Top Program Manager Skills You Should Learn

The process of managing and coordinating various activities related to a program is called program management. A program consists of multiple, interrelated projects which have a common goal and objective. Program Managers are highly skilled leaders who work under tight schedules to manage these projects and evaluate the interdependencies of each of these projects. To be well prepared for this role and help in achieving the program’s overall goals and objectives, a program manager must have the necessary certifications. 

Choosing the best PGMP training program will help the path toward becoming a certified program manager. In the below article, we will understand in detail the roles and responsibilities of a program manager and the skills needed to become one. 

Who is a Program Manager?

The program manager is a senior-level role in project management where the individual handles a portfolio of interdependent projects. They act as a connecting point between individual projects and senior management. They are next in line to project directors and are responsible for handling multiple projects and budgets. As leaders, program managers are expected to make strategic decisions and business calls in order to keep the boat moving. They are the point of contact for all information relating to various business projects.

Program managers ensure that projects are well coordinated and operate smoothly with minimum hurdles. Program managers interact with project managers on a need basis to discuss individual projects, their progress, any risks detected, expenditures and resource availability etc. They are responsible for catering to all the operations needs of individual projects to be on the right track and achieve the program objectives. Having the right program manager skills will help to get the desired result from their program teams. There are various ways by which one can learn Project Management skills. 

Role of a Program Manager

Program managers are senior leaders who direct cross-functional teams and manage various projects within a program. The roles and responsibilities of a program manager are highly dynamic and multi-faceted. Let us look at them in detail:

• Program Planning: 

A program manager is responsible for defining the program's scope, objectives, deliverables, and overall strategy. A few of the components of the program plan include identification of key stakeholders, dependencies and constraints, program governance, cost management, program execution, etc. The program plan is typically a structured and detailed iterative document that can be changed and updated as needed throughout the course of the program. The program plan typically defines the roles of all the stakeholders who will be involved in the program, their responsibilities, goals and objectives of the program and the dependencies between the different projects.

Here are key aspects of program planning:

• Program Objectives: Clearly define the program's overarching objectives and desired outcomes. These objectives should align with the organization's strategic vision.
• Scope Definition: Determine the boundaries and scope of the program. What projects, initiatives, or activities are included within the program, and what is explicitly excluded?
• Stakeholder Identification: It is very crucial to identify and engage with key stakeholders who are directly involved in the program's success, including executives, sponsors, team members, and external partners.
• Program Charter: Create a program charter that outlines the program's purpose, objectives, scope, high-level timeline, and initial resource requirements. The charter serves as a guiding document for the program.
• Program Governance: Define the governance structure for the program, including the roles and responsibilities of the program manager, steering committee, and other key stakeholders.
• Resource Planning: Program managers ensure alignment with available resources and strategic priorities and estimate the resources required for the program, including budgets, personnel, equipment, and materials.
• Program Leadership: 

As a leader, the program manager offers direction and clear goals for projects. They set the stage for project managers to execute individual projects with high quality and minimum wastage. Program managers play a key role in managing escalations and assessing risks that could impact the whole program and are also involved in reviewing and approving project plans. They conduct meetings with the project teams at regular intervals to understand the pulse of the teams and also to ensure that all stakeholders involved in the program are on the same page. To enhance your leadership skills, it is always advisable to enroll in various leadership training programs for managers.

Here are key aspects of program leadership: 

• Strategic Alignment: Program leaders are responsible for aligning the program's objectives, activities, and outcomes with the organization's long-term strategic goals and vision. They ensure that the program contributes directly to the strategic priorities of the organization.
• Program Definition: Program leaders work with stakeholders to define the scope, objectives, and deliverables of the program. They create a program charter or roadmap that outlines the program's goals and timeline.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Effective program leadership involves engaging and collaborating with various stakeholders, including executives, project managers, team members, and external partners. Stakeholder management is critical for program success.
• Resource Management: Program leaders oversee the allocation and management of resources, including budgets, personnel, and equipment, across multiple projects within the program. They ensure that resources are used efficiently.
• Risk Management: Identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks is a key responsibility of program leaders. They proactively identify potential issues and develop risk mitigation plans to minimize disruptions to the program's progress.
• Quality Assurance: Program leaders ensure that the program and its constituent projects adhere to established quality standards and criteria. They set quality expectations, conduct reviews, and implement quality control processes.
• Financial Management: Program managers develop budgets and operational plans for programs and projects. They are also responsible for managing and monitoring costs very closely, allocating budgets to various projects, tracking costs incurred, checking on overheads and expenses, and trying to minimize costs to ensure a balanced distribution of funds across all projects and processes. Here are key aspects of financial management:
• Financial Planning:
  • Budgeting: Develop budgets that outline expected income, expenses, and capital expenditures for a specific period, typically a fiscal year.
  • Forecasting: Use historical data and market trends to predict future financial performance and plan for contingencies.
• Financial Control:
  • Expense Management: Monitor and control expenses to ensure they align with the budget and organizational goals.
  • Cost Control: Identify and minimize unnecessary costs while maintaining quality and efficiency.
  • Financial Auditing: Conduct regular financial audits to ensure compliance with regulations and internal controls.
• Investment Management:
  • Capital Budgeting: Evaluate and prioritize potential capital projects and investments based on their expected returns and alignment with strategic objectives.
  • Asset Management: Manage the organization's assets efficiently to maximize returns and minimize depreciation.
• Financial Analysis and Reporting:
  • Financial Statements: Prepare and analyze financial statements, including the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement, to assess the organization's financial health.
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Track and report on financial KPIs to measure performance and make informed decisions.
  • Financial Reporting: Comply with legal and regulatory reporting requirements and provide transparent financial information to stakeholders.
• Risk Management:
  • Risk Assessment: Identify and assess financial risks, including market, credit, operational, and liquidity risks.
  • Risk Mitigation: Develop strategies and policies to mitigate identified risks and protect the organization's financial stability.
• Funding and Financing:
  • Capital Structure: Determine the optimal mix of equity and debt financing to fund operations and investments.
  • Fundraising: Secure external funding through sources like loans, grants, equity, or bonds, as needed.
• Program Governance: 

