The hardest part of being a Product Manager: 8 Soft Skills that will help you thrive
Soft skills are a key component for product managers to develop and improve upon.
Here’s the thing about soft skills: they are often interpersonal in nature (such as creativity, empathy, and communication), not easily measurable, and may take more time to perfect than hard skills (such as programming, and knowing how to use a certain tool).
We often speak about the hard skills you need to have and train as a Product Manager and not enough about the soft ones. Product Managers cannot work as islands and need to be the connecting tissue between many different teams, this is where soft skills really make a difference.
Mastering the right soft skills can allow you to create trusted relationships with your stakeholders and handle the large volume of requests and complaints without being overwhelmed.
1. Keep calm through the storm
Some days will feel stormy, and even through a storm, something that we can do to help ourselves is to not consider chaos as something temporary.
You are exposed to a lot of requests, you have to handle a big volume of information, and sometimes complaints. So what if chaos is not temporary and it’s here to stay?
You need to find your own way to thrive in chaos. It might be kickboxing, running in your room like crazy, meditating, or doing breathing exercises. Whatever works for you.
2. Learn from the bomb disposal agent
Bomb disposal agents wake up in the morning knowing that they’re going to have to handle bombs, and they’re going to have a very risky day, but they need to find a way to cope with it, to handle it.
That’s what we do: we handle problems, and we fix problems. So maybe delegating some tasks if you’re overwhelmed or prioritizing your to-dos could help.
Once you have your priorities clear, the key step (that PMs often forget) is to share them transparently: people will either understand and agree when you tell them no, or they will give you the information you did not have, which will make you reassess your priorities. In both cases, you win.
3. Put your money where your mouth is
As PMs, we produce very little on our own. We need to build a network that trusts us, and we need to work on that trust. And in order to have people who trust us, we need to make sure that we do what we said we would do.
If you cannot do something today and you say that you’ll have it by the end of the week, is totally fine, but if you don’t do it by the end of the week then people are going to start not trusting you.
4. Feel the pain
A lot of times we speak about empathy with respect to our users and our customers, however, something that is very important is to apply the same principle to our stakeholders. To fully understand their problems and show that understanding.
You will likely have to tell them “no” at some point, and it’s ok to say it as long as you show empathy and understanding because they are coming to you probably because they have a problem.
Tip: take distance from your tasks, not from people.
5. Be the polyglot
As PMs, we interact on a daily basis with people that don’t have the same background as us. So it’s normal that we do not speak the same language: sometimes we do not have the same priorities or the same expectations.
You are not expected to master everything, but you need to be very aware of what you have and haven’t understood, and mention if something is not clear. The worst thing you can do is to get out of a meeting without sharing your doubts.
Another tip is knowing when to stop. Many times we get caught into details and we have the desire to know more when very often it’s not necessary. You need to ask yourself: have I understood enough to do my job? To explain it to the team?
6. Be the broken record
It is not enough to just build a clear message, we also need to share this message repeatedly to ensure alignment, because alignment it’s not something that you just gain once: it’s something that you need to maintain and entertain and this requires some effort.
Don’t be afraid to repeat the same thing if you think that brings value and ensures alignment.
7. Be the light in the dark
This one is related to working with uncertainty. It might be difficult for us, but it might also be difficult for the people that work with us. We should not only be aware of the fact that we are dealing with uncertainty ourselves but we should also be aware that people around us might be struggling. It’s true that it might not be our responsibility, but we have a role in helping them deal with it.
A tip for this is to share that feeling, to say “hey, I am aware that this is unclear and that are a few things that we have to figure out but that’s okay we are going to find them little by little.”
Also, remember you don’t need to have everything figured out. Very often it’s enough to just start from something and take it from there little by little while you collect information that allows you to improve.
8. Be the fire ignitor
It is very important to be sure that people around us are motivated. Again, it might not be your direct responsibility, but you might be in a very good spot to understand that they are not motivated and ask for help or trigger that is very important.
Basically, because you can build the prettiest strategy, you can build the clearest roadmap, but if people around you are not following and supporting it, it’s not going to get you where you want to be.
The tip here is to be positive. We deal with problems on a daily basis and it’s very normal to think about the things that can go wrong, but that triggers negative thinking. Trying to be positive is very simple and a very good starting point.
For Hiring Managers and Candidates, how do all these skills apply?
Soft skills are also a very important point of the hiring process. So if you are a PM looking to hire, this might be helpful for you: soft skills are way harder to learn than hard skills. Look for red flags and positive signs associated with these skills.
And, if you are a candidate, self-inspect and try to identify to soft skills that you do master (for real) and make sure you bring them forward during the hiring process.
Conclusion
“At the end of the day, it always goes back to people and problems” — Iain M. Banks, Use of Weapons (Culture Series).
Most of your energy will go into the people around you, so make sure that you create an environment that is founded on trust, transparency, and motivation.
Dig Deeper
This article is based on the talk I gave at Product People’s Community Events.
At Product People, we work as Interim Product Managers, and we have experience with more than 80 clients and 100 PMs in a wide variety of industries. We share our knowledge generously through our community with multiple talks, articles, and content.
If you’d like to know how we can support your team, check it out here.
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