Is Project Management the Neglected Skill?
|
By Nicholas Burch, Lead Trainer in Business Skills, Global
Knowledge
Nicholas Burch is an accredited PRINCE2™ trainer with expertise
in general, project and training management. With extensive global
experience from the military, government, RBS, Lotus and his own
restaurant business he brings a wealth of knowledge to business
skills training as Lead Trainer in Business Skills here at Global
Knowledge. Nicholas says: “Joining Global Knowledge gives me the
unique opportunity to develop the Professional Skills portfolio
within the company and to provide first class training such as
PRINCE2™ and Managing Successful Programmes to our
ever-growing customer base both in UK and in Europe and the Middle
East.
|
Managers seeking to progress in an organisation seek out and
acquire key skills to take them to the boardroom. However, one key
skill which would give them the advantage and make their
organisation more effective is being neglected by both the
individual and the organisation. Nicholas Burch, lead trainer in
Business Skills at Global Knowledge gives us his opinion.
Those studying for their MBA and ambitious executives
concentrate on developing their talents in marketing, strategy,
finance, e-commerce and organisational behaviour though rarely in
project management. Yet the skills of a project manager, if
practised, will improve a person’s capability in almost all other
areas of management and are as valuable as those of a good CEO.
The key skills a project manager must master include estimation,
stakeholder management, sequential and parallel planning, scope
management, benefit realisation and risk management. Unfortunately,
good project managers are usually not valued as they should be
within their own organisation. A good project manager is a good
estimator and is good at estimating time, cost and effort. They
understand the level of error and the relevance of inherent errors
from different data sources in making their
estimations.
Project managers can sort fact from opinion. They can handle
ambiguity and work through their project undaunted by the
uncertainty of project componnents as long as the degree of
uncertainty is known. Good project managers plan contingencies
based on their experience, their project team’s experience and
other available data to mitigate risk. The nature of the
contingencies is dependent on the probability and impact of the
risk.
Stakeholder management is a desired ability in a senior executive.
The ability to talk with a wide variety of people from tradesmen to
board level is seen as a valuable skill.
Project managers must be able to develop a communications
strategy understanding which mediums to
use and at what frequency to communicate what message to which
audience. Strategic planning requires executives to be able to move
from the overall strategic intent of a plan to the detail and back
again. They need the “drill down” skills that good project managers
have. Good project managers are in control of the detail,
understanding the impact changes in the detail have on the overall
plan.
Further, good project managers are able to sequentially plan,
determining the dependency of one activity, finishing before
another can start and parallel plan those activities which are not
dependent on another. Good project planners have the skills of good
business planners.
A good project manger delegates well. They understand the
competence required to complete a task and delegate the authority
to a person who has the competence to do a task. If the person does
not have the competence they arrange for training to improve their
competency.
The key skill of a good project manager, however is evident when
they get done what they say they will get done when they say it
will be done at the cost for which they say it will be completed.
Good project managers have the skills required of good CEOs. They
apply their skills on a single or a few projects where a CEO
applies their skills across several departments or projects.
PRINCE2™ is the ideal project management qualification to give
all managers the skills needed to deliver successful projects and
to add value to their career and to their organisation.