Career Development Function Model

The PMO's role in project management career development is one that facilitates recognition of project management as a professional discipline. This recognition is warranted in conjunction with the implementation of new professional performance standards, expanded professional responsibilities, and integrated professional business activities — all elements associated with the concepts and practices of modern project management. This recognition is needed (a) to distinguish those individuals who are pursuing professional project management skill and capability from those who are not and (b) to identify those who are qualified and charged with implementing modern project management concepts and practices from those who are not.

The PMO must carefully examine how project management career development can be applied within the relevant organization. It can apply the consideration that professionalism suggests the need for credentials to distinguish someone who has been trained and demonstrates competency in a particular discipline. However, it will likely see that project management degrees, diplomas, and certificates are not necessarily among the prominent credentials of most people in the organization. The PMO's job then is to determine the best way to introduce project management professionalism in conjunction with recognition of other professional credentials.

The prominent activities of the PMO's "career development" function model are depicted in Figure 11.1. Each activity is described in the following subsections.

Figure 11.1: "Career Development" Function Model

Develop Project Management Career Path

A project management career path gives structure and affiliation for project managers and for all project participants. The PMO should endorse and pursue this function as a means of introducing appropriate recognition and differentiation of these participants.

The PMO can be instrumental in bringing professional recognition to the project management environment through recommendations and actions that establish a project management career path. The activities listed below highlight a complete process for developing the career path. However, even partial completion of these activities represents advancement toward identifying individuals within the project management environment. The four prescribed activities for establishing a project management career path in the relevant organization are described in the following subsections.

Establish Project Management as a Professional Discipline

The PMO is charged with introducing concepts and practices of modern project management in the relevant organization. This must be accompanied by identification and recognition of the people who participate in that effort. This is a business-perspective issue as much as it is an individual recognition issue. By establishing position titles affiliated with pursuits within the project management environment, the relevant organization places emphasis on and demonstrates the importance of developing and applying competency in project management.

The PMO can help the relevant organization make project management a critical if not core business competency by identifying and endorsing the professional attributes of those individuals working within the project management environment, including the PMO staff. This exposure of professional attributes has an ultimate goal of establishing a progressive project management career ladder by which individuals can be assigned positions and responsibilities aligned with their skill, knowledge, and experience in the project management environment.

To that end, the PMO will need to build an understanding of this concept of project management professionalism. It will have to identify the needs and benefits of a formal project management career path within the relevant organization. It will have to gain buy-in from participants and decision makers alike.

There are three primary areas in which the PMO can take steps to establish project management as a professional discipline.

Develop Basis for Executive Support

The senior managers in the relevant organization must be see business value in the concept of establishing a career path for project management. Therefore, the PMO should meet with individual executives, or perhaps the executive control board, to present its case for adopting such a career structure. This case presumes that the relevant organization is pursuing modern project management as a competency higher than casual business interest, or that at least the business strategy calls for examination of such options. Otherwise, there may be no foundation for professional position designation or need for individual advancement in the context of project management.

Conversely, if the relevant organization is primed for such a change, the PMO should prepare a preliminary examination of the opportunity as a basis for executive consideration. It can include the following sample items and information points in its examination of a project management career path for presentation to senior managers in the relevant organization:

• Purpose for establishing a project management career path in the relevant organization:

  • Alignment with comparable positions in other business areas

  • Alignment with comparable positions in other organizations (partners/competitors)

  • Endorsement of modern project management as a core competency

  • Fulfillment of regulatory requirements or business needs

  • Implementation of organizational restructuring initiatives

• Benefits of establishing a professional career path in project management:

  • Increased staff retention based on defined professional advancement opportunities

  • Easier identification of individuals for specific project assignments

  • Improved morale and motivation within the project management environment

  • Specified training, certification, and skill/knowledge requirements for each level

  • Enhanced collaboration and information sharing among peers and within peer groups

  • Clearer definition of professional responsibilities within the project management environment

  • Professional affiliation for traditionally "nonprofessional" project team members

• Impacts on current "project managers" and other project team members:

  • New position designation issues

  • Responsibility change issues

  • Scope of control and influence issues

  • Compensation issues

  • Professional recognition issues

  • Professional certification and position qualification issues

• Impacts on the relevant organization:

  • Organizational change issues

  • Personnel action and administrative issues

  • Customer reaction issues

  • Partner and vendor/contractor-reaction issues

The PMO will need to examine these points and others that it deems applicable to develop its position for implementing a well-conceived project management career path. No such organizational effort will be without issues to resolve. However, the PMO should be able to show that the benefits warrant the change and outweigh the adverse issues and impacts it has identified.

