Project managers must be good communicators. They need to communicate regularly with the project team, as well as with any subcontractor, he customer and their own company’s upper management. Effective and frequent communication is critical for keeping the project moving, identifying potential problems, soliciting suggestions to improve project performance, keeping customer satisfaction and avoiding surprises.

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A high level communication is especially important early in the project to build a good working relationship with the project team and to establish clear expectations with the customer. The project manager needs to establish clear expectations of the members of the project team so that everyone knows the importance their roles in the project objective. The project manager can do so by involving the team in developing the project team in developing a plan that shows which people are assigned to which tasks and how those tasks fit together.

Effective project managers communicate and share information in variety of ways. They have meetings and informal conversations with project team, the customer, and with the company’s upper management. They also provide written reports to the customer and the upper management.

All these tasks require that the project manager have good oral communication. Therefore, good project managers spend more time in listening than talking. Every project manager should get out of her or his office on a regular basis and drop in on individual team members, to follow up on a comment or idea that the person expressed at a team meeting but that was not pursued at the meeting.

Essential qualities of project manager:

1. Strong leadership ability
2. Ability to develop people
3. Excellent communication skills
4. Good interpersonal skills
5. Problem solving skills
6. Time management skills

The project manager establishes ongoing communication with the customer to keep the customer informed and to determine whether there are any changes in expectations. The project manager needs to keep abreast of the degree of customer satisfaction throughout the project by regularly talking with the customer. Communication by project manager needs to be timely, honest and unambiguous.

Effective communication establishes credibility and builds trust. It’s important for the project manager to provide timely feedback to the team and customer. Both the good as well as bad news should be shared promptly. For the project team to be effective, members need to have up-to-date information, especially customer feedback that may necessitate the changes to the project work scope, budget or schedule. The project manager should create an atmosphere that fosters timely and open communication without any fear of reprisal.

Responsibilities of Project manager:

Planning: Project manager clearly defines the project objective and then reaches an agreement with the customer on this objective then the project manager communicates with the project team in such a manner to create a vision of what will constitute successful accomplishment of the project objective.

Organizing: Organizing involves securing the appropriate resources to perform work. First project manager should decide which task should be done in the house and which the consultants should do. Finally, the task of organizing involves creating an environment in which the individuals are highly motivated.

Controlling: To control the project, the project manager implements a project management information system designed to rack the actual process and compare with the planned progress. Project team members monitor the progress of their assigned task and regularly provide data on progress, schedule and cost. It’s important that problems, even potential problems are identified easily and actions are taken.

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