Discover essential skills to excel in program management roles.
Mar 24, 2024
Getting started
As with any industry, you’ll need a very particular set of skills, skills you have acquired over a very long career, to not only land a role, but succeed in it. Program managers have a range of skills, some even being specific to various industries, but in this post I’ll highlight five key skills that you can use to begin your pivot into program management.
Strategic thinking is one of the big differentiators between project management and program management. It's all about making sure that your programs are in line with your company's goals and are helping the company succeed. Did you help reduce cost or overhead? Did you retain 12% more customers than last quarter? Almost all companies have some goal to increase revenue or traffic, so start there.
You need to have some sort of organizational mindset to be a program manager. This is where project management skills can come in handy. Think about all the times you were the driver for a project or initiative. Did you create project plans? Set clear objectives? Establish timelines? Most likely yes, so include those!
Another big difference between project management and program management is that program managers handle multiple projects that wrap up into a larger goal (the program). So, it's important to keep track of how the overall program is progressing to meet deadlines. An easy way to show off your time management skills is by figuring out how long each task in a program will take. This helps you budget your time better and determine future bandwidth for your team.
Communication covers a ton of ground. With program management, this often comes in the form of presenting, facilitating meetings, writing briefs, or providing status updates.
Taking communication a step further, have you shared weekly reports with your managers or broader team? Are you the go-to person to answer questions about operation cost? Call out moments where you’ve consistently engaged relevant players.
Check out these other resources to help you pivot!