The results of this examination in hand, the PMO is then ready to begin introducing the project management career-path concept for deliberation at the senior management level. Early in this effort, the PMO is attempting to gain executive level support to enable it to pursue a wider career-path examination with other influential business units. If events progress in favor of establishing this career path, the PMO will ultimately return to senior managers for final approval of the career-path structure and to obtain authority to proceed with its implementation.

Secure Human Resources Department Ownership

The HR department has been mentioned once or twice with regard to resource management within the project management environment. Establishing a career path is another area in which the HR department absolutely must be involved. Realistically, it may have to take the lead on the career-path development effort because of the personnel actions and impacts that will be encountered.

The PMO should begin its interaction with the HR department with a joint examination of the opportunities and advantages a project management career path will offer. The preliminary examination discussed earlier is a good point of departure for bringing in the HR department to the deliberation. Issues and disadvantages will naturally emerge in discussions as detailed consideration of a project management career path is undertaken. Ideally, preliminary executive support for the career-path concept will already be percolating. In some cases, the PMO can gain HR department support first, as a catalyst for senior management consideration. Ultimately, the HR department will need to "own" this pursuit, and the PMO can facilitate that ownership by expressing and demonstrating its commitment to being an involved partner in the total project management career development process.

The HR department will own the career path as a part of its personnel management function. The PMO can participate with the HR department in setting up and managing the career path, lending expertise in several areas:

• Job descriptions and responsibilities

• Skill, education, and experience requirements

• Compensation and benefits research

• Position-transition analysis and plan

• Training and certification requirements

• Travel requirements

• Location requirements

• Analysis of recruiting and retention mechanisms

• Analysis of staffing strength

In some organizations, the HR department will have to lead and guide preparation of these career-path elements and merely solicit PMO assistance or review. In others, the PMO may play a key role in their development. The essential point of this activity is to achieve HR department buy-in and participation in establishing a project management career path.

Solicit Project Manager Acceptance

Professionalism in the project management environment is characterized by the demonstrated capabilities and attitudes of the individuals charged with project performance success. Specific concepts of professionalism are sometimes said to be in the eyes of the beholder, and one beholder must be the project manger in the relevant organization.

The PMO should collaborate with all or many of the project managers that would be directly affected by the introduction of a formal career path. In a mature project management environment, these same project managers might be pursuing the PMO for the same reason: to establish professional identity within the relevant organization. In either instance, the PMO should regard project managers' input throughout the career development effort.

In particular, at the onset of the career-path development effort, the PMO will need to collaborate with project managers to convey its intentions for establishing a career structure, present its preliminary ideas and concepts, and solicit project manager participation in formulating and implementing the career-path model ultimately agreed upon by all participants — PMO, project managers, HR department, and executives. Similar to the collaboration with the HR department and executives, the PMO will want to meet with project managers to communicate the benefits and responsibilities it envisions in its preliminary career-path model. This allows individual project managers to review and respond to the preliminary model and to identify personal and organizational implications of a project management career path that they believe must be considered.

The organizational culture and its project management maturity will influence the ease of overall career-path acceptance within the project management environment. The PMO's concerted efforts in working with project managers, or a representative group, will influence individual support and acceptance of career progression concepts and considerations. The PMO needs to obtain the support and acceptance of relevant project managers in order for the career development effort to be successful.

Define Professional Advancement Model

The professional advancement model is what defines who's who in the project management environment. Knowing this facilitates project resource allocation activities, project resource task assignments, project performance measurement and reporting actions, project communication and collaboration processes, and of course project management responsibilities.

The most fundamental model is one that identifies those individuals designated as project managers within the relevant organization. If no other position is specified in the career progression model, this one position must be examined and assigned to those deemed qualified to lead project efforts. There should be a distinction regarding who is a project manager in the relevant organization. This project manager position can specify levels based on responsibility or seniority, but the designation implies one thing: that an individual is qualified to manage projects in this organization. Ideally, the organization's project manager designation also implies individual capability and pursuits within a professional discipline.

A second fundamental consideration is that of determining who are the professionals in a project management environment. This PMO function model suggests there are a variety of individuals who are involved in professional project management activities. In particular, virtually all project team members are project stakeholders in most organizations. They have direct or indirect influence and responsibility for elements of project success, and they perform work or otherwise contribute to the achievement of project objectives.

