Organisations who are new to running projects might want to begin using a project management framework, but they may not know where to start. They might not have the experience to introduce a framework themselves and may decide to bring in a project manager with experience of frameworks to help them design one that will be tailored to their organisation. This would usually be a project manager with a professional project management certification who follows PMI or APM project management best practices.

As the project manager, you’ll need to explain to them how to use a project management framework, why it’s important and how it will help them successfully deliver their projects. This might sound like a challenge, but this can help make the difference to an organisation’s project capability and allows you to apply your project management knowledge to practical, real-world project work.

Purpose of a project management framework

The main aim of any good project management framework should be to guide an organisation on how to run their projects. The framework should introduce a method of project management that can be applied throughout the organisation. It will provide governance, structure and accountability for each step of a project. A project management framework can help an organisation to better govern its projects and ultimately lead to more effective and efficient project delivery.

How to implement a project management framework

So how do we implement a project management framework? Below are five steps that you can take to make sure the project management framework will be suitable for the organisation.

1. Find out what the organisation wants

What does the organisation actually want? Do they need a 15-step process with review gates at the end of each step? Or do they want a very simple process for their small-scale projects?

The first step is to talk to the organisation – do some stakeholder management. Determine what the organisation wants to achieve with this framework. By working with the organisation, you’ll be able to tailor the framework to their needs and they will end up with a useful framework that they will want to put into practice. Establishing requirements will also ensure that the framework will help the organisation achieve its project goals.

2. Work with what’s already there

As part of your initial research and discussion with the organisation about what they want, find out what processes are already in place. Massive, sweeping changes can be hard to absorb. If the organisation is already running projects in some capacity, you are likely to find that there will already be some processes in place. Building upon things that are already being done will enable you to introduce additional processes more effectively and blend them with existing ones. You reduce the potential for resistance and make the change seem less intimidating.

3. Keep it simple

Very rarely are you going to need to reinvent the project management wheel. Don’t overcomplicate the framework. Keeping things simple means the new framework is more likely to stick. It won’t feel onerous and unnecessarily bureaucratic and avoids paralysis for the users of the framework if they need to make too many decisions or get approval from too many people.

Keeping it simple will also challenge you as the project manager. You’ll need to distil down the theory you’ve learnt and your practical experience into something usable for the organisation. You will need to determine what information is most useful and understand how project management theory translates into a practical project environment.

4. Provide guidance and instructions

As part of the framework, it’s useful to provide guidance and instructions on how it’s going to be implemented. The organisation might not know what a risk register is, or how to do stakeholder management. Break these things down for them into simple instructions. As part of your initial discussions, you’ll have established how they want the framework delivered. It might be as simple as a wall chart, or something more complex requiring documents with explanations and checklists.

5. Demonstrate how to implement the framework

Taking the time to walk the organisation through how to put the framework into practice is a useful exercise for both you and them. It will allow you to ensure that you’ve met their requirements and determine that you’re conveying the information effectively. For the organisation, it will help them to see how to use the framework in practice and will give them the opportunity to ask questions or request changes to anything that isn’t going to work for them.

This demonstration and review element is valuable. It gives the organisation confidence that you’ve listened to them and their aims and given them a usable framework. It also gives you the opportunity to clearly demonstrate the value of having a good project management framework in place.

Summary

Implementing a project management framework can be a significant undertaking, but its value to an organisation should not be underestimated. Having a structure in place helps to control project work and changes and ensure that projects are being completed to a suitable standard.

As a project manager implementing a framework, it’s important to understand what the organisation needs and what they are already doing. You are then better able to implement an effective framework that will be useful for and usable by the organisation. Keeping it simple helps to smooth the introduction and avoid overcomplicating processes. It is also useful to provide instruction on the different aspects of the framework and, if possible, demonstrate how to use the framework with practical examples.

The introduction of a project management framework can make a significant difference to an organisation. It has the ability to help them deliver projects and manage their workload more effectively. As a project manager introducing a framework, you can help them make the change and demonstrate the importance of project management frameworks as a tool for better project management.

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If you have been away from academic study for some time, or haven’t taken an exam in a while, a professional qualification may seem daunting. But it doesn’t need to be. You will have gained skills and knowledge from doing your day-to-day role, and if you approach taking a qualification with a curious mindset, you’ll learn everything you need to succeed in the exam along the way.

Below are five useful tips that will aid your preparation and give you the best chance of succeeding in your project management qualification whether that’s following PMI, PRINCE2 or APM project management best practice..

