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The Strategic Knowledge Gap

Posted by 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.

In my blog posted today on our Strategy & Projects site, I wrote about the lack of benefits realization  processes currently plaguing many companies, and the impact on strategic execution. At least some of the problem is due to a knowledge gap about strategic execution and benefits realization. A recent study carried out by PMI and The Economist Intelligence Unit found that:

“A majority of companies either lack the skills or fail to deploy the personnel needed for strategy implementation. Only 41% of respondents say their companies provide sufficiently skilled personnel to implement high-priority strategic initiatives. Moreover, just 18% say that the hiring of people with the necessary business skills or leadership talent to drive strategy implementation is a very high priority at their firms, and a mere 11% say the same of developing those skills among existing executives. Executives may thus be neglecting the low-hanging fruit: companies that typically provide both types of human capital succeeded in 62% of such initiatives over the past year, compared with 53% for other businesses. The survey data also indicate a correlation between companies that do better at implementation and those that focus more heavily on obtaining the requisite business and leadership skills. “

This aligns with the need cited by executives in our Project Manager Benchmark study, for more business and leadership skills.

But there are also some skills particular to benefit realization management (BRM) that will help project personnel to keep their eyes on the prize. In fact, our new white paper suggests a two-pronged approach: changing the cultural focus to strategic performance from the top down, while encouraging behaviors that prioritize BPR from the ground up. Sign up for our newsletter to receive a link to the paper, due to publish this month.

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