How to Gain Confidence as a Project Manager?

Often young project managers have to deal with the projects with little knowledge of the subject. They are expected to step up and lead the team to successful project delivery – despite the fact that they’ve never worked together before.

Any new job is a chance to do new things and work with new people. It is made easier if you have confidence in your ability to do your work well.

How to get that confidence? We’ve studied an article on Pmtips.net that describes the ways on how to go into the confident in the outcome. Here are these 7 ways to build self-confidence as a project manager from the article:

1. Communicate with positive people

You may get self-confidence from talking about yourself in a positive way and believing in your own abilities. It is easier to be positive when you surround yourself with positive people.

We can’t always choose who we want on the project team, but try to get people on the team who have a positive attitude and who make you feel good.

2. Take the exam

A PMP certificate is a good one because PMI expects you to have gained a certain level of professional experience before they will let you sit the exam.

Taking PMP certification training in advance of your exam will make sure that you know what is expected of you on the day and that you have a good understanding of the materials.

3. Prepare and Plan

Preparation is one of the areas where we often see even PMP credential holders fall down. It’s common to hear people say that they don’t feel prepared for a meeting or an activity. That can seriously undermine your confidence going into that meeting or task.

4. Test body language

Body language is a skill required to be confident and it can be learned.  You may find different videos on YouTube that give examples of what confident body language looks like. Find one that applies to your culture and use it to pick up some tips for what to do.

5. Know your industry

It’s rather crucial for project managers to feel that they understand their industry or the sector they are working in. Many people struggle with self-confidence when they believe that everyone around them has a better knowledge of the business than they do. When you understand your business, you can talk with authority and be confident in your actions and recommendations. Read a company’s annual report or strategic plan, professional magazines and websites, blogs and podcasts.

6. Empower your strengths

Being self-aware is a key to feeling greater self-confidence. When you know what you are good at, you can play to your strengths and go into conversations feeling like you have the skills to be able to complete the task.

7. Minimize your weaknesses

Try to improve the areas where you are not so good. That might be the numerical aspects of project management like budgeting, or dealing with the concept of risk, or conflict management. Whatever it is, the first step to feeling more confident about it is to understand those areas where you could do better.

Of course, these seven ways to build confidence are not the only things you can do to feel more confident in your work as a project manager. Do you know more ways? Please, share them!