Abstract
Often when addressing the subject of competitiveness, the phase, “Our people are our most valuable asset,” is frequently heard as executives try to emphasize the value of their employees and their contribution to the organization’s competitive position. However, in his book Good to Great, (Collins, 2001, p. 51) Jim Collins presents a different view of that common phrase. Collins comments that people are not a company’s most valuable asset, the right people are. To take it one step further, it’s the right, people with the right skills, in the right positions that become the most valuable assets. In order to be competitive, companies need skilled workers, who know their jobs and can do the work for which they have been trained.
Toward this end, organizations need to treat their investments in people as a business strategy. They need to adopt a variety of competency development tools from traditional classroom training to web-based e-learning. Executives need to emphasize how to accomplish effective knowledge transfer and skills management. The first part of this paper will discuss some of the issues with typical training programs and why structure is important in dealing with issues. The second part will discuss the basic concept of coaching and mentoring as a tool to most effectively transfer classroom knowledge to the work environment.
Introduction
In dynamic project-oriented organizations, successful project performance hinges on personal and professional performance. Companies spend thousands of dollars every year on training programs in the hopes of developing and enhancing project manager and team member skills—often to be disappointed in the outcome. Why? Is it because project managers are incapable of being trained? If companies were honest with themselves, they would clearly see that the project managers are typically not the problem. Often the major problem is unrealistic expectations on the part of management. Sending someone to a two or three-day course on how to be a good project manager is just the starting point.
Project managers and team members often return from a training session only to ask themselves, “Now what? How do I make this work?” It is management’s responsibility to ensure that mechanisms are in place so they can make it work. Providing support that facilitates the transfer of new knowledge and skills to the workplace does not have to be complex or expensive.
Best practice dictates that in order to maximize the learning process and accelerate the implementation of new knowledge and skills, additional coaching and mentoring focused on skill application is required. Coaching and mentoring simply refers to a skilled experienced mentor working with individual project managers or project teams to help them apply new skills acquired through classroom-based or self-direct learning to the work environment.
Training is a Business Strategy
A survey of 1,000 employers, educators, and researchers published in the July 2004 issue of Workforce Magazine, revealed that between 80 to 90 % of those surveyed believed that for companies to be competitive, the future workforce will need to be competent in several skills that are considered to be “advanced.” (Workforce Magazine, 2004) The five specific skills discussed were:
- Ability to change
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Using technology effectively
- Critical thinking and decision making.
It is often around these skills that many training and professional development programs are structured.
One way to enhance competitive advantage is to ensure that all professional development activities are aligned with the organization’s strategic business and technology plans. Because the business environment is constantly changing, companies need to adapt as well. Organizations cannot continue to commit resources to inefficient, inflexible structures and processes. Static structures and processes can result in a “death spiral.” The death spiral results from committing resources to old processes that are not as efficient as they could be. Therefore, results are not delivered as expected because of the inefficient processes. To overcome these problems, additional resources are applied drawing them away from other work to be accomplished, creating additional problems, thereby continuing the downward spiral toward failure.
Many of the problems within an enterprise are process-oriented and some are cultural. Regardless of the source, managers and leaders need to seek out objective data that challenges existing strongly entrenched organizational beliefs and cultures. Then, where appropriate, they need to change the underlying beliefs and cultures that hinder the implementation of new knowledge into the company’s business practices.
Technology changes more rapidly today than ever before. As new technology becomes available, organizations need to adjust to new opportunities. In order to take advantage of those changes, the enterprise must have a trained and skilled work force. From a training perspective, more and more companies are taking advantage of technology changes by moving toward web-based or E-learning as the primary means of continually developing employee skills.
The truth is everyone brings to the enterprise a set of skills and competencies that are generally aligned with their own personal desires and interests, all of which may not be fully aligned with the organization’s interests. Most professional development programs have been established to focus on overcoming a team member’s weaknesses and are based on two fundamentally flawed assumptions: (1) everyone can learn to be competent in almost anything, and (2) a person’s greatest potential for growth is in the areas where they are the weakest. (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001, p. 7) Theoretically, an individual’s most significant weaknesses may appear to be the greatest opportunity for growth. However, closing that skill gap may not generate the desired return on investment, either financially or professionally. Consider an engineer who is assigned to be a project manager so the engineer can “broaden his or her horizons” and be provided them career-stretching opportunities. It just so happens that this engineer is an introvert that really gets excited about discovering new things and conducting experiments. This engineer is more comfortable in a laboratory than leading a team-building session and is really competent in what they do. Where is this person more likely to add real value to the enterprise?
