PM College Webinar Participants’ Questions Show that Companies are Eager to Implement Competency … and Measure Its Impact

October 8, 2010 | by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Because I am already familiar with much of the content presented in our webinar series, it's the interactive portions of the program – the polls and questions from participants – that always hold the most interest for me.

The questions posed by participants in last week's PM College webinar were no exception. One of the things that struck me was that some of the questioners were groping to figure out what this word "competency" really means. I can't blame them. It has become something of a buzzword. But the new PM College white paper should answer many questions - not only about competency, but about the process of identifying competencies ... and ways to measure improvements in competency and link those improvements to related improvements in business outcomes.

One questioner asked how to counter the argument from executives that measuring competencies was merely "process for process's sake." I think the tips that Debbie Crawford provided in the webinar go a long way toward solving that problem. She urged her listeners to use our research examples [cited in the webinar slides and in the white paper] to show that, when companies make the effort to link project manager competence improvement to changes in business outcomes, they find a strong supporting argument for funding both training and measurement initiatives. When you can display in numbers that training has paid for itself, said Crawford, "That's what speaks to execs."

About the Author

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin is editor-in-chief for PM Solutions Research, and the author, co-author and editor of over twenty books on project management, including the 2007 PMI Literature Award winner, The AMA Handbook of Project Management, Second Edition.

View Posts by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin

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