This concept can be examined with reference to the following brief considerations. Any project team member, or even other project stake-holders, may have professional project management career alignment if they:

• Participate in project planning activities: They need to convey technical expertise as well as associated identification of technical solution cost, schedules, and resource utilization.

• Prepare or compile project status or progress reports: They need to understand project status and correctly interpret conditions to properly structure report content.

• Lead or perform technical or business activities associated with projects: They need to recognize how their activities are integrated and affect project performance outcomes, and they need to be able to apply specified project performance tracking models and procedures.

• Manage resources used in the project environment: They need to know how resources are identified, assigned, and used on projects, and they need to recognize their own responsibilities for resource commitments to the project effort.

• Report to a project manager: They need to have at least a basic understanding of their reporting official's professional project management role and responsibilities.

• Hold responsibility designated in the project management methodology: They need to recognize how their contributions are integrated into the overall project management effort, and they need to apply the preferred project management practices and techniques.

• Contribute professional business expertise to project management: They need to know how and when to provide timely and meaningful input on such topics as legal advice, finance and accounting guidance, customer service management, contract management, etc.

• Hold business responsibility for project success: They need to understand fundamental concepts of modern project management as a means of evaluating project and project manager performance and applying results to business decisions.

These represent the more prominent roles in the project management environment, usually assigned to full-time or part-time members of a project team. Obviously, some roles will have more distinct and more frequent involvement in actual project management activities than others. However, the more mature organization will have a broad scope of project participants that warrant some role designation.

One exception to requiring involvement in professional project activities might include any groups of project team members designated as skilled or unskilled laborers. Participants in such groups usually are not required to pursue the professional aspects of the project management discipline. Another exception might be traditional administrative support personnel. However, this exception group should not include project and PMO administrative personnel who have distinct project support responsibilities.

Following an examination to identify the key participants, the PMO can then develop a preliminary project management career progression model to align roles and responsibilities in the project management environment. This model should represent the various preferred position designations that will be used in the relevant organization to define individual participation.

It is important that the PMO recognize that position naming conventions can be modified to meet the needs of the relevant organization. The following subsections present a suggested, first-glance consideration for the PMO to deliberate in defining and establishing professional advancement levels in the project management environment.

Entry and Support Level Positions

Every project manager has to start somewhere. The PMO can use this career level to identify professional potential and to provide basic project management skill and knowledge development. Activities at this level will prepare individuals for expanded responsibilities in project management as it provides the fundamental experience needed for progression within the project management environment.

Participants at this career level could include those with recently completed formal education who are just beginning their professional careers in a business environment. It also could include individuals with varying levels of business experience who are transitioning into a professional project management environment, or who find the project management environment growing around them. The focus of activities at this career level is on supporting project management efforts.

The following are position options at the entry and support level that the PMO can consider:

• Project assistant: Performs traditional administrative duties to include graphics design and document preparation and reproduction; schedules and arranges meeting facilities and participant attendance; maintains telephone and visitor logs; prepares and manages project correspondence and shipping of project deliverables.

• Project coordinator: Facilitates collaboration among project team members and across project teams, business units, and other project stakeholders; manages project team information and knowledge exchange, including the project team on-line knowledge space; manages project facilities, equipment, and supplies (acquisition and assignment).

• Project administrator: Monitors, receives, and compiles reports from project team members to the project manager; manages change control, project plan updates, project document storage and control, and project issues and action logs; monitors and manages project deliverable due dates, risk mitigation actions, and contractual obligations; manages customer and vendor/contractor invoices and payments.

• Project business analyst: Performs specialized project management activities such as schedule development and management, budget preparation and oversight, and resource workload management; provides project estimating and planning support and expertise; analyzes cost, schedule, and resource utilization performance and variations; contributes expertise to project management planning in areas of specialty, e.g., risk, quality, procurement, etc.

Although consolidated in this category list, the PMO should distinguish between entry level and support positions. The positions highlighted above are usually appropriate entry positions in an organization because they provide a starting role for individuals with only fundamental project management skills. Conversely, a support position designation may warrant a fully qualified individual on specific projects. In some cases, even qualified level professionals may serve in support roles on larger projects. The PMO should recognize that a support position is not necessarily a junior role on the project, and it should consider that in its development of a project management career-path model.