Program governance is a set of processes and structures that define a program. These processes are set to ensure that a program is managed effectively. It typically includes a clear definition of the program's objectives, a plan for managing the program, a process for managing risks etc. for managing the program. They, along with project managers, define various roles, responsibilities and standard operating procedures involving a project. This is a very crucial component of the program manager’s responsibilities as clear and structured program governance helps as a guide to stay on track without causing wastage in terms of time, resources, cost, etc.

• Governance Structure:
  • Steering Committee: A program's governance structure often includes a steering committee composed of senior executives, stakeholders, and subject matter experts. The committee provides oversight, strategic direction, and decision-making authority for the program.
• Roles and Responsibilities:
  • Program Sponsor: The program sponsor is typically a high-ranking executive responsible for advocating for the program, securing resources, and ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
  • Program Manager: The program manager is accountable for the overall success of the program. They coordinate and manage program activities, monitor progress, and report to the steering committee.
  • Program Team: The program team includes project managers, team members, and other staff responsible for executing the program's projects and activities.
  • Stakeholders: Various stakeholders, both internal and external, have interests in the program's outcomes. Clear roles and responsibilities for stakeholders are defined.
• Decision-Making Processes:
  • Establish clear decision-making processes within the governance structure to address issues, make key program decisions, and resolve conflicts.
  • Define escalation paths for issues that cannot be resolved at lower levels.
• Program Execution:  
  • Program execution refers to the process of implementing and carrying out the various activities and initiatives involved in a program. They are the first point of contact for senior management for updates on programs and individual projects. Program execution is the phase where planned activities and projects are put into action to achieve program objectives. It involves coordinating multiple projects, managing resources, tracking progress, mitigating risks, ensuring quality, and communicating effectively with stakeholders. Dependencies, milestones, and benefits realization while addressing issues and driving continuous improvement.
  • The program manager and leadership team play a pivotal role in overseeing this phase, making decisions, and ensuring alignment with strategic goals. Program execution also involves monitoring and controlling project scope; Program managers are responsible for implementing and executing programs, monitoring their progress, resolving issues and managing risks to achieve the defined goals and objectives. 

Program Manager Skills

A program manager role is a very diverse and critical role in the organization. This role requires an individual with a dynamic personality who can take up the responsibility of multiple activities involving the program. There are various ed tech platforms that offer program manager certification programs to help you build up your program manager skills. Enrolling in leadership training programs like KnowledgeHut's PGMP certification online will help you in your path to acquire the right skills and certifications.

Let us look at these skills needed for program managers to effectively do their role.

