The 14th edition of its Pulse of the Profession report by the Project Management Institute (PMI), reveals consensus around the most critical power skills: communication, problem-solving, collaborative leadership, and strategic thinking.
As noted in the PMI Talent Triangle, power skills are a critical skill set for project professionals to navigate the changing world of work and embrace smarter ways of working.
Organisations sufficiently tapping into power skills, in addition to technical skills and business acumen, can expect to be better at handling complex project challenges, market changes, technological adoptions, and socioeconomic pressures.
The survey found that organisations placing a high priority on power skills tend to perform better against multiple key drivers of success. 72% of their projects successfully met business goals, only 28% of their projects experienced scope creep, and they experienced less budget loss (17%) when a project failed.
In addition, organisations prioritising power skills are approximately three times more likely to report high benefits realization management maturity, which is the number one key driver of success for projects identified in the research.
Also, they are two times more likely to report high project management maturity, and approximately three times more likely to report high organisational agility.
And while nine out of ten project professionals agree that power skills help them work smarter, organisations face challenges in prioritising the development of power skills. In fact, the report cites cost as the number one barrier to developing power skills, followed by a lack of perceived value. Further to this, project professionals said they spend 46% of their professional development hours on technical skills and only 29% on power skills.
“Our organisation is committed to empowering project professionals to develop the most robust set of skills to keep pace and create impact,” said Pierre Le Manh, president and chief executive officer of PMI.
“Technical skills and business acumen will always be important in project management, but this research shows that to drive the best project outcomes possible, organisations and project leaders must prioritise the development of power skills, too.”
Perre Le Manh
