PMCC helps organizations achieve Project Management Organizational Excellence by providing practical, experience-based guidance on how to progress from a crisis, reactive way of operating to developing knowledge, skill sets, competence, and confidence in utilizing best practice project management processes and procedures.
Organizational excellence in project management involves the competency of the individual team members and the maturity of the systems, processes, and procedures utilized by the organization. The PMCC personal development model used for individual project team members climbs from awareness to knowledge then onto skill development, competency, and eventually mastery. The organizational PM maturity model grows from crisis management (fire fighting) to reactive management then to project, program and finally portfolio management. For most organizations with dozens of capital projects and constraints on dollars, people, and equipment, project management maturity must advance to the fourth step on the PMCC proprietary maturity model which calls for portfolio management. Once this is achieved, the final step is continuous improvement (mastery) within the PM organization.
Within the project management community, there are many consulting firms that focus on improving the competency of individuals. Others settle into a niche providing organizational assistance to corporations climbing the PM Maturity ladder. At PMCC, we believe that organizations must do both! They absolutely must strive to make their project teams competent and their organizational processes must support the inherent challenges associated with handling not one but dozens of projects that are constrained by resource and time.
How do we achieve PM competency for our staff? It is a question we are often asked. The simple first step is to make staff aware of PM Best Practice so that they become knowledgeable. This is often done via classroom training and assessed using a test of one sort or another. But training, in and of itself, does not lead to competency. Project team members must turn knowledge into a skill set. The skill set can also be taught via training but it must be practiced. Again training can include some practice via role play and simulation but real life application of the skill is irreplaceable in achieving competency. Assessing a skill set can also involve testing but should also include mentoring or coaching by peers, immediate supervisors, and impartial subject matter experts (like PMCC!). To be able to practice a skill set and become competent often involves the use of corporate systems, processes, and procedures. If the corporation is complaining about the lack of staff competency, one of the first things they should focus on is the internal systems available to the project teams! While some project staff may have acquired the skill sets, for example, related to spreadsheet and database development that can circumvent a non functioning cost or procurement management system, in most cases if the accounting, scheduling, cost, and change management processes are not integrated, it may be hard (if not impossible) for the individual to demonstrate competence in delivering projects on time, within budget, and to the satisfaction of the project stakeholders! So assessing the competence of individual project team members must involve, not a test, but a 360 degree review by peers, management, and customers that takes into account any shortcomings in the systems, procedures, and processes utilized by the project management practitioner.
How do you achieve organizational maturity and excellence in project management? The simple answer is by hiring or developing competent staff and then implementing systems, processes, and procedures that allow for the successful execution of a portfolio of projects. For staff that have not yet achieved mastery of project management, you need training, assessment, coaching, and mentoring systems in place that focus on continuous improvement.
How can PMCC help?
We have knowledgeable staff that can assess your PM staff and systems. We provide training curricula that is focused on results and involves role play, exercises, and simulation where applicable. We can provide project team members to supplement your own personnel.
We can also help by evaluating your organization and making recommendations for improvement with the use of the PMI Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) Product Suite which is founded upon the PMI’s PMBOK ® and the logical progression of elements from Knowledge to Assessment and then to Improvement. OPM3 uses a rating system of industry-recognized Best Practices that are founded upon Capabilities which are in turn founded upon measurable Outcomes (KPIs). Our consultants are trained, certified and licensed to use this advanced modeling system which provides the capability for either “desktop” or “rigorous” analysis and improvement using its many dimensions and/or categories:
a. Domain or “PPP” (Project Management, Program Management and Portfolio Management), b. Stage, or “SMCI” (Standardize, Measure, Control and continuous Improvement), c. Process (Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control and Close), and d. Organizational Enablers (one of the many enhancements from PMI’s original OPM3):
i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. xiii. xiv. xv. xvi. xvii. xviii.
Benchmarking, Competence Management Executive Sponsorship, Knowledge Management, Management Systems, Organizational Structures, Resource Allocation, Strategic Alignment, Teamwork Approaches, Organizational PM Methodology, Organizational PM Policy and Vision, Organizational PM Practices, Organizational PM Techniques, Project Management Information Systems, Project Management Information Metrics, Project Management Information Training, Project Success Criteria, and Individual Performance Appraisals.
We are experienced practitioners that can train, coach, and mentor your staff….all we need is the opportunity! Please give us a call or drop us an email and we will be glad to provide you and/or your organization with more information and references.