• Analysis: Program managers are the top-line managers who have to look into the nitty gritty of every process within the program. For example: Program managers have to analyze resource allocation data, budget data, etc. and see how effectively these resources and budgets are being utilized by projects. They are also responsible for analyzing all the operational activities involved in the program, like operational costs incurred, ad hoc expenditures, timeline data, etc.
• Communication: Program managers are the primary point of contact for all program-related information. They have to be very strong in their communication skills, be it verbal or written so as to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders, including team members, clients, vendors and senior management executives. Program managers should avoid using jargon and vague terminologies while communicating with the teams. They should be very clear, simple and to the point in communicating any information pertaining to the program to the teams. Also, they have to have strong skills to present complex data in visual insights to the stakeholders in a simplistic manner.
• Technology: Program managers need to have technological skills to handle programs and must be familiar with the latest technologies and software that can be used to support their programs. E.g., portfolio management software, data analytics, collaboration software, project management software, etc., are the various tools and technologies applied by program managers to their projects. This way, they will be able to use technology to their advantage.
• Risk Management: As a leader, a program manager must assess risks involved in various processes, making risk management one of their key responsibilities. Keeping a keen eye on identifying risks at various levels of the program and an eye for detail will help projects run smoothly and save huge costs to the organizations. Risk management involves identifying and mitigating risks associated with program processes, patterns, or practices in programs. Mitigating these risks is one of the main responsibilities of the program manager.
• Conflict Resolution: With multiple teams of different skill sets working on projects, conflicts are bound to occur. Conflicts occur due to disagreements on various processes, goals, priorities, etc. Program managers need to have the ability and skills to bring all personnel involved in the programs to be on the same page. This is done by addressing problems, finding solutions and setting common goals.
• Decision-making: Program managers, as leaders, must be able to weigh the pros and cons of the options available and make decisions keeping in mind the goals and objectives of the program and the organization's vision.
• Goal Setting: Program managers are responsible for setting goals and ensuring these goals are aligned with the programs. The set goals have to be realistic and achievable within set timelines. For the ease of making teams understand and achieve these goals, program managers need to break them down into smaller tasks.
• Technical Skills: Having the right technical program manager skills is very important to understanding the nuances of projects as a program manager. Skills such as coding, data analytics, budgeting and forecasting, etc., are essential for a program manager to run multiple projects effectively. Effectively using these skills to plan, track, and manage their programs is a must.
• Leadership: Program managers are leaders who set the stage for all program-related activities. All the teams and functions look up to program managers for guidance, motivation and direction. They have to be extremely positive and self-motivated and also be able to set a vision for the program and to inspire and lead multiple teams and functions.
• Negotiation: Negotiation skills are one of the key skills a program manager should have. From being able to negotiate with clients, vendors, and other stakeholders to reach practical solutions and agreements that are beneficial to all parties involved, program managers must do it all.
• Resource Management: Program managers are responsible for planning, allocating the budget, and managing and monitoring resources to ensure the smooth functioning of programs. Using tools like Microsoft Projects, SAP Business Objects, etc., program managers can effectively plan and track resource usage. It is the program manager's responsibility to address resource crunches like budget shortage, undersized teams, limited availability of assets, etc. and offer solutions.
• Critical Thinking: Program managers must be able to think critically and solve problems that may arise at various stages of implementation. The ability to think out of the box, identify the root cause of problems and see the big picture is a very important skill for a program manager.
• Stakeholder Management: Program managers must keep stakeholders informed of the program's progress and address any concerns that they may have. Also, they must be able to manage the expectations of their stakeholders and keep them updated at every stage of the program.
• Gaining Proficiency: Since the field of project management is constantly evolving, they must be able to learn new things quickly and to adapt to change, thus making continuous learning a very integral part of their learning process. Program managers must keep updating themselves with the current trends and changes in program management.
• Interpersonal Skills: Program managers interact with various parties involved in the program, starting from the senior management of the organization to clients, vendors, etc. Having the basic skills and the ability to build relationships, collaborate with others, and connect with people of all levels and hierarchies to achieve common goals is truly a great skill for a leader.

How to Improve Program Manager Skills?

Due to rapid changes in technology, there are new approaches being practiced in project management. So, to be successful in your space, it is advisable to do a few things, such as making continuous learning an important part of your job. Also, work on researching the most important program manager skills for your resume and work on acquiring them.

• Do Your Research: 

It is advisable to spend more time doing research on the latest trends, best practices, and developments in program management. Staying informed will help you build your skills. By engaging in continuous learning activities like reading and understanding emerging technologies, methodologies, strategies, and industry publications, attending webinars, participating in workshops, and taking relevant courses, you will not only stay relevant but will also have an upper hand.

• Find a Mentor: 

Connecting with experienced program managers or industry professionals can provide valuable insights and guidance. A mentor can offer you advice, share real-world experiences, and help you navigate challenges. Their expertise can accelerate your learning and provide a supportive network for your professional growth.

• Practice Your Skills: 

Practice is key to mastery. Seek opportunities to apply your program management skills in real projects. Whether you're leading a small project within your organization or volunteering for a nonprofit, hands-on experience will help you refine your abilities and learn from practical scenarios.

Conclusion

To conclude, program managers are highly skilled professionals who can wear multiple hats and juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. They have a strong understanding of project management principles and are able to effectively manage resources, budgets, and timelines. They regularly communicate with a variety of stakeholders, including project team members, clients, and executives. In addition, they think strategically and are able to adapt to change. As the linchpin of program execution, a skilled program manager plays a pivotal role in realizing strategic goals, fostering innovation, and delivering tangible value to the organization.