An organization is a combination of various departments and operations interconnected with one another. Among all these departments, ‘Human Resources’ or HR plays a huge role in managing employees and align them with their roles essential for HR.
Hiring new talent, designing training systems, compensation reviews, and team building are all types of projects in which HR engages. All these critical HR roles require the engagement of one or more personal throughout project time. If we see it through another perspective, project management is also a set of different tasks undertaken to achieve an objective. In this way, HR and project management skills go hand in hand with each other to achieve organizational goals. When we look at the list of HR competencies, we see lacking good project management skills. While it is easy to segment the two competencies, we cannot deny the shared roles they play for any organization.
What is Project Management in HR?
Project management is essential for HR uses critical skills possessed by any professional to fulfill HR projects or purposes. Some of the necessary project management skills that value HR duties include:
• Budget management
• Timeline management
• People and resource management
• Keeping stakeholders in a standard loop
• Development and implementation of change management plans
While it is not easy for some people to manage some of these tasks, a good project manager handles everything very well. So, it easy to seek that crucial project management skills are a necessary part of human resources processes. The various projects that human resource personnel have to carry needs project management principles to guide them towards successful implementation.Read on to learn further.
Project Management Skills in Human Resources
Before we dive into the details of project management skills and their importance in HR, let us look at it on a fundamental level. Employers seek resources that have expertise in project management because projects have complexity. Complexity creates a challenge that creativity and intuition overcome; however, technical skills and knowledge are the best solutions. A project may seem simple on paper, but expectations change very quickly when priorities begin to arise. These changes are not usually positive and need serious consideration from everyone. A good project manager knows that if the team cannot complete their tasks on time, it delays the project and hiders necessary reallocation.
In many ways, this is the usual case of project management complexity where an issue brings the project to a stop. A good project manager with sound skills easily overcomes these issues. With the collaboration of HR, they create a responsive team. The human resource department needs project management skills to understand the complexities and assign relevant team members. Project management is all about managing deadlines and is hard to pull off even with expertise. In short, professionals develop project management skills after a human resource management degree online to understand and implement the process as needed.
Essential Project Management Skills Needed by Human Resources
With the methodology of project management on the rise, organizations seek people with combined skills of HR and PM. They actively search for people who can handle both duties with ease or have a skill set to fulfill the objective. Few essential combines skills include:
• Importance of Communication
One of the essential skills for project managers that compensates human resources is communication. Leadership and communication go hand-in-hand with each other for successful project completion. Project management requires leading a team of people from the different departments not familiar with one another. Each member has a different skill and something unique to bring to the table. An HR person with communication skills provides clear instructions to people or teams that increase their productivity and effectiveness. Institutions teach students enrolled for human resource management studies to establish good communication skills to ensure everyone remains on the same page during a project run. Another critical aspect of communication is the awareness of words, body language, and tone. Project management skills aim for clarity and the ability to communicate with team members concisely.
• Organizational Awareness
Organizational structure has a lasting impact on the initiation and completion of a project by HR and project managers. Understanding organizational hierarchy is essential in ensuring that an HR professional utilizes their project management skills to their full potential. Awareness of the organizational structure and formation process of project teams is necessary for professionals. Managers need to have a clear sense of the current chain of command and collaborate with the one who bears responsibility for final submission.
• Time Management
Another shared skill set for human resources and project management is time management ability. The ability to prioritize tasks and effectively complete the project on given deadlines is essential for managers. Team members respond better to managers who do not procrastinate and stay on task. It goes for HR professionals who set their priorities and complete their project design for timely implementation. Simple time management reduces issues in key project areas and maximizes productivity. A point to remember here is not to micromanage too much, or else you might risk jeopardizing the project timeline.
• Problem Solving Skills
Problems and issues are a natural part of any project or team setting that nobody can avoid. Successful HR and project managers have a general idea of problem-solving that makes them proactive in finding issues rather than waiting for them to happen. They clearly describe the objectives and accomplishments to create a pathway to success. Their problem-solving skill enables them to seek the root cause and uncover variables that may help devise a solution. Their active stance allows them to choose the best course of action by learning from the previous step and implement it to adjust the complication.
• Leadership
It may seem obvious, but strong leadership skills are a crucial aspect of successful project management. Both HR and project managers need strong communication with a calm and relaxed attitude. They have to keep a positive vibe active and solve the problems with a can-do attitude. Team members need a leading figure who does not crack under pressure and can solve conflicts effectively. Effective project managers and HR professionals need to become excellent problem solvers and decision-makers to delegate responsibilities and equip team members with relevant expertise.
Final Word
Project management skills in HR are essential as they set the tone for professionals to handle various organizational projects. Simply put, these skills are a necessary part of the successful completion of any project. Project management skills equip HR personnel with relevant knowledge to allocate critical resources for team setting and timely project fulfillment.
