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FROM THE FOUNDER
If you take an honest look at people who are really good project managers, you’ll find they have some specific personality traits and abilities that lead to their success. Ten qualities we all want in our PMs
T he owners of practically every AEC firm we talk to or work with tell us that they are trying to have better project managers. You don’t have to be a genius to understand that if you do projects as your primary source of income for your business, you are going to want to have capable project managers – it’s how you make your money. Plus, you want to end up with a happy repeat client after you work with them, and don’t want any liabilities coming back to bite you in the backside later.
Mark Zweig
I think if you take an honest look at people who are really good project managers, you’ll find they have some specific personality traits and abilities that lead to their success. Here are some of them (you may have heard some from me before, but some of them you haven’t!): 1. They aren’t trying necessarily to be firm managers. Sure – they like their discipline and they like project management. But this does not mean that they necessarily aspire to be department managers or be a manager of other project managers. They like being “in the fight” daily, doing work on projects, and dealing with clients, subconsultants, contractors, and other employees. They enjoy solving the problems that come up, and like putting out fires instead of dreading those things.
2. They don’t procrastinate. They return phone calls and emails promptly. They put out project meeting notes fast. They cry for “extra services” agreements when they need to be called for quickly. They don’t put off ‘til tomorrow whatever would be best done today. 3. They know how to respond under fire. They will come under attack from contractors and subcontractors, and occasionally clients, and they don’t lose their cool. They also don’t write angry and stupid emails that make whatever they are dealing with worse. 4. They are good at sizing up people. There’s no substitute for being able to size up people quickly. People who are good at this can predict what their clients will like and won’t like, will know
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THE ZWEIG LETTER FEBRUARY 12, 2024, ISSUE 1524
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