{"id":3715,"date":"2026-07-06T08:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/?p=3715"},"modified":"2026-07-17T16:16:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:16:41","slug":"why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the best project managers aren’t the most technical ones"},"content":{"rendered":"

When senior leaders hire project managers, they don’t prioritise technical skills. They rank communication and stakeholder management first, by a wide margin.<\/p>\n

PMI’s 2025 Pulse of the Profession report surveyed almost 3,000 project professionals and 587 senior leaders. When those leaders were asked what they actually look for when hiring, strong communication (84%) and stakeholder management and engagement (77%) topped the list. Technical skills came in at 31%. Financial acumen at 23%.<\/p>\n

That’s not a small gap. It’s a complete reordering of what “good at the job” means.<\/p>\n

The plan is rarely what fails<\/h2>\n

Ask any project manager why a well-planned initiative collapsed and you’ll rarely hear “the plan was wrong.” You’ll hear about the finance director who wasn’t consulted, the regional lead who found out third-hand, or the sponsor who went quiet the moment things got difficult.<\/p>\n

PMI’s data backs this up from the other direction too. When a project goes off scope, over budget or behind schedule, up to 94% of project professionals say stakeholder management is the skill that gets it back on track, ahead of scope management, budget management and every other lever in the toolkit.<\/p>\n

Technical planning gets the training budget. Influence and negotiation usually don’t. That’s backwards.<\/p>\n

Two skills, one gap<\/h2>\n

The data points to two capabilities that separate people who handle this well from people who don’t.<\/p>\n

The first is stakeholder management itself: understanding who has influence, what they care about, and how to keep them engaged before they become a problem rather than after. This isn’t a register you fill in once at project kickoff. It’s an active, ongoing skill, especially with stakeholders outside your direct authority or outside the organisation altogether.<\/p>\n

The second is the ability to respond well under pressure. Being properly consulted counts for little if, when the difficult question lands in a meeting, the answer is muddled, defensive or three minutes too long. Every project runs through people who didn’t ask to be involved and most of the moments that matter with them happen without warning: a corridor conversation, a challenge in a steering group, a question you didn’t prep for.<\/p>\n

Neither skill is a personality trait. Both can be learnt and both are best built through practice rather than templates or theory.<\/p>\n

What this looks like in practice<\/h2>\n

Our Stakeholder Engagement (including AI-Powered Simulation)™ workshop<\/a> is built around this exact gap. It helps people understand, engage with, and manage stakeholders at different levels, both inside and outside the organisation. So that they develop relationship management skills that hold up when a stakeholder group becomes difficult or complex. Rather than talking through frameworks, participants work through realistic AI-simulated scenarios before they’re in a conversation that actually matters.<\/p>\n

Think on Your Feet\u00ae<\/a> addresses the second half of the gap: the ability to respond confidently and concisely in formal, informal and ad-hoc situations, especially when you’re caught on the spot. It trains people to analyse, organise and present their thinking fast, condensing complex ideas and handling tough questions without overloading the listener or losing the room.<\/p>\n

Together, they cover both sides of what PMI’s data actually shows determines whether a project succeeds: managing people and holding your own when they push back.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/h2>\n

If your organisation is investing training budget primarily in technical and process skills, the evidence suggests you’re optimising for the wrong 31%. The skills that senior leaders actually hire for, and the skills that get projects back on track when they wobble, are stakeholder management and communication under pressure.<\/p>\n

They’re learnable. They just need to be trained deliberately, not assumed.<\/p>\n

Find out more about Stakeholder Engagement (including Simulation)™<\/a> and Think on Your Feet\u00ae.<\/a><\/p>\n