Qualified Level Positions

The capabilities identified above for positions at the entry and support career level are presumed for qualified project managers, who will likely perform all of those duties themselves, as needed, on small- to medium-sized projects. Therefore, they do not have to be repeated for qualified level positions. However, there are several roles at the qualified level that may warrant inclusion in the professional advancement model the PMO constructs.

The following are positions at the qualified level the PMO can consider:

• Project technical staff member: Performs technical or skilled work to achieve project objectives. Includes such roles as engineer, scientist, analyst, researcher, developer, etc.

• Technical task leader: Leads technical task efforts; supervises work of project technical staff members and ensures quality in the timely development of project deliverables.

• Project leader: Performs in a manner similar to the technical task leader, but with an emphasis on completion of essential project management actions in addition to technical performance management. This role may be assigned to lead smaller project efforts.

• Assistant project manager: Monitors and guides project and team performance; represents the project manager in meetings and communication with internal and customer managers; performs other project management activities as assigned by the project manager. An individual in this role is likely a qualified project manager but is assigned in an assistant capacity because of the size, value, or complexity of the project.

• Project manager: Conducts project management activities using preferred organizational practices and established processes contained in the project management methodology; demonstrates leadership in the project management environment; holds accountability for project cost, schedule, and resource utilization performance and the achievement of project objectives and business goals.

• Senior project manager: Performs in the same manner as the project manager but is recognized for achievement of advanced training and education credentials, extended project management experience, or demonstrated success on previous projects. As well, this professional level represents competency to oversee the larger project efforts conducted by the relevant organization.

Project team members and task leaders may be assigned to roles on multiple projects, requiring them to be effective task and time managers. Project managers and senior project managers are also likely to have multiple project responsibilities in small- to medium-sized organizations. The capability to handle this type of responsibility should be considered by the PMO when defining specific position descriptions.

Business Level Positions

Ideally, the capabilities described for the previous two levels of the project management career path are aligned with individuals serving in positions at the business level. Business level roles in project management represent a wider management perspective, usually including responsibility for oversight of multiple projects or management of large and extended project engagements. Therefore, some capability and comprehension of modern project management concepts and practices is distinctly needed. However, in some organizations, the perceived need to assign relatively senior managers to these roles sometimes precludes the completion of formal project management education and training and the associated experience gained at the qualified level.

To that end, business experience or identified individual business management potential is a prime qualifier. To be successful at the business level, qualification must include some hands-on capability and experience in understanding modern project management concepts, applying project management methods, using common project management tools and terminology, and leading project teams. As well, the PMO should recognize that technical expertise and advancement does not necessarily imply advanced project management capability.

The following are positions at the business level that the PMO can consider:

• Program manager: Manages the performance of multiple project managers, oversees multiple project performance, and lends business guidance to collections of related projects. Alternatively, a program manager may be assigned to oversee a long-term program characterized by multiple-discipline technical task performance requirements, large and evolving program/project team compositions, and usually a single customer with participation of the customer's several and diverse business units.

• Program director: Manages the performance of program managers, and possibly some project managers, usually on a regional, nation-wide, or global basis. Responsibility may focus on a product line or market segment. The director position ensures business interests are appropriately addressed in project and program technical solution deliveries and in associated customer relationships.

• PMO director: Holds responsibilities that may include those of a program director, but also includes responsibility for establishing a centralized project oversight, control, and support capability within the relevant organization. The PMO director should also demonstrate capability to manage the PMO as a separate business unit if PMO maturity and business needs warrant such an entity within the relevant organization.

The positions aligned with the business level of the project management career path are focused on (a) identifying, developing, and implementing processes and practices that enhance and expand project management effectiveness and capability within the relevant organization and (b) guiding and managing project performance to achieve strategic business objectives.

Executive Level Opportunities

Executive level project management — involving vice presidents, CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and others at the strategic decision level — is catching on. It would be nice to have a prevalent cross-industry need for chief project officers (CPOs). These do exist in some global organizations, but the term "CPO" is not widely used. Nevertheless, there is now a precedent for elevating the professional project manager to the executive levels in an organization, and the organizations that do so are also those generally at the highest levels of project management maturity.

Executives distinctly need business competencies, but they also need to understand and apply project management competencies. A home-grown vice president who emerges from the project management career path is desirable, but not essential. More important is that executives can associate their professional background and experience to the project management career ladder they are joining.

The following are positions at the executive level that the PMO can consider:

• Vice president of project management: Heads the relevant organization's project management center of competence that serves business interests on a regional, national, or global scale; lends leadership and guidance to PMO development initiatives and to the infusion of modern project management tools and practices; often holds associated responsibility for achieving strategic business objectives.

