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Tips on Skills Assessments: Webinar Questions Blog Series Finale

Posted by Deborah Bigelow Crawford

Deborah Bigelow Crawford has more than 20 years of experience in business management and handles the operational and administrative functions of PM Solutions. Ms. Bigelow Crawford also serves as Co-CEO of the PM College®, PM Solutions' training division, where she is responsible for the fiscal management and quality assurance of all training and professional development programs. Prior to joining PM Solutions, she served as the Executive Director of the Project Management Institute (PMI), and was instrumental in providing the foundation and infrastructure for the exponential growth that the Institute has maintained over the last 10 years. In addition, she served as the Executive Director of the PMI Educational Foundation. Over the last decade, she has authored numerous articles in PM Network, Chief Project Officer, and Optimize magazines. Ms. Bigelow Crawford is also co-author of the book Project Management Essentials. She has presented a variety of papers as a speaker at international symposia and conferences, and is a member of the National Association of Female Executives and the Project Management Institute.

We wrap up our blog series responding to participants’ questions from our webinar exploring the findings of our research study, The Project Manager Skills Benchmark, with a question about professional development strategy:

“With current PM staff, would it be best to have them complete a survey designed to assess their personal skills "gap" and then develop a targeted training for each individual?”

Absolutely! However, you must be sensitive to the reality that when you first mention assessing skills or competency, fears can begin to spread:  Why are they measuring my skills? What if I don’t measure up?  What should I do to prepare?  What will happen to me if I am NOT competent?

Assigning a level of competency seems to have a negative connotation, because the inference is that on the flip side, there is “incompetence.”  So it’s very important to frame your assessments as a professional development activity. This focuses on the individual in a positive way (“development” not “measurement”). It also sends the message “my company wants to invest in my development.”

Be clear about your ultimate goal – which is to improve project performance and business outcomes. Share that identifying strengths and gaps among the staff helps you focus on where the improvements are needed. Be specific.  Show how this will help them professionally and personally.  Some examples:

  • Leads to commonality of practices across the team which leads to improved efficiencies
  • Leads to a common language and expectations so everyone is on the same page
  • Provides an opportunity for personal growth. Everyone likes self-improvement!

Once the results of the assessment are in, a professional development plan should be developed.  The plan will probably include some targeted training, recommendations on mentoring, and potentially some networking activities.

Identify the strengths first, but don’t gloss over the results where there are gaps. Keep communication open, positive and oriented towards improvement. Provide trending for the group.  Identify the areas for knowledge, skill and behavioral improvements.

Don’t use the word “fix” when you are talking about competencies or skills that you want to “build.”  “Fix” indicates something is broken. “Building” connotes constructive activity and progress.

Most project managers have a passion for good project management, and are proud of their profession. They like to understand the sequence of events and where they are headed.  Treating a skills assessment as a project helps to remove the fear around assessment and moves it into an arena project managers can understand and appreciate.

For more information, check out our white papers and articles on competency and assessment.

We’ve enjoyed responding to your questions over the past few months. Keep in touch!

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