Why Leadership And Management Skills Are Both Important
From the description of both leaders and managers, its clear that project managers must be a blend of both disciplines. Managing a project requires leadership skills to inspire your team and have a vision to lead the project to success.
But there are also many managerial aspects to project management, which are outside the purview of leadership. For example, balancing a budget, creating feasible schedules and contracting with vendors and outside contractors.
A project manager can be thought of as wearing many hats. The best know this and shift from leaders to managers many times during the day, doing what it takes to move the project forward. By doing this they set an example for the team, which benefits everyone.
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Leadership In Project Management
A leader is like a rudder on a boat steering the ship and keeping it on course. But the boat wouldnt float without a sound hull, itd coast aimlessly without sails and wouldnt be able to catch the wind if it had no crew.
Thats just another way of saying that leadership isnt barking orders. In project management a leader is part of an integrated team with the shared responsibility of the team and stakeholders to deliver a project on time and within budget.
Project leaders rely on data, and use tools like dashboards, Gantt charts and time tracking software to achieve project success. ProjectManager offers all of these features and more and project leaders love to use it.
ProjectManagers dashboards and live data help project leaders make the right decisions at the right time Try it free
Leadership is often misunderstood in general and in particular in project management, yet its one of the most important positions on the project team. If youre looking to run a more effective project, then you need to define leadership in project management.
Leadership isnt one thing. There are many different styles and combinations of those types. Well go into more detail, but these are the most common forms of leadership.
- Transformational
- Transactional
How Do You Talk About Your Weaknesses
Its more difficult to answer the part of the question about your weakness. Its counterintuitive to enter a job interview and show why youre not right for the position. But youre not telling a story about why youre not a good fit for the company, youre showing that youre honest. Everyone has areas in which they can improve.
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Monitor Progress & Report To Stakeholders
Keeping track of your progress and then updating stakeholders is both how you stay on track and manage your stakeholders expectations.
See progress as it happens on our real-time dashboard, which calculates data and displays it over six project metrics. Reports can be filtered and shared for a deep dive into those numbers.
Ideas To Strengthen As A Project Leader
A good place to start is with project leaders you respect, who have experience and have lead projects in ways that you wish to emulate. Seeking out help from a mentor is recommended, because they can add a depth of dimension to the process that all the books in the world can never touch.
Another thing to do is keep in mind these six concepts that are like a leadership workout. Practice them and youll strengthen your leadership muscles.
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Tell Us About A Project Youre Particularly Proud Of
As youre looking to not only toot your horn about your past career success and why your work throughout the project was key in bringing it to its completion, youll want to answer this question in such a way as to show the methodical way you evaluate the success or failure of your projects. To answer project management interview questions like this one, use the STAR method:
- Situation
- Task
- Action
- Result
The STAR method is something you should always use in a job interview to clearly explain a real-world situation and how you handled it.
What Major Challenges Did You Face During Your Last Pmo Manager Rolehow Did You Handle It
Tip 1: Start your answer bystating the challenges a PMO manager can face.
Tip 2: Briefly describe whichapproach you implemented to overcome the challenges.
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Sample Answer
During my last role as a PMO manager, I faced a project, where risks and issues were not properly identified. So it could bring a potential delay on the deployment of the project. To overcome the roadblock, I evaluated the entire team to assess how equipped they are to adopt the new changes. I used various tools like Lean Six Sigma to undertake the task.
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How Do You Keep Your Team Members Motivated
One of the important roles of a leader is to keep the morale of the team members high. Show the interviewer that you are a team player and work collaboratively. Tell the interviewer that you would like your team members to look up to you for advice. Also, they should feel free to share their ideas and suggestions with you. Instead of imposing decisions, you allow the team members to contribute and make it a collective effort.
How Would You Describe Your Leadership Style
The aim of this question is to assess the candidate’s leadership skills and ability to adapt to different environments. What to look for in an answer:
- Established management style
- Ability to adapt their management style when necessary
- Experience in a management role
Example:
“I would describe my leadership style as collaborative. My team members are industry experts, so I always want to hear their ideas and opinions. Creating open discussions with my team also helps them feel inspired and willing to do their best work, so it creates a more productive workplace.”
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What Project Management Tools Do You Have Experience With
There is an array of project management software available and chances are, youve used your fair share of them. There really is no right or wrong answer to this question but you can get a few extra points if you personalize your answer.
What the question means: The interviewer wants to gain a sense of how many and what types of project management tools youre familiar with.
How to answer: Truthfully answer what project management tools and software youve used in the past. If possible, find out what tools the company youre interviewing for uses. You may find information on their website, a review site, or get this kind of insight from an employee via LinkedIn. With this information on hand, you can tailor your answer to the tool the company uses and let the interviewer know that youve used it or something similar in the past.
What not to say: Dont judge any project management tools. You may have a favorite or even a tool that gives you a headache just thinking about it, but now is not the time to pass judgment. Simply list the tools you have experience with and explain your skill level if applicable.
How Do You Communicate Bad News
Its likely youve had to deliver bad news in the past as a project manager, and your interviewer wants to see how, exactly, you go about doing so. They want to see that youre considerate and upfront with everyone, that you have all of the facts first, and that youve thought about how this news will impact all of your team membersnot just the person youre delivering the bad news to directly.
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Whats The Story About
Some time ago I had to conduct interviews to hire a Senior Project Manager . While I am not a Senior PM myself, I was the only Project Manager available at the time. I was given the task of assisting our HR Director, preparing all the theoretical and practical information and doing everything possible to get a realistic understanding of the professional level of potential candidates. Below, I describe my entire preparation process and present the main lessons I learned after this adventure.