• Director of project management: Holds responsibilities and authority similar to that of vice president of project management, but is so named when an executive position cannot be established.

• Vice president of business unit operations: The project management career path should provide for cross-functional professional position opportunities. Project managers at senior levels gain tremendous business experience that, along with relevant education and training, prepares them to lead business unit operations. The PMO should examine how opportunities outside the project management environment can be introduced into the professional project management advancement model.

Executives will be introduced from within the organization and from external sources. The PMO should collaborate with current executives to develop the future roles and responsibilities of executives in the project management career path.

Construct Position Descriptions and Qualifications

The PMO, in collaboration with the HR department, will develop a preliminary structure for project management career progression using example positions presented in the previous section or using other position-title naming conventions that fit in the relevant organization. Then, for each of the positions identified, the PMO will prepare the associated position description and qualification specification.

The preparation of this position information will allow the PMO and HR department to examine and fine-tune the position titles and preferred characteristics for each position in the career path. It will enable different position levels or categories to be distinguished and delineated.

The PMO should consider the following elements in constructing position information:

• Position title: This element represents the naming convention used to identify the professional position and level, and it lends some reference to the nature of the associated role and responsibilities.

• Role and responsibilities: This element identifies the performance objectives to be achieved and suggests the nature of work to be performed. It also may include specification of the reporting official and identification of any other positions that report to this one.

• Scope of authority: This element can provide direct or indirect reference to authorities associated with the position, including consideration of authority in areas of finance and spending; staff assignment, management, and termination; contract and agreement signatory and management; and any other authority granted by the relevant organization.

• Experience requirements: This element identifies the preferred level of professional experience required to be effective in performing work associated with the position. This is usually stated in terms of years.

• Education and training requirements: This element identifies the preferred types and levels of formal and informal education and training required for this position. This is usually stated in terms of diplomas or degrees earned, but it also may include professional or technical certification requirements that must be achieved to qualify for the position.

• Salary, compensation, and benefits: This element identifies the salary range for the position. It may include a brief comparative analysis of professional salary for similar positions in the industry and within the relevant organization. This element also specifies any other compensation or benefits offered in association with the position, e.g., standard compensation package used throughout the relevant organization, business or sales commissions, stock options, retirement plan funding, bonus opportunities, education and training scholarships or assistance, etc.

As these elements for all positions in the project management career path are completed, the PMO and HR department can perform a collective review of all specified positions to ensure the continuity of progressive salary, compensation, and benefit offerings.

If individuals filling current positions in the relevant organization are to be transferred to the new career structure, the HR department also will likely need to perform a compensation analysis on each individual. This is needed to ensure that individual compensation and benefits are not lost or reduced in the transition without due consideration, and that if such decisions are made, they are based on solid business needs. As well, any potential increase or expansion in compensation or benefits resulting from implementing a new career structure should be examined to discern business interest and value.

The effort to develop a project management career path is not likely to be a secret unless extensive information safeguards are in place. Therefore, individuals in the project management environment and throughout the relevant organization likely will learn about the effort before it is officially implemented. It may be wise for the PMO and HR department to prepare and distribute appropriate information about the initiative at timely intervals during the development process. If those individuals who will be directly affected can be identified, they should receive special and more-detailed progress reports.

Integrate Career Path into the Organization

The PMO will largely turn over responsibility for career-path integration activities to the HR department, complementing its activities as needed. The following steps are presented for PMO consideration in situations where career path integration support may be needed:

• Position alignment with staffing structure: The position descriptions will provide adequate information to align positions in the project management career path with the organizational chart. This will result in identifying reporting flow, peer relationships, and business unit alignment.

• Position transition planning: The approach to how any current professional, technical, or administrative positions will transition to the new project management career structure must be deliberated and decided, and appropriate plans created to manage the effort. This includes consideration of such matters as:

  • Identification of affected individuals: A list should be created to specify whose, how many, and what types of current positions will be affected.

  • Identification of transition impacts: The known and potential impacts on individuals and on the relevant organization should be specified and accompanied by the preferred approach to reducing adverse impacts.

  • Specification of new positions: The new position to be transferred to individual members of the current staff, as well as to any imminent incoming staff, will be identified and conveyed to those individuals. In some cases, this may include a moderate or large change in the person's role and responsibilities. The time and location for conducting group and individual notification sessions should be specified.

