Articles

Benefits of Professional Development

Maybe it’s my memory playing tricks on me, but it seems like, before Covid, there were more companies that were paying for professional development for their project managers.  Now, I understand that budgets change, and during the height of Covid global economies were struggling, to say the least.  It’s a natural response for companies tighten their belts and streamline expenses in these circumstances, but it can also be one of the worst times to put your employees in a situation where they don’t have the resources to deal with a rapidly changing environment.  If your company hasn’t already, it might be time to start having conversations about supporting professional development in key areas.

Supporting professional development is one of the signs that your company is moving out of crisis mode and starting to think strategically.  Project managers are often the people who help drive change in an organization; these are the people you want to be out of crisis mode and ready to support growth strategies BEFORE the opportunity arises.  Here are some ideas for how to support a project manager’s professional development:

• Pay for PMI membership.
• Pay for training.
• Pay for or incentivize certification.
• Pay for registration for project management and pm-adjacent events.
  • Encourage participation in events – conferences, networking, and service opportunities.  It doesn’t have to be about money; there are free activities where you can show your support by allowing your project managers to use company time for professional development.  
  • If your company doesn’t have policies against this, you can also allow employees to use company time for events they’ve paid for.  Don’t make your employees pay for a $5,000 training class that you will benefit from and then grace them with company time: that’s not what I’m saying.  But, if you don’t have budget for training that the company will benefit from, that an employee wants to attend and is willing to pay for, don’t make the employee use vacation time to attend the training.  

Don’t just throw money at your project managers, though.  If you’re not one of the few companies that realizes some benefit simply by having employees with specific certifications, there are things you can do to make sure you’re investing wisely and increase the impact of the professional development:

• Have project managers prepare and give presentations on what they learned at luncheons, conferences, and training classes.
• Discuss potential changes that can be implemented, once something new is learned and shared, and have the project manager put together an action plan to implement it.
• Provide cross-training and mentoring opportunities across organizations within the company.

Somewhere, somebody is thinking, “What’s in it for me?”  What are the potential benefits of supporting professional development?  Here's a few:

• Enhanced capabilities and quality of work.
• Employees prepared and motivated for important changes.
• Increased leadership skills.
• Improved ability to prevent project failures.
• It can be a small investment that demonstrates your commitment to your employees and their future.

I could go on, but I don’t want to lose your attention by overselling the benefits.  The point is that you have people whose primary job is to make sure change happens effectively.  It will only be to your benefit if you make sure they have what they need to do their job well and can quickly adapt to changing circumstances, to make sure the company's needs are met.

While not a Utah native, Aaron Porter raised his kids here and enjoys the sense of community he's found in Utah.  He maintains an on-again, off-again relationship with his blog on projectmanagement.com where he also participates in discussions on project management topics.  This is Aaron’s second time on the PMINUC Board of Directors; his first time was from 2010-2012 as VP of Education.  In between board positions, Aaron enjoyed volunteering as a project manager mentor, in the chapter and with other non-profits.  He’s contemplating finishing up his current term on the board, in 2024, and then focusing on his writing and getting published.