and other similar scenarios. It’s also important to keep in mind that project managers are often involved in sales activities — they frequently participate in upselling and cross-selling processes.
Personally, I enjoy being part of win-win negotiations — when both parties manage to broaden their perspectives and reach an agreement that benefits everyone involved. In my opinion, this type of negotiation is essential for establishing long-term, trust-based partnerships.
10. Coaching and Mentoring
If you want your project team to achieve exceptional results, you must ensure that everyone on your team is working at the peak of their performance. Therefore, you must train them to be the best versions of themselves, which can only be done with good coaching and mentoring skills.
Effective project managers recognize that their role isn’t just to assign tasks and manage deadlines, it’s also to develop people. By providing guidance, constructive feedback, and ongoing support, you help team members grow their skills, gain confidence, and take ownership of their work.
Coaching builds individual capability, while mentoring fosters long-term growth and professional development. This not only boosts morale and retention but also fosters a stronger, more self-sufficient team that can assume increasing levels of responsibility – a critical factor in delivering complex projects successfully.
Lower-Tier Soft Skills (Context-Specific or Supportive Skills)
11. Stress Tolerance
A project manager is a role that implies being in charge. It means you are the one who is held accountable for the project’s final outcome. You’re the one who reports the interim results to your direct manager and high-level stakeholders as well.
But that`s only a part of the picture. You also need to address issues that arise within the projects, including personnel management, conflicts, delivery delays, and emergencies, among others. All ot this creates a titanic and everyday pressure which not everyone is ready to handle.
That`s why stress tolerance is an essential skill that a project manager needs to have. The worst part is that it is questionable if it is a skill at all. In my opinion, the ability to work under pressure is mainly dependent on one’s personality. If you don’t have specific character traits from birth, it would be very difficult to develop them. So if you know that you`re lacking stress resilience, you probably should think carefully whether project management is for you.
12. Multitasking
I can hardly think of a profession where the variety of tasks you have to perform during the day is so great. And I can hardly think of a profession where the number of tasks you’re bombarded with during the day is so great.
If you’re a project manager, there’s a very high chance your backlog is always full and you almost never get to zero tasks. That’s because new tasks often come in much faster than you can close the old ones. The only way to keep up, at least with the urgent and important stuff, is multitasking. I mean, who among us hasn’t been messaging teammates or whipping up a new Google Spreadsheet during yet another meeting?
Sure, multitasking can affect the quality of your work, but fortunately, quality isn’t exactly the top priority in a project manager’s job. More often than not, speed and simply getting things done are of great importance. And when it comes to quality, well, that’s what the people you hired are there for.
13. Public Speaking
I recall when I joined a large IT outsourcing company for the first time and was assigned to my first team, we had a client visit. I had already passed a remote interview for this position by that time, but hadn’t taken over yet – the previous Project Manager was transitioning his responsibilities to me. Nevertheless, when we joined together with the client at our company’s headquarters, I was given the final test. The client asked me to present the team with all the news about the team structure and the scope for the next quarter. The test, which I had successfully passed.
As a project manager leading a team, a group of people, often a large one, you should be able to deliver information effectively to the entire group. This profession leaves no room for shyness, unclear communication, or fear of public speaking.
Summary
As you can see, the list of skills that you have to possess to make a good project manager is quite long. And although it might seem from the outside that the project management profession isn’t so complicated to master, that’s not really the case. Each of these skills, and I’m pretty sure the list is not complete, represents a distinct competency that needs to be continuously developed to succeed in this role.
And we haven’t even touched on the second type of skills, which are equally crucial for a project manager, the hard skills. We’ll write about those in one of the following articles.
In the meantime, feel free to share in the comments which of the mentioned skills you find most important, or add some to the list if you think I’ve missed something.