  • Preparation for transition: This activity will accomplish required review and adjustment of personnel files and finance and accounting records, and it should be included in the transition plan.

  • Determination of transition date: A variety of factors — including such things as transition impacts, the HR department's calendar of recurring personnel events, and compensation payment schedules — should be examined to identify any primary or secondary transition dates.

  • Promotional activities: The relevant organization should identify promotional events in the transition plan. This includes such things as internal announcements, public statements and press releases, associated individual promotions, and anything else the relevant organization cares to do as an uplifting introduction of a professional project management career path.

  • Authorization of transition: The transition to a new professional project management career path is not a casual activity. To say the least, it is one that requires a business decision to explore and then a final decision to implement. The transition plan should indicate the authority that will be used, the proposed date(s) for final review and approval of the initiative, and a date to conduct career-path cutover.

• Staff notification activities: The manner and timing in which all staff, but particularly affected staff, is notified about the career-path transition should be included in the transition plan. This activity represents the execution of the associated transition plan element. It generally will include:

  • Initial, general announcement of the career-path development initiative

  • General announcement of the anticipated cutover date or time-frame

  • Group or individual notification of affected personnel (with follow-up meeting dates if not conducted individually to respond to likely inquiries at time of notification)

  • Individual review of applicable personnel and finance records by affected personnel

  • Final, general announcement of cutover date

• Initiative promotions: The types and timing of promotional activities will be specified in the transition plan. This activity represents the execution of those plan elements. The introduction of a new and robust professional project management career structure should be given appropriate pomp and ceremony, both internally and with customer and industry recognition.

• Career-path cutover: The actual career-path cutover event can be as festive or as uneventful as is appropriate within the relevant organization. A small gathering to recognize the new career structure and to congratulate individuals with new titles (and perhaps new responsibilities) is usually an appropriate activity. As well, a few other things could potentially be pursued at career-path cutover:

  • Personnel record reviews for affected personnel

  • New individual professional objectives and development plans

  • Press release or other public announcement

  • Meetings with new supervisors, as is applicable to new structure

  • New business cards for affected personnel

An effective and collaborated planning effort between the PMO and HR department will ensure a smooth and efficient transition.

Support Project Management Career Planning

The PMO can perform a vital leadership role in the project management environment by establishing capability to guide or otherwise assist individuals in their professional pursuits within the project management discipline. It can use the experience and insights of assigned managers and other resources to build this support capability.

Three primary activities are recommended for PMO consideration in defining and implementing a project management career planning support capability. These are described in the following subsections.

Provide General Career Guidance

The PMO can assist professionals by facilitating availability of career guidance activities. The larger PMO may have one or more staff members responsible for this effort on a part-time or full-time basis. Smaller and medium-sized PMOs can convene a volunteer force from among senior managers to develop and implement this capability.

The areas of project management career guidance that can be considered include:

• Career planning: Collaborating with individuals in their examination of career opportunities in project management, with reflection on role and responsibility opportunities at progressively advanced career levels. Ideally, the project management career path established by the relevant organization will provide a frame of reference, but industry standards and references also can be used to examine career opportunities. Then assistance can be provided to identify individual career objectives and to specify the actions and activities to achieve those professional pursuits. As well, individuals can be encouraged to establish a schedule for recurring review of their professional development plan, whereby they can note achievements and modify professional objectives, as needed.

• Training and education: Conveying industry and organizational standards and requirements for training and education to enable individuals to acquire preferred skill and knowledge in a learning environment. This includes examining the need for formal education that result in diplomas and degrees, continuing and advanced education and training benefits, and recognition through professional certifications, which usually adds the element of professional experience as a certificate award factor.

• Personal progress reviews: Examining the indicators of personal performance, particularly the perspectives of task supervisors regarding the demonstration of professional competencies and capabilities. This allows individuals to set a measurement point with regard to their level of professional performance, identify skill and capability gaps, and renew objectives to overcome them and continue advancement in the project management discipline.

• Career counseling: Advising project managers, project team members, and other participants in the project management environment in formulating career development objectives, defining personal educational and career development pursuits, and performing self-evaluations of progress and potential in project management. This includes developing mentor-prot g relationships that help individuals understand and meet the challenges of a professional career by providing contact with individuals who are experienced and have traveled a similar path to achieve career success.