1. Do pre-reading

Completing assigned pre-reading ahead of time will stand you in good stead for undertaking a project management qualification. The aim of pre-reading is to give you the opportunity to read and review the information that you will need for the qualification in your own time. It may seem obvious, but taking the time to complete the pre-reading will help you. This allows you to reflect on the material in your own way and without the pressure of being in the classroom environment. It will also give you the opportunity to think about areas that you want to focus on in the course and come up with any questions you might have for the course leader. Completing the pre-reading gives you an idea of what to expect during your qualification and lets you set your expectations.

2. Ask questions

Don’t be afraid to ask questions of your course leader. They are there to help you understand the content of the course and succeed in your qualification. If you are unsure of a concept or want further clarification on a point, ask them to explain or give an example. Asking questions demonstrates your curiosity and willingness to learn. You might prompt others in your group to ask questions and you might learn something from them too.

3. Practice, practice, practice

Do as many practice questions as you can. This will help you with the practicalities of taking the exam. Whilst you want the knowledge you gain to remain with you beyond the qualification exam, you also need to succeed in the exam format. Your course leader should take you through practice questions and examples, but most qualification bodies, such as the APM, will supply practice papers to candidates taking their exams. Getting the practice in and becoming familiar with the types of questions that you might see will help to prepare you for the exam and mean that you can give the questions your best effort when under time pressure. You’ll have an idea of what the questions are going to look like and how you can answer them to the best of your ability.

4. Clear your calendar

When undertaking a qualification, you want to give yourself enough time to take in the information, revise and prepare for your exam. If possible, clear your calendar and get the support of your manager to undertake the qualification. A formal qualification will benefit your organisation as you will have increased your knowledge and skills, so asking for study leave or similar is a useful thing to do. It means you will not feel excess pressure or stress when undertaking your qualification, which will help you perform at your best.

5. Highlight areas of interest

Whilst the aim of undertaking a professional qualification is to pass an exam and get a recognised qualification, it is also an opportunity to learn more about project management as a whole. Think about areas that particularly interest you. These will help you with revising for your exam, as you will have a particular enthusiasm for them, but in the long term it also helps to identify the areas that you might want to pursue further. Undertaking a qualification is an opportunity to explore new areas of your professional life. Take the opportunity to learn more about the different areas of project management and find subjects that interest you.

Summary

When you are undertaking a formal project management qualification, make sure you set yourself up for success. Take the time to prepare for the qualification and review any materials that you’re given in advance. Be curious, ask questions and practice what you’re learning. This should be an exciting opportunity to broaden your understanding, so explore new areas of interest and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re unsure. Engage with the content and enjoy the process of learning. Finally, make sure that you carve out the time to commit to the qualification. Ask for study leave if it is available – you want to make sure you can commit fully to the time required to do well in your qualification.

A project management qualification can be the first step towards a successful project management career and further qualifications. If you are considering taking your first project management qualification, think about the opportunities that it can give you and how you can get the most out of it. This might be your first step towards an exciting career.

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Starting a project management role can involve a change in career. You might have started out in a more technical or specialised role and progressed up the chain or moved into project management after gaining skills in another industry. Early on in your project management career, you might find gaps in your knowledge, or skills that you need to improve on. It is also important not to underestimate the skills that you already have. A skills analysis can help us to identify our skills and gaps in our knowledge, and work out how to fill any gaps that we find.

Identifying existing skills

Whilst it is important to have a focus on improvement and growing your skills, take the time to acknowledge and understand the skills that you do have.

You could simply list all the skills that you have, but this can feel challenging if you feel that your experience is very specific or focused on a particular industry. In this case, you might like to use the following headings to help guide your skills analysis:

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Specialist

These are not prescriptive headings – you can add others – but the intention is to think about your specific skills under more general headings. You want to consider both your general and specialist skills – specialist skills and experience are your points of difference. Don’t be afraid to highlight them, especially if they have transferable elements that you can apply to any project.

For example, under communication you might list client communication, communication with a number of stakeholders and digital communication using newsletters and an update dashboard. These are all skills specific to you and they demonstrate a range of communication experience.

Identify the gaps

One way of identifying the gaps in your project management knowledge is to do a SWOT analysis. For SWOT analysis examples, you can consider assessing past projects, competitors’ strategies, or industry trends. Using this activity in this way was introduced to me by a mentor and I found it a helpful exercise. It is a useful way of understanding your personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. By carrying out a SWOT analysis, you can better understand the gaps in your knowledge and how you can go about filling them.

