Essential Skills and Qualities of Creative Project Managers
- Adilla
- May 9
- 4 min read
As you gain a deeper understanding of creative project managers and their roles, it is essential to recognise what sets apart creative project manager skills and qualities from traditional project managers. Whether you're looking to enhance your abilities as a creative project manager or transition from a conventional project manager to a creative one, this list will provide an overview of the expectations for this role.
Hard Skills
Visual Design and Writing Skills
Creative project managers must directly oversee their creative teams and take a hands-on approach when reviewing their work. When choosing the right colour, font, or copy for a website, a creative project manager must grasp the fundamentals of visual design and writing. This knowledge helps ensure the creative team can rely on their manager and trust their judgement.
Technical Skills
Not necessarily a skill to learn formally, but creative project managers should be able to navigate software programmes of different types, especially creative project management tools.
Digital literacy has become an essential skill as remote work continues to grow, and online collaboration tools are increasingly important in the workplace. Thus, with creative projects, their project management software must have features that are suited for creative project managers and their teams.
Our creative project management software, TESSR, is made with creatives in mind. Our TESSR Review module is where organisation meets collaboration. In this module, you can upload and review videos and images so teams can collaborate and give each other feedback with visual annotations and contextual comments. Additionally, it simplifies the process of documenting your creative team's progress by allowing you to download the project as a PDF for easy documentation.
Industry Knowledge
A creative project manager who understands their industry and knows how to conduct research is an essential skill that can significantly enhance the success of a project. This knowledge helps in navigating challenges and achieving better outcomes.
Soft Skills
Organisational Skills
If there is one skill that a creative project manager must possess, it is undoubtedly organisational skills. They need to allocate and delegate tasks effectively while documenting the project's progress. This skill will determine the project duration and required team size based on the budget allocated by the clients.
Communication Skills
Creative project managers act as the intermediary between clients and project team members. They must effectively utilise their communication skills to convey the project's requirements to the team and update the client on the project's progress.
Time Management Skills
All of this will not work without effective time management skills. It is essential for keeping the team on schedule and completing the project within the set budget. So, when clients are given the timeline of the project, creative project managers could give them a schedule they have researched and calculated according to their team’s capabilities.
Encouraged Skills
Emotional Intelligence
Understanding the emotional and mental state of your team is a crucial yet often overlooked skill in creative project management. While it is important to be aware of your team’s skills and capabilities, recognising their emotional well-being is key to keeping them motivated and enhancing their productivity. Creative PM not only provides a space for brainstorming but also fosters an environment where team members feel valued.
Courage to Experiment
The best creative project managers encourage their team members to take calculated risks and experiment. Being overly cautious and careful would hinder creativity and potentially the quality of a project. So, a project manager who gives the space for their creatives to experiment and let loose could potentially improve their productivity and creativity.
Conclusion
The skills and abilities of a creative project manager are like an octopus balancing all kinds of plates. They are the team leader who wears multiple hats to help the project run smoothly and with minimal issues (no issues is a bit of a miracle to do). If you would like a bit of help to start your creative project manager journey, we have a guide for you!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is a creative project manager?
A creative project manager is a role to help bridge between clients' and team members’ expectations, with the goal of setting a project up for success. They plan and organise creative projects while being an active participant in fixing issues or contributing to creative ideas.
What is the difference between a project manager and a creative project manager?
A project manager would follow a rigid and fixed process of planning, where deadlines are rarely catered to creative processes. Meanwhile, a creative project manager would understand this and would give the flexibility for creative teams to produce their work while still finishing the work on time. We have an article on this question if you would like to know more!
Are artist project managers and creative project managers the same?
Yes, essentially, they are. However, what differs between them is the corporate setting. Typically, an artist project manager would be either managing an artist and their business or a creative work that is away from the corporate expectation of an artistic work.
Author Bio
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, including parodies of animated shows and plots for board games like Dungeons & Dragons. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. One day, she is eager to publish her book. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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