Promote Business Skill Development

The concepts and practices of modern project management present a broad range of project management responsibilities that warrant development of business skills and knowledge. The PMO can be instrumental in helping individuals to prepare for meeting the challenges of expanding professional responsibilities, consistent with individual career pursuits and stage of professional development. This activity can be treated within the context of career guidance discussed above, but it is an area of professional development that may already be a part of the relevant organization's professional development offerings. In this case, it just has to be brought into the project management environment.

The following three subsections are critical elements of business skill development that will benefit project managers, particularly those at or approaching senior professional levels.

Strategic Perspective

Project managers need to have sufficient strategic perspective on business activities in the relevant organization and in their industry. This perspective normally seems to emerge for individuals in technical disciplines as they approach mid-career in association with appointments to early senior level positions. Some individuals are unsure what to do with newly acquired business information, while others learn how to use it aptly in their business endeavors. The latter is likely to have a professional advantage in the industry and in the relevant organization and advance at a quicker pace. The PMO should examine opportunities to infuse standard and viable business concepts and practices into its operations, where possible. It should also research the availability of business-related education and training programs, workshops and seminars, and senior level mentors that personnel in the project management environment can use to assist in professional growth.

Business Function Familiarity

Project managers need to understand business operations outside the project management environment as a fundamental requirement of professional development. Ideally, project managers will encounter opportunities for temporary cross-business unit assignments by which they can learn and enlarge their understanding of business functionality. However, even such simpler endeavors as professional reading, pursuing business education and training, and discussions with peers in other business units will provide a level of learning that will be valuable toward achieving professional career objectives.

Interpersonal Relationship Management

Project managers at all levels need to recognize the impacts of their personalities — behavior and attitude — in the business environment. Only those that have stronger personality traits that facilitate business pursuits will be effective in their business efforts and in their professional advancement. The good news is that individuals can learn accepted and proven methods for managing professional relationships and for leading teams that produce results. This is inherently needed to achieve success in the project management environment. It is mandatory to achieve success in the business world. The PMO can design such training into the career development program it creates.

Implement Career Planning Support

This activity represents an expansion of the more general career planning support highlighted earlier. Here the PMO gives consideration to establishing a more formal process to facilitate career planning. Likewise, the relevant organization may already have a professional development planning process in place, perhaps one that is used in conjunction with annual performance reviews. The PMO could ensure that project management career-path participants use it to maximize career progression advantage and opportunities.

A more formal process for career planning can include the following elements:

• Review of prior-year performance goals and achievements

• Review of prior-year education and training goals and achievements

• Preparation or update of individual career development plans

  • Initial-year career objectives

  • 3 to 5-year career objectives

  • Long-term career objectives

• Specification of review points for achievement of objectives

• Joint review of the career development plan by mentor and prot g

• Finalization of annual career development plan

• Implementation of annual career development plan

The PMO can facilitate this career planning process by using instruments already available within the relevant organization. Likewise, it can create or customize planning tools and templates for particular use within the project management environment.

Establish Professional Certification

Professional certification represents validation of individual skill, knowledge, and experience and perhaps a few other attributes required by the certifying body. The certifying body is usually an external professional or educational institution that has vested interest in the advancement of project management or an aligned discipline. However, more and more, organizations are developing their own project management certification programs to qualify individual competency. This is usually done in addition to external professional certification, but in some cases an organization will have only the internal program as the official and primary pursuit.

Two primary activities associated with PMO involvement in professional project management certification are presented in the following subsections.

Develop Project Management Certification Program

Certification of professionals within the project management environment is an excellent way to ensure a consistent level of project management performance within the relevant organization. Certification is based on standards selected by the PMO to guide the development and implementation of project management concepts and practices. Those same standards may often be used to measure and manage individual professional growth and capability within the project management environment. A certification program, at a minimum, provides a snapshot at a point in time of individual qualification to perform all or portions of the job at hand. If the certification requires follow-on updates, or recertification at intervals, that snapshot is extended across time to add even more validity to individual competency.

Project management certification is a program that should be a priority for PMOs at all stages of maturity. Project management certification programs come in two primary forms: external certification and internal certification. The PMO can consider the benefits of each as a prerequisite to defining the type of certifications that will be pursued within the relevant organization. In some organizations, both forms of certification are used. The external certification serves to obtain a third-party validation of professional competency, usually based on examination of individuals against widely accepted standards. An internal certification program allows the PMO to consider industry-specific issues as well as applicable organizational and business interests. A brief discussion on each form of professional certification follows.

