Training/Mentoring for Non-Project Managers

Heather -

If we consider PM to be a role and not a job title, then anyone fulfilling that role needs the right fundamentals to be successful. In past companies, I'd seen approaches such as pairing up a non-PM with a seasoned PM as their mentor buddy, sending non-PMs on a fundamentals course, and creating a community of practice for non-PMs.

Kiron

I had the same issue where I work and received approval from HR to create and delivery a few PM training sessions to employees, which eventually resulted in creating a PM training working group. My goal is to create a stronger PM culture. A few other PMs are on board and delivering sessions too. So far it's working and I'm starting to see a few common expectations, practices, and PM language across the organization. Consider this approach. Be patient, though. It will take a while to influence the entire organization and it can't be done alone.

I started my own PM career as a SME responsible for managing a project, and my experience grew from there.

Many times, the SME has a significant new project in their functional team but aren't looking for a new career path. They need a high level overview of the project lifecycle, but they often need additional education on the organization's internal PM processes and tools. How do you generate a complete statement of work? How do you develop the project schedule in the appropriate tool. How do you run reports of all the scheduled items?

You need to consider what parts of the project lifecycle will even include the SME. If they are handed approved projects, they don't need to know much about the early stages of initiation. From there you can look at your own internal processes by phase and develop tailored training to execute the major activities, especially if they have known difficulties. They probably won't need enough knowledge to do much process tailoring or developing new ways to manage them. That's more a job for the PM specialist.

Hi Paul, I'm currently the only certified PM and department of one! I developed the project management department from scratch years back, so I do like the idea of training sessions to employees for more PM acknowledgement.

I'm curious about your PM process if you're willing to share! I have PM Guidelines & a Handbook that I developed for my organization, broken down by project types, complexity, etc. There are certain projects that I must manage due to complexity, regulatory, etc., that must follow the more in depth process for reporting, etc. But how do you handle the less vigorous projects?
Do you track and report upon all "projects"? If so, who is it reported to - a project steering committee, PMO, etc.?

Apologies for all the questions!