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Training: Once Again, the Differentiator Between High and Low Performance

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.

The attendees in my session last week at PMI’s Virtual Experience Series asked a bunch of great questions! More than one of them focused on the role of training, and specifically, what training is most valuable: a subject I am always glad to talk about.

In our most recent study, The State of Project Management 2020, on which my session was based, one of the most remarkable findings, for me, was that of the “lucky 13” agile or adaptive practices that PMOs in high performing companies engage it, five of them are training or talent related:

  • Provides agile/adaptive training courses, coaches, or mentors
  • Coordinates agile/adaptive training courses, coaches, or mentors
  • Coordinates communication between teams that use agile/adaptive approaches
  • Facilitates organizational learning in agile/adaptive approaches
  • Develops guidelines for recruiting, evaluating, and selecting team leaders for agile/adaptive projects

In the blog I wrote for PMI’s site in the run-up to the event, I stressed this emphasis on training by high performers (read it here) and included a graphic that shows just how stunning the difference is between high and low performers when it comes to agile training. It’s nothing new for us to see that high performing organizations train more often, on more topics—that finding has held steady in nearly every research study we have ever done for 20 years. But when it comes to agile, the difference is through the roof. High performers train more than four times as much on agile topics!

In one of the cases I discussed in my session, the story of Preferred Mutual Insurance’s agile journey (watch a recorded webinar about this here) the role played by training stands out: one of the first things the organization did to launch their initiative was roll out a major agile training initiative. They knew they did not have the personnel in-house to carry out this effort, so they reached out to a vendor with expertise in agile training. This is another of the hallmarks of high performers: they know what they don't know, and are quick to seek out external resources, adding to their agility in responding to challenges.

On that note, I’ll wish you a joyful holiday season, and leave you with this link, in hopes that 2021 will be the year you invest in your agile future!

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