Let’s briefly break down how to consider each of these elements in the context of a skills analysis:

• Strengths: What skills do you already have? What areas of experience do you bring to the team? Think about the things that you can do and are capable of. We often shy away from acknowledging skills that we do have. This is your opportunity to write them down and recognise their value.
• Weaknesses: What experience are you lacking? What areas would you like to improve on? Although this is labelled weaknesses, it is important not to think about this too negatively. Frame it as the areas where you want to improve. Acknowledging the gaps in your knowledge shows a willingness for improvement and a keen interest in progressing your career and experience. Do also think about your interests. If you have an interest in risk management or resource planning, add that as an area to explore further.
• Opportunities: What opportunities are available to you? Here, you can think about things like training grants (perhaps from your employer or a professional body), internal secondment opportunities or time given for pursuing additional skills. Any of these things can help you move forward and increase your skills base. Think about what opportunities are on offer and how you can use them to your benefit.
• Threats: What are the threats to your position or future plans? Again, don’t be too pessimistic here. You might want to think about technology changes that might impact you or the volatility of your field of work. As with thinking about weaknesses, think about threats through the lens of challenges that you will need to overcome. This proactive approach will encourage you to think carefully about the environment you are working in and how you can work within it.

You can complete a SWOT analysis on two levels:

• Current role
• Overall skills

When thinking about your current role, consider the things you bring to the role and can do well, and think about things that you need some help with. This will allow you to succeed in your current role and demonstrate to your employer that you are enthusiastic and keen to learn and develop.

Thinking about overall skills requires a more holistic view of your career. Where do you want to be in 3/5/10 years’ time? Is there an area outside of your current role that interests you but is beyond the scope of this role? Do you have a specific goal in mind but need to plan the steps to get there? Here, the SWOT analysis can help you to understand where you are and, as you have a specific long-term goal in mind, what skills you can improve on long-term.

Once you have completed your SWOT analyses, you will have a better understanding of what skills you want to work on, and the skills that you already possess.

Carrying out an assessment to identify the gaps in our knowledge is a useful exercise. Whilst we could simply make a list and work through it, that can be quite a prescriptive exercise. Focusing on our individual traits and situation and how we can build on those is a more useful exercise for the individual project manager. It can also help give you focus and direction about where to take your career and experience next.

Plan to fill them

Now that we understand what the gaps are, we can plan to fill them. There are a number of ways in which you can approach this, but it can be helpful to start by breaking down the gaps into three categories:

• Skills are specific areas of expertise or understanding that you need to improve on. This would be things like communicating with stakeholders or completing a risk register.
• Experience is undertaking a role either temporarily or permanently that allows you to apply multiple skills and builds your wider knowledge of the industry.
• Qualifications are formally recognised qualifications that will enhance your career.

Once you have broken these down, you can return to your SWOT analysis and assign each area that you’ve recognised to one of these categories. Below is a brief example of how to assess each area.

• Strengths: If one of your strengths is that you hold the APM PMQ or Prince2 Practitioner qualification, then you might say that you are happy with your current status of qualifications, or plan to do another, but in the long term.
• Weaknesses: If one of your weaknesses is that you have never completed a risk register, then you might flag that as a skill that you would like to improve in the short term and can raise that with your line manager or mentor.
• Opportunities: If an opportunity available to you is that your employer offers short internal secondments, take advantage of them. It will allow you to develop your experience in a new area and understand more of the business.
• Threats: If a threat to your career is rapidly changing technology, take advantage of short courses to develop IT skills or subscribe to a magazine or newsletter that will keep you up to date with the current technological developments in your area.

Next steps

The final step is to put the results of your skills analysis into action.

You might need to undertake some research yourself to see how feasible your requirements are. If you want to undertake a qualification, can your employer support you or do you need to fund that yourself? If you have found a gap in your skillset, is that something you can fill within your current role, or do you need to ask for opportunities across other departments?

A helpful first step can be to speak to your line manager, a mentor or a colleague to get some advice on how to tackle your gaps. More senior professionals will have a wealth of experience and are usually happy to give you advice and help on developing your skills and experience.

Final thoughts

One of the best things you can do for your career is to take proactive action towards finding and filling gaps and a skills analysis is an effective way of doing that. By identifying these gaps, you will be aware of what they are and be able to seek opportunities to fill them. It will allow you to enhance your career opportunities and give you a roadmap of areas that you can work on to improve your knowledge and experience in the project management world. It is also a good opportunity to think about your existing strengths, as well as your career and where you want to go in future. And don’t be afraid to revisit this exercise. As you progress through your career you will gain more skills and experience and your interests and goals will change.

