I was pleased to give a presentation at the Australian Institute of Project Management national conference in Sydney last week on the above topic. The theme was “People, Precision, Performance” and the focus of many presentations were the softer skills of management. Communication, support, leadership, influence and stakeholder management. What is becoming more apparent is that while project managers in various industries (construction, tech, business development, finance and so on) have the hard skills to do the job, managing the personalities and communities is a prized capability and one, not every project manager has. As an Institute I work with regularly in my role at ECU, I have found the AIPM staff do have those skills and are reaching out to further develop project managers in these areas regularly. If you’re down under, no matter which aspect of PM you are involved with, they are worth checking out.
The Infinite Game 