Have any of you created an intern training program, or a cross-training program for experienced Project Managers?
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
One day I expect to be in a position where I can bring aspiring PMs into my organization to help them gain experience. I also want to give established PMs the chance to experience project management practices within a different industry. I’ve consulted in several different industries, and I believe it’s possible to combine project management practices from different industries to create novel solutions for difficult problems.
I have some ideas for how I’d like to design these programs, but I was curious if anyone has done something similar or knows someone who has. I’d like to know how their program worked out for them. Saving Changes...
I never did this as part of an official program, but some of the standard practices which I've used when either leading a team of PMs or working within an EPMO were:
- Giving folks a chance to play a project coordinator role supporting a PM on a project in a different domain. That provides a great opportunity to learn the ropes without being on the hook for project success.
- Holding regular PM community-of-practice meetings and giving different PMs a chance to share the lessons their team has learned on a specific type of project.
- Having PMs job shadow business or operational staff so they get a first-hand understanding of the impacts of their changes.
Kiron Saving Changes...
Hank CoffeySenior Project Manager| Cameo GlobalOh, United States
Sort of...... We all know that each PMO is different, has it's own idiosyncrasies. We had huge turnover in contractor PMs at Kroger, because of budget cycles and projects in the cue. Anyway to cut way down on the ramp up time for bringing in new project managers, I created a "PM Playbook"..... It laid out our processes and how to follow them, and then laid out specific projects that we had run in the past, and gave details on how to deliver the project from initiate to close. Cut my ramp up time for new PMs from 90 days to 2 weeks. Saving Changes...
I guess, companies with project business as their core business strive to have such in-house programs. I remember my time with Siemens where such program's even had CEO attention. I believe it is still the case. Saving Changes...