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One thing you will learn during any project manager course, such as the well-respected APM PFQ – the Project Fundamentals Qualification from the Association for Project Management – is that a project manager will also need to be a conflict manager. This means it is a good idea to identify your conflict management style.

The five personality types

Identified in the 1970s, there are five main personality types:

The Accommodator – this individual neglects their own concerns to satisfy those of others. They are not a particularly assertive person but are very cooperative. Essential is project success is more important than internal team arguments.

The Competitor – this individual follows their own concerns at the expense of other team members. They operate from a position of power and are often assertive. This is a useful style in an emergency when fast decisions are needed. With misuse, this style can create resentment.

The Avoider – this individual prolongs or evades situations and doesn’t address conflict. The style sees the delegation of controversial decisions and the acceptance of default decisions, preferably with no feelings hurt. If victory is impossible, this is a good approach, but it is weak and ineffective when the stakes are high.

The Compromiser – this individual gives less than the accommodator but more than the competitor. They expect everyone to give something up. This can be useful when there is a looming deadline and a standstill.

The Collaborator – this individual looks for solutions that satisfy everyone. They are assertive but take everyone’s viewpoint into consideration. They want win-win situations. This is a good style for managing conflicts.

Once you have identified your conflict resolution style then, you need to analyse the issue in order to approach it effectively. Training for project managers will help you to understand that you will then need to discuss possible solutions and then build the necessary consensus in order to resolve any conflicts. It is also important that whilst issues are being discussed and consensus built a project manager takes into account different biases and perceptions. For a number of reasons people have different biases and perceptions. These factors help to create the filters that people experience conflict through.

It is also important to think about the “impressions of the messenger,” the way in which those involved in the project see the project manager as the person who will have a significant impact on the conflict. Before you begin to look at a conflict and how you might resolve it, you need to know not only your style but also other people’s biases, perceptions and also any past experiences that you have had.

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Here’s how you can set the best SMART goals as a project manager.

Specific

The first thing you need to do is ensure that your goal is specific. Make sure that people know what to do, why they will be doing it, where the accountability lies and any associated performance standards. When you make your goals ambiguous, then you are leaving them open to misinterpretation.

Measurable

Now you have an idea of what needs to be accomplished and how you should make sure that you define a measurable way that can be used to track progress. Set clearly defined deadlines and designate each one with expectations for exactly what you want to happen and when.

Achievable

When you make your goals achievable then you are ensuring that you have a good balance. Again, you need to ensure that the parameters you set are achievable and realistic. Mini-achievable goals are a good way of breaking your achievements down into bite-sized snippets that will help you to feel like you are really making progress.

Relevant

Goals must be relevant to your organisation and project, otherwise, your team will have a hard job understanding why they are working on them. They need to understand goals properly to be able to work on them effectively. Be specific in this instance. A little more detail is certainly a good thing when ensuring your goals are fully relevant.

Time-related

Your goal shouldn’t just be measurable. Any SMART goal also needs to be time-focused, which means they need a start date, an end date and also a time plan for the steps that need to be completed. The goal is completely meaningless in your project if you do not have the relevant timescales in place.

Types of SMART goals

There are a range of different types of SMART goals, and you need to select the one that works for you. Which one you pick will depend on how you want to set things up and your ambitions.

The three categories to consider are:

• Zero-based goals – this is what you want and what you think you can achieve.

• Commit goals – this is something a project manager and their team must accomplish in order to do their job. This might be a set revenue goal or a sales target.

• Stretch goals – very ambitious a stretch goal is still achievable and would mark a significant milestone in the development of your team.

Once you have set your SMART goal, it is important that you need to create a plan to achieve this. Training for project managers such as APM PFQ courses will have given you all the tools that you should need to be able to break down your goals, create a project plan and look at all the risks involved in your project. That way, you can achieve your end goals within your desired timeframe and on budget.

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When it comes to starting your projects, it is essential to begin things the right way; this will make it much easier for you in terms of how you manage both the workload and your team. It can be tempting just to get stuck in with the first task you see but give yourself some time to plan out the workload and ensure that you have everyone and everything you need to make the most of your project.

A project initiation checklist is a great way to set your project up for a successful outcome. All you need to do is work through your list and ensure that you can say yes to every item, then you will know that you can begin work confidently.