Or what about a person who has difficulty learning to play a musical instrument no matter how hard they try? Is it because they are stupid? No! It’s possible that they simply have difficulty differentiating musical notes or cannot carry a tune when trying to sing. Some people have great difficulty with facts and figures or cannot think strategically because their personality is such that they are very detail-oriented. No matter how hard he or she tries, this employee may never become skilled in all areas within an organization. It’s not impossible for an individual that is competency-challenged to become competent, it just may take more time and effort than a company is willing to invest.
These flawed assumptions manifest themselves several different ways within most organizations, often driven by the organization’s internal policies and procedures. Companies spend more money on training employees after they have been hired then they do on making sure their new hire is the right person with the right skills. As a result, time and money are spent on trying to correct skill gaps. Another indicator is the over emphasis on developing and enforcing rules, policies, and procedures that dictate how people are to behave and conduct their day-to-day activities instead of trusting that the employee has the ability and knowledge to do what needs to be done.
According to Marcus Buckingham (Buckingham & Clifton, 2001, pp.5-6) only about 20% of employees working in large organizations feel that they are using the skills and competences that they view as their strengths on a daily basis. This conclusion was based on survey data from the Gallop Organization which included about 1.7 million employees from 101 companies in 67 countries. Consider the number of engineers in non-engineering positions or the number of nurses and medical professionals that are placed in managerial or administrative roles. In addition, the longer an employee stays with a company, the higher one rises in the organization, and the greater the requirement to have a broader understanding of how the entire enterprise operates. As a result, that person is the least likely to use their areas of strength on a daily basis. Perhaps this explains why so many companies struggle to be competitive— too many people are in the wrong jobs or have not been properly trained for the position to which they have been promoted or assigned.
There have been several books published discussing project management competencies as a way of guiding professional development programs and helping organizations determine the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that demonstrate excellent performance in a particular work context (job role, position, or function.) Talents, skills, and knowledge are three interrelated components. Talents are those innate abilities which most people are born with. These are often referred to as our gifts. Skills are what we develop over time through practice and hard work. Knowledge is simply the acquisition and categorization of information and data. All three elements work closely together so that if one area changes, one or both of the others will be affected. However, all competency elements are directly affected by the attitude of the employee. No matter what an employee’s skill level is, the overall attitude is the most significant factor affecting performance. Competencies apply to every level and position of project management and organizational leadership. Exhibit 1 illustrates the competency triangle and the relationship these elements.
Exhibit 1 – Competency triangle
Project management competencies have been grouped and structured into many categories. What it comes down to though, is that project managers need to be competent in five basic skills:
- Accomplishing objectives—Making timely and effective decisions and producing results through appropriate planning and project execution. This skill includes things such roles, responsibilities, authority and accountability, risk management, problem solving, and technical competence.
- Leading teams—Designing and implementing strategies that maximizes team member potential and fosters high ethical standards in meeting the corporation’s vision, mission, and goals. This also includes, through the application of effective processes for team building and team member development, situational leadership, conflict management, equal opportunity standards, and professionalism.
- Facilitating change—Developing and implementing processes and practices that integrate key organizational goals, project priorities, corporate values, and other environmental factors. Inherent to effective change management is the ability to balance change while maintaining some degree of stability and creating a work environment that encourages creating thinking and self-motivation. Facilitating changes include fostering creativity and innovation, strategic and systems thinking, being aware of internal and external conditions, and flexibility in the face of uncertainty.
- Managing stakeholders—Communicating facts and ideas in a convincing manner and negotiating with internal and external stakeholders in order to clearly explain and express project information and gain advocacy for project success. Stakeholder management includes skills in the areas of influencing and negotiation, “partnering,” political awareness, and verbal and written communication.
- Managing resources—Acquiring and administering human, financial, material, and information resources in a timely manner that establishes stakeholder confidence, builds trust, accomplishes the organization’s mission, and leverages new technology.
Depending on the overall purpose of the training and the competency level required, time and effort are critical. Companies often make the mistake of assuming that because a team member has been introduced to a project management concept has attended a four-hour overview session, that person should then be qualified to teach project management to someone else.
Competencies required to be successful at one level of responsibility are not the same as those required for another level; nor are these skills static within each professional level. For example, professional competency needs to be assessed against a continuum. For example, team member/team lead at one end and portfolio/program manager at the other with different levels of project managers between them. Several organizations have developed their own internal competency models to assess competency levels as a performance review and promotion tool. An excellent example of how a competency model has been applied and integrated into career progression decisions is the U.S. Navy’s 5 Vector Competency Model. (U.S. Navy, 2004)
Most competency models present conceptual ways to identify the knowledge, skills, abilities, and tool proficiency needed to be successful. They help to determine the training, continuing education, and the competency level required in several common areas of expertise so that the project manager can progress to the next level.
