The Dreyfus scale of expertise, from Level One to Level Five, is well established scientifically and is widely used. Lia DiBello, CEO of WTRI, and a published cognitive scientist, has studied the phenomenon of expertise as it manifests in project managers, through interviews and behavioral studies in a wide range of practitioners. She has clearly demonstrated that the key distinguishing behaviors with Level Five accomplished veterans is that they manage stakeholders well, and they know who the “real” stakeholder is. They manage projects in such a way as to provide the hoped for business benefits, even if the project plan, strictly executed, would not do that. They know when to make changes and have the ability to sell the changes to stakeholders. When difficulties arise – even major ones – they are able to look at these events as opportunities for greater results rather than as insurmountable problems or risks to be avoided.
Relationship management, leadership, and a laser focus on business benefits – these are the competencies that separate the best from the rest.
And this comes as no surprise, against the backdrop of the Seven Keys To Success. The most critical dimensions relate to Stakeholder Commitment, Business Benefit Realization, and creating a High Performing Team.
Here’s the rub, though. Most PM training focuses on planning, tracking, and containing scope.
Appropriate behaviors for Level 3 PM expertise. Unfortunately, somewhere between irrelevant and counter-intuitive to Level 5 performance.
So the question is: what are companies doing to develop the most important competencies in those who lead their most important projects and programmes?
Perhaps the answer sheds a different light on why we still can’t seem to get beyond a failure rate of 60-70% of projects.