Outline your project

Understand exactly what it is you need to do, make sure that you ask the right questions and then you will be able to map out a clear list of what it is that you need and where you need to be heading in order to deliver the end result that is required. Whether you have just completed a project management apprenticeship or have been working on projects for a number of years the process you will follow with each project should begin in the same way.

Parallel project training advises that the very first thing that should be on the top of your list, after of course the appointment of a project manager – you – is to get approval for your business case. You should never begin work on a project that does not have a business case approved. This might be an informal email go ahead or something a little more formal

The next step will be to identify your project objectives, you need to determine what you are hoping to achieve with the project; these may already be in a formal business case if you submitted one and you can extract them from there. This will then allow you to define the scope of your project. Producing a clear and precise document will allow everyone to see what you are planning.

Budget

A critical thing that should definitely be on your project initiation list is your budget. You need to ensure that you have the money side of things approved and any other resources that you needed. You will probably want to check how you can get your hands on the money so that when you need to pay a supplier, so you don’t need to start chasing around trying to work out who to speak to.

Risks

You need to ensure that you have clearly identified those things that might be a risk to the smooth running and completion of your project. These might include things like a vendor not being able to deliver or a delay in them being able to supply certain items which will then hold up your project’s success. This will allow you to work on a contingency plan so that your project does not suffer too much of a delay.

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A project that is out of control, either in respect of the budget or the schedule, will not get back on track without some serious effort and commitment on the part of the individuals involved in the project and the organisation carrying out the project. Fortunately there are three simple ways to help the project manager regain control over a project and rescue it from failure:

Determine the current status

Review all tasks and activities so that you can determine exactly where the project stands with regard to the actual schedule and actual budget. Ignore any previously estimated costs and times and concentrate on determining the actual status. Review all available reports and talk to team members to explain that you want to know exactly what progress has been made irrespective of any previous estimates, promises or commitments. It is fundamental to regaining control of the project that you start from a known baseline. That way the re-planning has the best chance of success and you can, hopefully, avoid the project turning into a disaster.

If you didn’t try to determine and document all assumptions, the obvious and not so obvious, in the early stages of the project, now is the time to do so. This is not the time to be enthusiastic about the end result as it is probably clear to all concerned that there are major problems with the project. But it is vital now to be persistent and ensure all assumptions are known and documented.

And don’t just reassess the status of the project in terms of time and budget, also reassess the available resources in terms of skills and people. Are the strengths and weaknesses of the team the same as they were at the beginning of the project? If not take this into account in the re-planning and re-scheduling. And make sure everyone knows that you intend this project to be a success, don’t allow an air of failure to creep in or the project certainly will fail.

Re-affirm the project aim

There would have originally been a vision that ensured commitment to the project, secured funding and enabled the project to get off the ground. It is a project manager’s role to remind people of the original vision and try and reignite some of the enthusiasm with which the project started. The business aim should have been clearly defined and documented at the start of the project but if this was not the case then now is the time to rectify that particular problem. This will help to remind people of the benefits of the completed project, for them as individuals as well as for the organisation.

Involve people in the project and ensure they know the importance of each task they complete in the overall success of the project. Inspire the team and make every member feel valued. That might sound like trite motivational-speak but it really is vital to ensure a project remains controlled and ends in success.

Decide how to achieve the project aim

So you have thoroughly assessed where the project stands with respect to the budget, the schedule, the people and their skills. You know, and have communicated and reinforced, the business aim, the vision of the completed project to all the team member and all other stakeholders. The next step is to plan how to get from where you are now to a completed and successful project.

It may be that some of the factors that have thrown the project off course in the first place still exist so there may be little cause for optimism when it comes to re-planning to the end of the project. But plan you must – if necessary the project status may need to be reassessed and re-planned again in a few weeks or months time. But in order to move forward effectively you must plan a full schedule now.

In some industry sectors such as IT, which are rapidly changing and which can have a high turnover of staff it is practically impossible to plan a project from start to finish that will not need to be reassessed and re-planned at various stages throughout the project. Do not let the fact that this happens instill a sense of failure into the team. In some industries this is normal and a highly detailed plan is unlikely to proceed without a hitch on a complex project. Finances and other resources can change during the course of a long project and a vital project management skill is knowing how to regain control of a project affected by unforeseen circumstances. Treat such things as an opportunity to re-enthuse the team and remind everyone of the initial vision of the project then move forward to that successful completion. Professional project management courses in internationally recognised qualifications such as PMP Certification, APM PMQ or PRINCE2 can assist with training and advice on the best way to handle such situations.