PM is not a man, PM is a kryptonite Superhero.
Additional Project Manager Questions
Here are some other questions you may receive during a project manager interview:
How do you handle conflict on your team?
What will you do if a team member is underperforming?
What are the three critical skills that a project manager needs to succeed?
What will you do if a project is off schedule?
Which steps will you take if you find that one of the project tasks requires more time than you anticipated?
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Project Manager Interview Question #1: What Are The Three Words That Describe You Best
Hint: Do not risk your next PM Job Interview! Attend in PM Mock Interview sessions, see how you perform, and improve your PM interview skills.
When answering this project manager interview question, try to remember your positive attitudes and what your colleagues say about your work behavior.
The following can be a good sample answer to this interview question.
The best three words that would describe me can be discipline, result-driven and analytical thinker.
My colleagues call me German. I am not a German you know it J. They tell that I am working in a very well discipline, record every detail and approach in a systematic way to the problems in the project.
When I am working on a project or task, I always keep in mind that âwhat is the expected result?â Sometimes, if you forget what you are trying to achieve, you can deviate from your targets. Therefore, keeping in mind the expected results help me to focus on what needs to be done during the project.
I try to rationalize status, progress and alternative solutions to a problem. I do this by approaching analytically to a problem. For instance, I create dashboards for waiting issues, waiting time, assignee etc in a project to monitor how well the project team is resolving issues. Similarly, I record the number of codes each developer produces a day to forecast remaining activities in the project.
How Do You Handle An Under
One of the many hats a project manager wears is the one of head coach. She’s responsible for the training, ongoing development, and motivation of all her team members. If someone on the team is under-performing, it’s her job to figure out the best method to help them get back on track.
Working around a team member’s slack or even replacing that team member shouldn’t be the first answer, and acting rashly can deal an unrecoverable blow to team morale. Look for a candidate who understands the importance of having the entire team working at maximum capacity and who is committed to helping her team members mature and thrive.
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How Do You Work With Customers Sponsors And Stakeholders
Even project managers have to answer to someone. Responding to executives, project sponsors and stakeholders requires a different approach than the one they would use with teams and vendors. Part of their duties includes managing stakeholders who hold a position of authority over the project manager. That takes a subtle touch.
Do You Prefer Working On A Single Project Or Multiple Projects At The Same Time
Be open and let the interviewer know whether you prefer working on a single project or multiple projects simultaneously. Remember, there is no right or wrong answer, and it all depends on your preference and managerial style.
Example:I believe I can be more efficient if I work on a single project. But if required, I am willing to take up multiple projects occasionally.”
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How Have You Managed Challenging Projects
This project manager interview questions will help you see how the candidate tackles problems, deal with conflicts, and lead teams.
You should also get a sense of their problem-solving abilities when working on difficult projects and tight deadlines.
This is also a good chance to see what kind of project management methodologies they prefer such as Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Kanban, Lean or other types.
What Type Of Projects Do You Like To Avoid
Everyone has certain types of projects or certain things they dont like to work on. However, you want a project manager that can handle challenges.
Project managers need to respond to business needs quickly even if the project is not their preferred choice.
You want a project manager candidate that is honest about the types of projects they dislike compared to someone who says they like everything.
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How Good Are Your Communication Skills
Project managers need to have good communication skills. So, dont be too honest and say that communication skills are your weakest area. The answer has to either good or excellent. But, dont sound overconfident while saying so. If they ask for examples, be ready with two or three examples in different settings to justify your point.
Project Manager Interview Questions On Clear Communication
One of the essential skills for project managers is communication. Without this, everything else fails. Communication is the life and blood of any project. It is claimed at PMI® Research Conference that about 90 percent of a project managers time is spent communicating. In today’s siloed organizations, communication happens between various groups and levels, including internal as well as external groups of stakeholders. Here are two communication-related questions asked to candidates:
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Top 10 Tips To Get You Your Dream Project Manager Job
Whether youre finishing your degree or moving on to a better position, the job hunt is something we all go through from time to time. Here are ten interview tips to help you prepare, and land the project management job you want.
1. Optimize your resume/CV. Make sure to use action words when describing your previous experience! Think of the difference between managed a team of ten people on a project to redesign and build the sporting goods section, versus directed the design and construction teams to successfully overhaul store section layout. One is a boring description, and the other is action packed and invites a reader to think about what you did. Add data whenever you can Remodeled layout increased sales by 300%.
2. Sleep the night before! Youre never as sharp as you could be when youre tired. You dont want to struggle to recall information or fight through the fog in your mind to find the right wording for what you want to say. Sure, you might be nervous. But entering your interview bleary eyed is not the best impression you can make. Get your beauty sleep!
4. Prepare for the typical interview questions. Tell us a little about yourself.Where do you see yourself in five years?What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses? We all know these questions, and theyre stereotypical for a reason. Prepare your answers! Youll want to think about what to say, and NOT say, ahead of time.
What Skills Do Project Managers Need
Project managers or program managers are specialized managers who oversee the process of completing projects or administering programs. They are great at motivating and leading teams, while organizing people and details to make it all go off without a hitch.
This balance of process details and team leadership takes a special person!
Companies are looking for someone who can do bothhandle the day-to-day details of a project while also motivating team members to complete tasks and collaborate effectively. Project manager and program manager interview questions will be targeted at finding this kind of person from a pile of resumes.
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