New Research Reveals a Perception Gap Between Leaders and PMs
The top skills exhibited by project managers in high-performing organizations are leadership skills.
Over the years, our research has consistently shown that having an effective project manager on the job makes the difference between project success and project failure. So we aren’t surprised by the results from PM College’s latest study, “Project Manager Skills Benchmark 2015,” showing that organizations with highly skilled project managers get significantly better project and organizational results. What was a little surprising, however, was the deep divide between executives and project managers on a number of important questions. Executives and project managers differ widely when identifying the most important skills, as well as in gauging the degree to which skills need to be improved. It’s interesting to note that executives feel that communication skills are those most in need of improvement for project managers! Poor communications in itself may be a root cause of the leader/project manager divide.
PM College surveyed 314 project management professionals from all size organizations in various industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, technical, finance, and government. The purpose of the study was to understand what skills project managers have, what skills they think are most critical, and how those skills impact project and organizational success.
You can read the full report on the PM College website, but just to hit a couple high points, the study found that only 15% of participants rated their companies’ project managers as “good to excellent.” That leaves tremendous room for improvement. The question is, of course, where to start? Which are the most important skills?
Here the design of our studies helps to chart a path. Because the studies also include a battery of questions designed to elicit information about the participants’ overall project and organizational success, it’s possible to group study respondents into those who work for “High-performing organizations” (organizations whose responses to the performance questions place them in the top 25% in this study), and compare their project managers’ skill levels to those of project managers in the low-performing quadrant. The top skills exhibited by project managers in high-performing organizations are leadership skills, especially displaying integrity and honesty, building relationships, and building trust and respect. The skills cited as needing the most improvement include managing project risks, managing benefits realization, planning strategically, championing and managing change, and communicating/listening. In this the high performers are closely aligned with executives. Project managers in low performing companies, by contrast, seem to be distracted from the big picture by low level technical issues. They overrate the importance of computer skills, for example, while failing to recognize the importance of aligning projects to strategy.
- PMaaS and Organizational Performance, Then and Now
- (More) Changing Approaches to Project Management
- What We Mean When We Say PM as a Service
- Jazzed Up About Project Management and AI
- Live from Atlanta ... People, Ideas and More, Part 2
- Live from Atlanta ... People, Ideas and More
- Value Delivery Skills Webinar Attendees Had Questions: Here Are Some Answers
- Webinar Alert: Project Management Skills for Value Delivery Research Overview
- Seven Actions for the Adaptive Organization
- PMO Staff vs PMO Leaders: Realism or Pessimism?
- High Performers Value These Skills
- PM Skills Benchmark Study: Your Second Chance to Participate
- New Research Launch: Project Management Skills for Value Delivery
- Managing Projects…Or Delivering Value? Eric Foss’s Challenge to Project Managers
- A Look Forward, With Hope and Confidence
- Some Thoughts About Governance, PMOs and the Thinking Project Manager
- The Future is Already Here for These PMOs
- State of the PMO Research Webinar – Your Questions, Answered: Part 2
- State of the PMO Research Webinar – Your Questions, Answered: Part 1
- Will A.I. Kill the PMO? Part 3 in Our A.I. in PM Series
- PMO Research Reveal: What You'll Learn in This Week's Webinar
- The Evolution of the Enterprise PMO: What Comes Next?
- Think Your Business Is Too Small for a PMO? Think Again.
- The Enterprise PMO Delivers
- PMOs: New Research Shows Benefits Outweigh Cost
- The PMO at 20: New Research Findings Released
- Extended: The State of the PMO Research Study, Thru Feb. 18.
- Why Research Is Important
- 2022: What Is the State of Your PMO?
- Something to Be Thankful For
Related Posts:
Tags:
(19 votes. Average: 2.6 out of 5)
Popular Posts
- The Project Management Maturity Model … Now with Agile/Adaptive Assessment!
- PM Solutions Celebrates 25 Years of Project Management Excellence
- Managing Project Managers Within and Outside the PMO
Popular Categories
- Agile or Adaptive PM (5)
- Culture & Change Management (75)
- Project & Program Management (82)
- Portfolio Management (50)
- Project Management Office (PMO) (107)
- Project Management Research (50)
- Resource Optimization (26)
search blog:
Sign up for PM Solutions'
Insights eNewsletter
Delivered every other month in addition to periodic research, white papers, and news alerts.
No comments yet. Be the first one!