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Did you happen to notice anything missing from that list? You guessed it: it also takes soft skills. It is all well and good being excellent at what you do from a technical perspective, i.e. knowing complex programming languages, but having a strong set of soft skills is incredibly important in the modern workplace, too.

Don’t be misled by the term ‘soft’, either. Soft skills take years of conscious effort to fine-tune. For example, people management skills might not be something that you can pick up overnight if you are introverted, and may take you months, or even years to get the grasp of.

In this article, Henley Training Associates will be going through six specific reasons why it is important for leaders to be equipped with soft skills.

1. Soft Skills Help You To Convey Your Goals

As a leader, you will probably be responsible for managing budgets, ensuring projects run smoothly and are delivered on time. This will probably involve a whole range of stakeholders, potentially internal and external, and obviously your team, so a soft skill such as strong communication will be extremely useful. That is just as true whether you work for a large corporation or a small business.

Seems pretty obvious, but knowing how to get your vision across to people you are collaborating with does the following things:

• It makes you look decisive, poised and in control
• It gives your team a sense of direction

Your goals cannot come to fruition if you are not communicating with the key players that will be working on making this happen, so fine-tuning your communication skills will help you get where you want to be with your projects.

2. Soft Skills Can Make You More Approachable

There is no doubt that great leaders are well-respected by the people working for them, but the way all great leaders get to that point is by having good interpersonal skills. This is a soft skill that involves nurturing relationships with those around them, building trust and keeping channels of communication open.

A big part of having a solid set of interpersonal skills is also having emotional intelligence. This means that whilst having high standards, you are also rewarding your team and recognising their efforts.

Gone are the days of managers being deemed as “scary” or out of touch with their teams. Having interpersonal skills means that your team sees you as a role model, more likeable and they will want to stick around in the organisation for longer. So not only does it make you look good as a leader, but it also reduces employee turnover and absenteeism, both of which can decrease productivity in the workplace.

3. Soft Skills Can Help With Personal Development

Getting to a leadership role does not mean that your development stops there. The hallmark of any leader should be to have a desire to continue growing, and nurturing your soft skills can be a great way to give your leadership skills the edge. Although this should be the case for anyone in a leadership position, it should especially be the case if you have your eye on C-suite roles. Directorship, anyone?

Intangible skills that you can work on as part of a personal development plan, i.e. things that aren’t directly related to a technical aspect of your role can include looking into improving managing your time and priorities, stress management skills, building your confidence and assertiveness, and even getting coaching to help you identify barriers at work.

Even if this involves a conversation with your HR department, anything that enriches you outside of your day-to-day responsibilities is likely to look good from a leadership perspective as it proves that you are taking ownership of developing yourself – without being prompted to.

4. Soft Skills Can Increase Your Resilience & Adaptability

Leaders aren’t perfect. But those that have taken the time to understand those around them and different scenarios are more likely to be equipped with the tenacity to respond and adapt to change, whether that is a project not quite going to plan, dealing with difficult people or anything else.

Negotiation skills are a soft skill that all leaders need. Great leaders know how to deal with disputes in a calm and diplomatic way, which is an invaluable thing to have in the workplace.

5. Soft Skills Allow Leaders to Delegate

Having soft skills means that you know when to say yes or no. The ability to delegate and have a sixth sense understanding of how to prioritise your time makes it easier for you as a leader to make room for urgent tasks.

Those that haven’t developed this fully may feel the need to say yes to everything, as they may not want to let anyone down. Leaders with soft skills, however, just intuitively know when to delegate.

6. Finally, Soft Skills Are Futureproof

You may have heard talks about automation taking over jobs in the future. But one thing you probably can’t teach a machine is empathy, how to respond under pressure, and all the other soft skills we have discussed in this article.

The rise of automation is driving a need for soft skills like communication, the ability to listen and the comprehension of emotions, which all leaders should strive to develop and put into practice at work.

Soft Skills Make Strong Leaders

To conclude, soft skills for leaders not only enrich those in senior management positions but also positively impact those that they look after. So if you are reading this as a manager, supervisor or team leader, having a strong set of soft skills is a win-win for yourself because it will help you to be more efficient in your role.

And if you are reading this as someone in a junior role and are thinking of making a transition to a more senior role in the future, start by getting the soft skills in this artic

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