Does Formal PM Training Matter?
From the Project Management 2.0 Blog
by Dave Garrett
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Situation: You are considering investments in PM training.
With the way the economy has been over the past few years, companies have generally scaled back their investments in PM training. They often emphasize on the job training with eers or just rely on lower cost options - at times even just hiring more experienced help at the same or lower pay.
According to a new study released by ESI International, entitled “The Global State of the PMO: An Analysis for 2013”, project managers are being trained in fewer skills compared to 2012—by as much as 20%. It was found, however, that organizations committed to applying training on the job and measuring its impact on job performance deliver projects on-time and to-budget more often than organizations without training adoption in place.
Here are a few metrics and commentary from the study
Methodology and Tools Training:
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In 2013, 62% of workers who report up to a PMO said they receive training in using methodology and tools. That is a decrease from 75% in 2012.
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Less than half (47%) of non-PMO managed workers received methodology and tool training in 2013, down from 68% in 2012.
Soft Skills Project Training:
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A very low 30% of PMO-managed workers said they receive soft skills training (e.g., leadership, critical thinking, team building) down from 41% in 2012.
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Only 22% of non-PMO managed workers received soft skills training in 2013, compared with 35% in 2012.
“While these training numbers reveal a decline in project-focused training, the survey underscores the importance of training and its direct correlation to project success,” said Ward. The study found that 56% of respondents who are part of PMOs that are active in measuring training impact and learning sustainment said more than 75% of projects were delivered on time, to budget, within scope and to customer expectations. That number plummets to 39% for those whose PMOs are not active in either."
What's the situation at your company? Have they cut back on training? If so, has it made a huge difference in people's performance?
Posted on: August 15, 2013 11:41 AM |
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Comments (2)
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Bernard Gore
Portfolio, Programme & Project Professional| NZ Police
Wellington, New Zealand
This certainly matches my anecdotal experience.
If anything a time of poor economy is the most important time to invest in such training - your people have a little more time to really ensure they get the most out of this, the training providers themselves will be seeing the squeeze and should be prepared to offer better deals, the good employers will be looking at this difficult time as an opportunity to poach the best talent so you need to make sure it isn't yours that gets poached.
In tough times there are tough projects to be done - downsizing, mergers, etc are hard, especially with a demoralised workforce, so you need your PMs to be at the top of their game, and of course the recovery will come, eventually, and you want all your people to be at their best to help take advantage of this when it does.
Darrel Erickson
Professor| Wayland Baptist University
Kapolei, Hi, United States
If someone is stopping in here for ammunition to bolster a proposal to get funding to do training, I teach undergrads project planning and implementation. This week was helping some of my students get a WBS, Time, and really basic cost data into Project software, one of them told me, because of my course, he and a senior colleague started reviewing what was happening in a shipyard all around them and how they both saw value in PM methodologies to help them. The student said that other workers could not understand the terminology they were using. This elevated with management the student who knew what PM methodology could do and how to discuss it after a single college course. I've no doubt the shipyard section with the leader a new PMP and worker (my student) will move projects up more than a notch. Important, never more so... he explained that stakeholder management we discussed - new management area in PMBOK 5e - would have saved them countless hours reworking poorly conceived projects.
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