A Wake-Up Call to Employers: Champion or Underperformer?

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Organizational Project Management   Talent Management  

If you haven’t yet seen it, PMI’s Pulse of the Profession^® 2017 is available here. Every year, it is an interesting and enlightening read—and this year is no different. It’s a broadly positive view of our profession, and I am encouraged as I read it.

However, there are a few areas that cause me to shake my head—not just because of the results of the analysis, but because it is so easy to do something about it. In this article, I want to look at just one aspect of the report. In the “Talent” section of the report, there is a data point that shows that around 45% of organizations have a “process to develop project manager competency,” while around 43% have a “defined career path for project managers.”

The text of the report goes into a little more detail, stating “Champions are prioritizing the development of technical skills (76% versus 19% of underperformers), leadership skills (76% versus 16% of underperformers), and strategic and business management skills (65% versus 14% of underperformers).” The report defines:

• a champion as an organization where “80% of projects are being completed on time and budget and meeting original goals and business intent—and having high benefits realization maturity”
• an underperformer as an organization where “60% or fewer of …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.