Bridging the Gap: Why Soft Skills Are Key to Project Success

“How did they even do this?!”

As someone with a relentless PM brain, this is a thought I have pretty often while exploring the world around me. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it an affliction, but it does get me lost in thought all the time about logistics and project management. 

As an example, while living in New York, I drove across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge at least once a month (not a great place to get lost in thought, if we’re honest), and every time, I was struck by the feat of it. The Verrazzano Bridge was built between 1959–1964. It has a main span of 4,260 feet and sits an average of 228 feet above the water, giving it the honor of the longest main span in the western hemisphere and the 18th-longest bridge in the world.

At the time it was built, we didn’t have AI. We didn’t have digital project management tools, no complex CAD software to double-check our work — we had people. People with really specific sets of skills, and no I’m not talking about the hit 2009 film ‘Taken’. I’m referring to skills that help scaffold a project from end to end, and someone to help bring it all together.

I’ll begin by saying something I firmly believe – there will always be a need for project managers. No point in burying the lede here. Yes, I might be biased, but let’s talk it out.

The world we live in is getting more technical every hour, every minute, every second of every day. Endless tools are being made to increase both individual and team productivity. Fathom will record your meeting and provide detailed notes, Wrike will identify project risks for you, Asana AI will help automate workflows, capture new requests, and suggest improvements to project organization. There will be countless more in a couple of years, and yes – these tools are imperfect – but one day they might not be. Whether you’re as waterfall as Niagara or so agile that you’re late for your next stand-up, technology is only going to get better at supporting those needs.

That’s why it’s important for PMs to not only be curious and adaptable, but also to hone the skills that make you indispensable to your organization.

My background is not in technical project management. For the 10 years prior to joining Savas, I worked as a Locations Manager in the film industry (think shows like ‘Homeland’ or ‘The Flight Attendant’). Essentially, my work was event management – hiring and coordinating vendors, negotiating contracts, interacting with everyday people, and a lot of live-action problem solving.

Now working at a digital agency, that may seem like a mismatch. After a year at Savas though, I can say with confidence that it is not! Those “soft skills” have only been a boon to my own journey of bridging the gap between where my technical skills are and where I want them to be. In particular, there are a few that I’ve found to be particularly important:

• Clear Communication – We all understand that communication is important for projects. But being relentless about clarity is the oft-forgotten second piece. Harness your curiosity and dig into the details of both the request and the answer. Being able to turn that around into a succinct message for your team or your client only helps you be more efficient and understand their respective needs.
• Translation – Piggybacking off the above, the next step is learning those communication styles and how to translate your communication to meet people where they are. Your team may be fantastic at providing a technically concise response, but if your client doesn’t happen to understand server vs browser caching, a message about it might not provide the same value. Learning how to contextualize your communication not only helps your client understand more quickly, but it can also help them grow their own knowledge base and their trust in you as a partner.
• Emotional Intelligence – There’s a reason the first three skills all relate to communication. After spending all that time learning about your team and your clients, you start to see those interpersonal dynamics come into play. Imagine a situation where your colleague and client just can’t “hear” each other (I know you have one!). This isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault, but it is an opportunity to flex those communication muscles. With the understanding you have about motivations and individual needs, you can resolve conflict and make sure everyone walks away from a conversation with what they need. Ask AI to do that, you know?
• Strategic Leadership – The above should make this point clear – you as the PM are uniquely positioned to provide strategic recommendations for the project or client portfolio. You’ve been in the (digital, perhaps) room with the stakeholders, you’ve hashed out project issues and successes with them, and you’re a regular savant of the workflow. Leveraging that knowledge will help your team stay focused on the things that matter to that client and can provide insight into potential new opportunities to grow that portfolio.
• Problem-Solving – Things go wrong. And sometimes it’s really bad or stressful, but I’ve got some (sort of) great news! Building resilience to the inevitable problem is both easy and hard. Intentional project planning and strong client relationships go a long way in reducing the impact of a problem, but sometimes the best teacher is experience. As you learn the types of problems you’ll likely face, you can better plan for them and know how to react more effectively. Problems will come, and you can only control how you respond.
• Adaptability – A part of problem-solving is knowing when it’s time to make a change. The problem stems from something, and if it’s a root that you can pull out, it’s probably in your best interest to do so! Being open to change is admittedly pretty hard, but it’s what makes agile project management so effective for companies that embrace it. Not everyone will be able to adapt on a dime, but being open to changing your process or the team strategy will only help set you up for success in meeting your goals.
• Time Management – Finally, with all of the knowledge in hand, what do you do with it?! You manage. Specifically, you manage time (sounds boring, I know.) But this is key to everything. Your client has expectations of time investment, your team has time obligations on other projects, and you have other time obligations of your own! Figuring out how to mesh all of these together into a cohesive (yet adaptable!) project plan is essential. It may feel like a puzzle, but once it’s completed, you’ll keep the project on schedule and deliver a quality result – plus your team will still like you after.

So what does all of this stuff look like in the real world? 

Recently, our Lead PM Luzia Bryant did a project with IvyWise, a firm specializing in college admissions consulting. The project focused on upgrading their existing platform to better serve the needs of their growing user base.

One of the biggest challenges with this particular project was the diverse set of stakeholders. In-house, the marketing, operations, and counseling teams needed something that would allow them to better serve the students while simultaneously streamlining their workflows. On the flip side, students and their parents had thoughts of their own on how the platform could better serve their needs. Getting all of that feedback consolidated, weighed, and translated into actionable terms is not for the faint of heart. However, through clear communication, organization, and strategic leadership, Lu was able to steer the team in a direction that resulted in a product that the client was enthusiastic about, and opened up conversation about how Savas could continue to support them in the future.

What a compliment, right? It’s a great example of why soft skills are not just important, they’re crucial to our work. It really sticks with people when they feel like they can trust you not only on an individual level, but also with the success of their projects. How can I grow those skills, Matt? Here are some ideas—

• Internal Collaboration – Twice a year, Savas brings the whole company together for an in-person retreat. Our sessions take a lot of forms – working sessions, hackathons, team dinners, and more. Through those moments, we build relationships together, foster strong team dynamics, and collectively align in our mission of creating meaningful impact. Sessions like these, no matter how big or small, are opportunities to create new bonds with colleagues and become a better partner to them when working through the trials of a project.
• Ask Questions – Everyone likes to say to “be curious” in your work. I mean, I did a few paragraphs ago! I think realistically, you can boil that down a step further to ‘ask questions’. Never be afraid to ask why or how or what. Showing people that you’re interested in their work often opens them up in new ways that help you form a more complete picture of their personality, their needs, and their passions. It also helps you learn about their work and can grow your technical understanding and problem solving.
• Self-Assessment – This is the one, this right here. Always be in the process of self-assessment. Note: this does not mean being critical of yourself. There’s a difference. Nearly every project has moments you can reflect on and identify things you could have handled better, understood more fully, said differently – that’s okay! Hone in on those things and use them as tools to handle the situation better next time. It will make you a stronger PM and teammate every time. 

I want to wrap up by providing some clarity – I’m not saying that learning technical skills is not important. I feel the opposite way in fact, that it’s extremely important to gain technical skills as a Project Manager. The Verrazano wasn’t built on good communication.

That being said, the bridge to technical knowledge is built on a well-developed set of soft skills (ironic, right?). Being able to communicate effectively, read the room, problem solve on the fly, and adapt to change gives you the ability to manage projects and build relationships with confidence. From there, growing that technical knowledge is as simple as asking the question and crossing that bridge.