Exhibit 2 illustrates a basic competency model representing five common elements or areas of expertise.
Exhibit 2 – Five Element Competency Model
Typical areas of expertise are:
1. Professional skills—Skills and level of expertise required to be competent in a chosen profession or career field.
2. Personal skills—Skills that are necessary to communicate and interact effectively with others as well as making each team member and employee a “well rounded” person.
3. Corporate vision & leadership—Skills that enable project members to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, and decision makers. These skills are required to go beyond the immediate situation and see the “big picture” considering what is best for the enterprise as a whole.
4. Qualifications/Certifications—Those qualifications and certifications which are necessary to better perform on the job and that directly relate to job. Non-job related certifications and qualifications would be more appropriately addressed in the area of personal skills.
5. Job Performance—Competencies that are used to measure overall performance, taking into account the ability to fulfill the skill requirements defined in the other four areas.
Employees and project members should be promoted based on job performance, what they are qualified to do, and what they know. Remember: availability in not a skill set.
In 1956 Benjamin Bloom and his co-workers established a six-level hierarchy of educational objectives, which is generally referred to as Bloom’s Taxonomy, and which attempts to divide knowledge-based into categories ranging from the simplest behavior to the most complex. (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956.) Bloom’s taxonomy (1989) is still considered a fundamental principle in all educational programs. A more simplistic way to look at how skills are acquired and transferred to the work environment is to consider five basic steps:
Step 1: Recognition—When presented with a concept and its related terminology, the terms can be related and linked to their related concepts.
Step 2: Understanding—The major elements of a concept can be explained and communicated clearly.
Step 3: Self-Assessment—A concept is integrated into one’s way of thinking and evaluated as to how it might help them improve their performance.
Step 4: Skill Practice—Trying out a new skill, knowledge or behavior in a non-threatening environment prior to attempting it in an actual job-related situation
Step 5: On-the-job Application— Actually using the know skills or knowledge day to day in the work environment.
Steps 1 through 4 are generally easy to accomplish in a traditional learning environment, but Step 5 is very difficult to accomplish. As a result, many organizations would question the benefits gained from the training. The major disconnect between steps 4 and 5 occurs because companies generally do not have an appropriate process in place which facilitates the effective implementation of new knowledge and skills.
The best way to ensure that knowledge gained in the training environment is to establish a balanced approach to learning and applying new skills. Not everyone learns the same way. Some prefer to do self study and learn on their own, others want to be shown. Some people prefer traditional classroom instruction; others prefer a web-based E-learning approach. Over the years, academic and educational research has shown that the most effective learning takes place when a balanced approach is taken that utilizes a variety of learning approaches and appeals to a number of learning styles. A balanced approach to training reinforces the training.
However, regardless of the training technology used, one area that is consistently overlooked and is perhaps the most critical to the effective application of training is on-the-job coaching and mentoring which reinforces skills in a real-work, practical environment.
Taking Learning into the Workplace
Management needs to create an environment that doesn’t punish failure but encourages continued learning. This does not mean that you are giving total freedom to fail, but are providing latitude to learn. One of the best resources is a good coach and mentoring program. Coaches and mentors may work with more than one project manager or team member who is engaged in learning a new skill or method. They may also employ several learning resources that provide reinforcement and application opportunities.
The project manager or team member needs to take advantage of all available learning resources. It is their responsibility to be proactive and look for opportunities. However, new skills will never be applied if one is unwilling or afraid to take risks. It is important to try a variety of learning styles to balance learning and knowledge acquisition.
Effective on-the-job application can only take place if everyone in the organization can fully understand what their individual strengths and weaknesses are. Not everyone can be the best in everything. From a project management perspective, project managers need to have broad knowledge of many business, leadership, and technical processes, but they don’t need to be the experts. They do need to be able to see the big picture and integrate these multiple elements in order to make good decisions. Because training is typically provided in the areas of greatest weakness, it is these areas where coaching and mentoring may be needed the most.
