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The Success and Failure of your projects for the most part depends on the project manager. While there are numerous staffing companies that provide project managers on request, how do you gauge that if the person you have hired is the one who is right for your business? Many people usually make the mistake of being wooed by technical expertise. But technical expertise will not ensure project completion but other traits like leadership and motivation also play a major role. So what are the traits of a great project manager?

Few business owners make the mistake of promoting or repositioning one of the experienced members of the project to lead the project. This leads to several complications which would actually hamper the pace and completion of your project. As much as hiring the wrong project manager would be detrimental to a business, hiring the right project manager would benefit it a great extent. A good project manager could have multiple benefits on your team and also in the profitability of your business.

Finding the right project manager is indeed a tricky process and any knowledge about finding the right project manager would make a drastic difference. Here are some of the most important aspects you should look for before you hire a project manager.

1.  Understand your requirements:

This is the first and the most important factor because anybody who doesn’t know what they really want, will never get what they need. Understanding your project’s requirements will help you draw out the requirements you see in a project manager. However, there are few things to consider here. Many would actually choose someone with a specific technical expertise over someone who has limited technical knowledge but has far reaching managerial qualities. While you can reduce the need of many highly trained technical staff, you will lose out on the primary purpose of hiring a project manager. So, before you go out and give that requirement to your staffing agency, find out what you are looking for in a project manager.

2. Don’t use stereotypical descriptions:

While researching for this article we found a lot of other blogs and articles which had a particular set of skills that all project managers should have. Some of the examples would include good communication skills, team player, self-starter. So what is the problem with posting generic descriptions? You are just becoming one among the hundreds of other posts and ads for project managers. Instead if you make the ad or job posting about your specific project requirements and needs you are more likely to find a project manager who is not just suited for your job but also is specifically interested in the particular project. Having project manager who is enthusiastic about the project would boost your team’s morale a great deal.

3. Understanding of your business goals:

All projects are undertaken to achieve a particular business objective and it is the responsibility of the project manager to make sure the project is aligned with the business goals at all times. One of the biggest reasons for project management failure is scope creep. During the course of all projects a number of new suggestions are made to supposedly improve the quality and performance of the project. However, not all suggestions would be beneficial to the project. A project manager who understands business objectives, would know which suggestions to take and which ones to ignore. This eliminates scope creep, while keeping your project and team members focused on achieving the established goal.

4. Innovation and Crisis Management:

Project managers should always be on the lookout for better and faster methods of completing a project efficiently. Often, people working on a project somehow manage to get themselves stuck in a corner where it would require a truly genius of an idea to get them out of it. Similarly, all projects are wrought with crisis situations it the duty of the project manager to hold his team together and adapt to the crisis situation and get things under control as quickly as possible. One way of learning about these skills would be to asking for referrals.

5. Suits Your Business Culture:

All organizations however their rules of work might be on paper, have their own work culture which is unique to that specific organization. It is important for the project manager you hire to “gel” with your existing work culture in your organization. This would help in not just eliminating unnecessary conflict, but also facilitates better flow of information and ease of communication between the team members and the project manager. You should also consider that a project manager who appreciates your work culture is happier working for you which results in better performance in project management.