“The Project Economy is one in which people have the skills and capabilities they need to turn ideas into reality.” — The Project Management Institute (PMI)

When people fail to turn ideas into reality or when businesses fail to turn strategies into results, a common root cause is that people and organizations lack the right skills and capabilities.

The people include project managers (regardless of their formal titles), team members (or contributors), and project sponsors (management).  Almost everyone is involved in a project in organizations.  The project management (PM) maturity of an organization depends on the skills and capabilities of all people, not just the project managers.

What are the skills and capabilities required for project success?

The PMI Talent Triangle® outlines three skill sets:

• Technical Project Management
• Leadership
• Strategic and Business Management

It is the combination of these skills possessed by people throughout the organization that is required to realize the idea or strategy. In other words, we need adequate skill levels in all nine cells in the role vs. skills matrix (pictured above).

As a project manager, line manager, or consultant in the industry in the past two decades, my observation is that most organizations have low PM maturity, and PM skill development is focused in technical project management for the project managers, i.e. only one of the nine cells.

While the traditional PM skills (such as scope and time management) are critical, they are insufficient because of the increasing complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty in the problems we try to solve using projects.  Empowering project teams is impossible if project managers and members do not understand the business priority and strategy to make the right decisions.  Unless they demonstrate their business acumen and ability to think strategically, project managers will not be fully empowered.  In my previous blog “Project Managers are Managers,” I offered some suggestions to new project managers to help them think strategically and manage stakeholders effectively.

I was very pleased that the PMI developed the Talent Triangle to help close the skill gap in project managers.  Furthermore, I’d say that we have to assess and develop PM skills for everyone in the organization, for two reasons. 

First, we prepare future project managers for their roles.  People don’t become a competent project manager overnight – it takes years of learning and practice before and after they are given the project manager role.  Even if not in a PM role, each person is leading projects of different sizes and complexity and can benefit from the skills.

Secondly, to ensure project success, project sponsors and members should have the PM skills to perform their roles effectively.  Otherwise, the project managers have to spend much time doing technical project management, unable to focus on the big picture – the business and strategic value.  When project sponsors do not know how to manage projects at the strategical level, their management practices can lead to project problems or failures that even the best project managers cannot prevent.  I touched on some of the practices in my blog “Projects on Schedule.”

How are you assessing and developing PM skills in your organization?