Source: PMI, Pulse of the Profession 2025, pmi.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When senior leaders hire project managers, they don’t prioritise technical skills. They rank communication and stakeholder management first, by a wide margin. PMI’s 2025 Pulse of the Profession report surveyed almost 3,000 project professionals and 587 senior leaders. When those … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,86,96,170,150],"tags":[142,172,21,93,173,171,95,18,155],"class_list":["post-3715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-project-and-programme-management","category-project-management","category-simulations","category-stakeholder-engagement","category-think-on-your-feet","tag-communication","tag-communication-strategy","tag-effective-communication","tag-simulation","tag-soft-skills","tag-stakeholder-communication","tag-stakeholder-engagement","tag-think-on-your-feet","tag-verbal-communication"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy the best project managers aren't the most technical ones - the indigo blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PMI's 2025 Pulse survey found senior leaders rank communication and stakeholder management above technical skill when hiring project managers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the best project managers aren't the most technical ones - the indigo blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PMI's 2025 Pulse survey found senior leaders rank communication and stakeholder management above technical skill when hiring project managers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"the indigo blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-06T08:53:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T16:16:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Evans\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Evans\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Richard Evans\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/349834f9c980ec8163e9186fc92058e4\"},\"headline\":\"Why the best project managers aren’t the most technical ones\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T08:53:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T16:16:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":639,\"keywords\":[\"Communication\",\"Communication Strategy\",\"Effective Communication\",\"Indigo Simulations\",\"Soft Skills\",\"Stakeholder Communication\",\"Stakeholder Engagement\",\"Think on Your Feet\",\"Verbal Communication\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Project and Programme Management\",\"Project Management\",\"Simulations\",\"Stakeholder Engagement\",\"Think on Your Feet\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why the best project managers aren't the most technical ones - the indigo blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-06T08:53:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T16:16:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/349834f9c980ec8163e9186fc92058e4\"},\"description\":\"PMI's 2025 Pulse survey found senior leaders rank communication and stakeholder management above technical skill when hiring project managers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why the best project managers aren’t the most technical ones\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/\",\"name\":\"the indigo blog\",\"description\":\"training your people, making companies better\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/349834f9c980ec8163e9186fc92058e4\",\"name\":\"Richard Evans\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7e61bc81d452c820dc4be4fec49928d95af684d6f79143bed0154d2e4f6bc395?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7e61bc81d452c820dc4be4fec49928d95af684d6f79143bed0154d2e4f6bc395?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7e61bc81d452c820dc4be4fec49928d95af684d6f79143bed0154d2e4f6bc395?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Evans\"},\"description\":\"Richard Evans is Marketing and Operations lead at Indigo Business Services, a UK based training and development company operating internationally. Indigo is the exclusive UK Distributor for the Edward de Bono Limited's suite of business thinking and creativity workshops, and MDC Training's Think on Your Feet\u00ae suite of business communication workshops. Richard has been a Chartered Marketer for over 20 years, having worked for a diverse range of commercial, not-for-profit and charitable organisations.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.indigobusiness.co.uk\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\\\/author\\\/richard-evans\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why the best project managers aren't the most technical ones - the indigo blog","description":"PMI's 2025 Pulse survey found senior leaders rank communication and stakeholder management above technical skill when hiring project managers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why the best project managers aren't the most technical ones - the indigo blog","og_description":"PMI's 2025 Pulse survey found senior leaders rank communication and stakeholder management above technical skill when hiring project managers.","og_url":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/","og_site_name":"the indigo blog","article_published_time":"2026-07-06T08:53:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T16:16:41+00:00","author":"Richard Evans","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Evans","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/"},"author":{"name":"Richard Evans","@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/349834f9c980ec8163e9186fc92058e4"},"headline":"Why the best project managers aren’t the most technical ones","datePublished":"2026-07-06T08:53:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T16:16:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/"},"wordCount":639,"keywords":["Communication","Communication Strategy","Effective Communication","Indigo Simulations","Soft Skills","Stakeholder Communication","Stakeholder Engagement","Think on Your Feet","Verbal Communication"],"articleSection":["Communication","Project and Programme Management","Project Management","Simulations","Stakeholder Engagement","Think on Your Feet"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/","url":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/","name":"Why the best project managers aren't the most technical ones - the indigo blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-07-06T08:53:14+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T16:16:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/349834f9c980ec8163e9186fc92058e4"},"description":"PMI's 2025 Pulse survey found senior leaders rank communication and stakeholder management above technical skill when hiring project managers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/why-the-best-project-managers-arent-the-most-technical-ones\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why the best project managers aren’t the most technical ones"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/","name":"the indigo blog","description":"training your people, making companies better","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/349834f9c980ec8163e9186fc92058e4","name":"Richard Evans","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e61bc81d452c820dc4be4fec49928d95af684d6f79143bed0154d2e4f6bc395?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e61bc81d452c820dc4be4fec49928d95af684d6f79143bed0154d2e4f6bc395?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e61bc81d452c820dc4be4fec49928d95af684d6f79143bed0154d2e4f6bc395?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Richard Evans"},"description":"Richard Evans is Marketing and Operations lead at Indigo Business Services, a UK based training and development company operating internationally. Indigo is the exclusive UK Distributor for the Edward de Bono Limited's suite of business thinking and creativity workshops, and MDC Training's Think on Your Feet\u00ae suite of business communication workshops. Richard has been a Chartered Marketer for over 20 years, having worked for a diverse range of commercial, not-for-profit and charitable organisations.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.indigobusiness.co.uk"],"url":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/author\/richard-evans\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3716,"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3715\/revisions\/3716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpblog.indigobusiness.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}