The concepts of transferring learning into the work environment and the use of coaching and mentoring as an effective tool have been addressed throughout this paper. However, exactly what coaching and mentoring is and is not has yet to be discussed. Let’s first focus on what coaching and mentoring is not. A good coach and mentor does not give advice that is not requested or that is not necessary for the situation at hand. The role of a coach or mentor is to ask challenging questions to cause the project manager to be able to think for themselves. Coaches and mentors need to be careful that they are not constantly looking for and focusing on mistakes. They need to balance correcting mistakes with identifying and recognizing positive behaviors. Coaches and mentors should not try to solve every problem that arises. Usually the best way for someone to learn how to apply a knowledge or skill is to allow them to “fail” and use the potential consequences to control the “latitude to learn.” Obviously, some work situations leave no room for failure, but not every situation is critical. Being a coach or mentor does not mean that the person you are working with gets special treatment. It is important to continue to maintain a culture of fairness and equity. Remember, others are observing the interaction. Also, don’t ignore the “why” questions. Everyone has heard the young child ask the never-ending “why?” questions. This is how children learn to conceptualize, further their understanding and integrate concepts into the view of the world. Project managers and team members also need to be allowed to ask the “why” questions.
Coaching and mentoring requires good listening skills. It is not solely hearing the words, but trying to put those words into context. It’s not only listening to what is being said, but what is not being said. Understanding of the overall context in which any questions or concerns are being addressed will establish a basis for providing good timely performance feedback. The project manager or team member being coached is, in the broadest sense, a customer. Just as project managers are told to establish trust and confidence in their customers and focus on relationship building, coaches and mentors need to establish a relationship built on trust. Through the trust and confidence that that has been created, it is much easier to confront a project manager’s decision or to explore other approaches for solving a problem in a manner the challenges but is not threatening.
So what is the right amount of support a coach and mentor should provide? To use a common project management phrase, “it depends.” Coaching and mentoring can range anywhere from being a formally structured enterprise-wide program to a more situational approach. An enterprise-wide program may have a handbook or guide that is used throughout the entire organization where project managers at certain levels have an assigned coach or mentor. The other end of the spectrum is more situational with any coaching and mentoring being conducted to address a specific weakness or need of the project manager.
Exhibit 3 – Coaching and Mentoring Spectrum
Most coaching and mentoring will be somewhere inbetween. Typically an agreement between a project manager and the coach/mentor is established with desired objectives being defined. The relationship is one that may include planned training sessions or discussions with pre-planned tasks that need to be addressed or to address performance areas in which the project manager wants to improve.
Regardless of how a coaching and mentoring program is structured and implemented, a key component is to create and use a learning contract. A learning contract is an agreement between the coach/mentor and the project manager who is being coached. The initial starting point is to clearly understand the enterprise and business unit objectives that need to be met. After all, these are the underlying reasons why someone was sent to training in the first place?
A discussion needs to occur between the project manager and the coach/mentor regarding the desired learning outcomes of the coaching sessions, based on the assessed strengths and weakness of both parties. It’s possible that the coach or mentor may not have all of the skills to help the project manager with whom they are working and may need to identify additional resources.
Together the coach/mentor and the project manager can develop a plan for how the project manager will apply the new skill on the job, how performance will be measured, and any other aspects to their relationship.
Project managers never go into a project with the intention of failing. All project managers want to be successful. One of the best ways to help them to be successful is ensure that they have access to be supportive, trusting, and confident coaches and mentors who are champions and advocates for the project manager and the company.
Coaches and managers need to be experienced. They need to know how to be a coach, know what behaviors to look for, and be able to assess those behaviors in light of the enterprise goals and objectives. They need to be good communicators and understand when to ask questions, what questions to ask, and when to remain quiet. This may not be easy. They need to be available to the project manager. It will not benefit anyone if the project manager cannot get access to the coach/mentor or if the coach/mentor is not available. And above all, coaches and mentors need to be risk takers themselves. They need to be willing to let the person they are coaching make mistakes. They also need to be willing to do whatever is necessary to help the project managers with whom they are working be successful.
Conclusion
In this ever-changing business environment, all organizations must remember that the collective knowledge and skills of the individual team members provide an organization’s only source of sustainable competitive advantage. Unless the corporation can effectively use the talents, knowledge, and skills of everyone in the organization, regardless of position, functions, or geographic location it will be difficult to accomplish strategic and operational goals.
Management has the responsibility to create a corporate culture that nurtures a positive learning and sharing environment. In a competency-based organization, managers have the responsibility to ensure that employees are provided with opportunities to receive appropriate training and access to internal and external resources that contribute to the knowledge and skills necessary for them to deliver results.
Experience has shown that coaching and mentoring focused on skill application is required when an enterprise wants to maximize the learning process and accelerate the implementation of the new knowledge and skills.
Regardless of what the organization does, it is the project managers who ultimately have the responsibility to take advantage of available opportunities. They have to be proactive in finding opportunities that contribute to their ability to improve their own and their organization’s performance.