The definition of Project Management, a pretty common one is discipline of planning,organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. In today’s vibrant economy in our country, project management seems to be a great skill that has to be applied across functions and there are certain industries that really benefit from such skill development. If you look at surveys conducted on the top reasons for project failure you would see

·        Bad communication – 60% of the time

·        Lack of planning – 40%

·        No quality control – 35%

Technology provides only part of the answer and the other part is answered by people who actually work on these projects.

The most interesting job that comes to mind is the Project Manager’s job that requires some emphasis, looking at the number of people who actually work in these roles and the responsibilities that are handled by them in order to successfullycomplete the projects. In trying to connect project manager’s responsibility to the desired behaviours, there are certain traits are most desirable –

·        Detail orientation

·        Risk aversion

·        Planning

·        Time management

·        Coordination

In a recent study done by PI for 53 Project Managers (average tenure = 6 years) showed two factors stood out for the high performers

1.      High on Formality: this factor measures the ability to

·        Have a structured approach to work

·        Be attentive to details

·        Adhere to quality standards

2.      Low on Patience: this factor measures the ability to

• Be quick
• Open to change and quickly adapt
• Maintain faster pace of work

A combination of these factors can help you measure the ability to do effective planning & coordination.

Another finding is that as project managers gain more experience, their success rateson managing different projects improve. Thus project managers with higher tenure have higher on the job performance.

By making this connection of project success with personality, companies can find a part of the answer to their project challenges.