6 Tips on Ways to Develop Project Management Skills
Project Management is one of the fastest growing fields of expertise.
PM applies in almost every industry. That makes it a really interesting career choice. Success in Project Management can also provide a fast track to prestige.
Here are 6 ways to develop your PM Skills and enhance your career:
1. Individual Learning Plans
People come to PM from all sorts of backgrounds and industries with all sorts of directly and indirectly relevant skills.
Starting with an individually tailored learning plan will help you to identify your strengths and existing skills and where the gaps are in your knowledge and where you should focus your energy in training. A quality individual learning plan will include accredited and non-accredited training, mentoring, work placements and AIPM accreditation (Australian Institute of Project Management).
2. Accredited Training
The simplest way to develop the skills and knowledge you need to become a PM is to enrol in PM Training.
If you have no experience in PM, courses such as Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Project Management provide the essential theory and knowledge that you need to enter a PM position. These qualifications are pre-cursors to admittance to an AIPM certification in RegPM (Registered Project Manager). For those with experience you can work with an assessor to identify and recognise your current skills and develop a pathway to completing qualifications.
3. Non-Accredited Training
It's not all about the 'hard' PM skills such as scheduling, budgeting and preparing Gantt Charts. Much of the success of modern PM's comes through additional or general management skills such as the ability to engender team spirit, communicate with all kinds of people and instill a customer service philosophy.
Non-accredited training in some communications and management skills will place aspiring PM's in good stead to be highly sought after by employers and clients.
4. On-the-job experience
It's not until you get out into the field that the skills and knowledge learnt in classrooms are really tested.
Certainly, the best training courses are those that offer practical examples for students to learn from - but there's no better way to learn than by doing it yourself. A good learning program should include on-the-job experience alongside classroom learning to help transfer knowledge and enhance understanding of the application of theory in the real world. Voluntary work experience is just as valuable as paid employment to growing your experience.
5. Coaching
There are many PM's who have been around a long time and have created many 'tricks of the trade' that are difficult to learn from a book or classroom. We recommend finding an experienced PM to coach you through and supplement your learning
6. Personal research
Project management is a fast-growing and rapidly evolving field of study.
To keep ahead of the game, to remain apace with technology and trends, smart PM's will adopt a commitment to ongoing personal research and study to supplement their knowledge. Regularly read industry publications, attend industry events and expos, browse specialist project management websites and participate in blogs to participate in the dialogue that influences the industry.
Michael Young is an award-winning project management consultant, trainer and assessor and is the Managing Director of Transformed Pty Ltd. Transformed works with individuals to develop their project management skills and with organisations to enhance their program delivery and strategic implementation capabilities. Additionally Transformed offers accredited qualifications in building and construction, procurement and contract management. Michael can be contacted at http://www.transformed.com.au
Check out Michael's other articles at: http://www.transformed.com.au/media/articles.html
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