External Professional Certification

The concept of external certification in the context of this PMO function deals with verification, validation, or confirmation of professional or technical capability and related characteristics and credentials by an independent institution. It does not refer to certificates or "certification" resulting from the completion of training.

The PMO will want to consider recommending or mandating individual professional certification in project management using an established independent examination and certification body. In particular, the Project Management Professional (PMP ) certification program developed and administered by the Project Management Institute (PMI ) is a widely accepted, internationally recognized certification program. The PMP designation lends validation and confirmation to individual project management knowledge and experience. It represents a third-party, cross-industry program that applies the principles and practices contained in PMI's A Guide to The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ). Other examples of institutions that provide certification programs related to project management include the Gartner Institute, Gartner certified associate programs; the Association for Project Management (UK), Project Management Capability Test (PCT); and the Singapore Computer Society (Singapore), National IT Skills Certification Programme.

A few benefits from selecting and implementing an external certification program include:

• Reference to globally available project management standards

• Access to an established and validated certification process

• Application of an established and widely used competency measurement capability

• Independent confirmation of individual certification credentials

• External management of certification administration

Using an external certification program for professionals in the project management environment provides recognition of individual achievement and contributes to an enhanced perception, if not distinctly demonstrated, competency within the relevant organization.

Internal Professional Certification

Internal certification usually deals with validating individual achievement of specified criteria, which may include some combination of training, demonstration of performance, testing or measurement of competency, and experience. An internal certification program will normally monitor progress and confirm individual accomplishments toward certification based on achievement of all criteria.

The PMO involved in developing and managing an internal professional certification program will likely do so in collaboration with the HR or training department, which provides capability in defining required competency levels, constructing competency measurements, and administering such programs. The PMO can contribute to this effort in the following areas:

• Define relevance of certification: Specify what the certification will do for the individual and how it will benefit the relevant organization, e.g., satisfy a business requirement, increase opportunity for advancement, qualify for a position, enable expansion of responsibility, etc.

• Specify certification program target group: Identify who should pursue certification as a mandatory or optional activity. Identify who will be authorized to enter into the program and who will be authorized certification upon completion.

• Determine certification program implementation approach: Examine impacts and determine how the certification program will be implemented to account for individual completion time limits or constraints, multiple and repeat attempts, options for any "grandfather" clause if the program is mandatory, and whether or not there is an official program registration process.

• Construct certification criteria: Determine the skill, knowledge, and performance objectives to be achieved by individuals, as well as any other business or professional qualifications (e.g., experience, tenure, career level, manager recommendation, etc.) required for individual participation.

These activities help to develop an internal certification program. They are also valid points of consideration for introducing external certification programs.

A few benefits from developing and implementing an internal certification program include:

• Internal control of the certification criteria and process

• Specification of certification criteria that have direct alignment with business interests and strategic objectives

• Incorporation of qualifications for advancement consistent with existing programs within the relevant organization

• Ability to consider and include multiple standards as the basis of certification

The PMO will need to carefully consider the relevant organization's commitment to any internal project management certification program. It is better to pursue an external certification program than to develop an unprofessional, uninspiring, or underused internal certification program. Perhaps the organization would prefer to consider simply establishing some competency criteria in lieu of a full-blown certification program. The PMO also might want to consider and recommend an internal program that complements an existing external certification program for implementation within the relevant organization.

Facilitate Technical and Professional Certification

The PMO will likely operate from a particular industry or technical-discipline frame of reference (e.g., information technology, pharmaceuticals, construction and engineering). It is appropriate, then, for the PMO to provide or support the pursuit of technical and professional certification opportunities by individuals within the project management environment. These certification programs provide considerable value to the relevant organization, and the PMO should promote, endorse, and recognize them as accomplishments within the project management environment.

The following is a list of some of the actions the PMO can initiate to help individuals in the project management environment achieve certification:

• Provide training courses and programs that help individuals to achieve the skill and knowledge required for certification

• Conduct or arrange for technical study groups; provide meeting facilities, primary and guest speakers and instructors, and equipment access for participating individuals

• Incorporate technical or professional certification in professional development objectives, and recognize individual achievements in performance reports and appraisals

• Conduct public recognition of individuals who have achieved relevant and specified technical and professional certification — internal and public announcements and news articles, awards ceremonies, bonus or other rewards programs, salary increase, increased eligibility for promotion or advancement, etc.

The project management environment will benefit through enlivened technical discussions and by PMO encouragement for pursuit of individual technical and professional certification.