Supporting project management in the public sector

The challenges faced by project professionals in the public sector - whether that be local government, transformation programmes or the NHS - are often complicated and require careful management.  Providing efficient and effective products and services, which are typically complex and expensive, whilst managing public funding and demonstrating transparency and value to stakeholders, is no easy task. Similarly, transforming the way you deliver these services, within constrained budgets, can also be a very real challenge.

But you already know that. What you might not be aware of, is that the APM has a new Competence Framework that can support development and improve project management skills across your organisation.

The new framework has been designed to be a comprehensive benchmarking resource for the profession.  It’s the product of extensive research and consultation with project professionals, including a large scale survey, telephone interviews and practitioner workshops.  It has been developed to support the expanding profession and the roles within it, not just project management, but specifically programme and portfolio management and Project Management Office roles.

For staff and management working in the public sector, it can help you:

Analyse individual skill sets by

• Detailing the competences required for 14 specific project professional roles covering project, programme, portfolio and PMO roles
• Providing an assessment tool that can be carried out by individuals through self-assessment, by line managers, or through 360 degree assessment
• Identifying individual strengths or development needs for large projects

Identify organisational skills gaps by

• Demonstrating the differences between the professional body benchmark and the skills within your organisation
• Enabling you to pinpoint the requirements for filling those gaps, building them in to professional development plans and activities

Create teams and demonstrate value to stakeholders by

• Having a common language across the organisation regarding competence
• Providing common goals for personal and team development
• Identifying ‘go to’ people with strengths in key areas, to support learning and development
• Demonstrating to public sector stakeholders that you have the right skills in the right jobs

Finally, the competences are outcome focused, in other words, they have been written in terms of what the practitioner actually needs to be able to do, making them ideal to support training and development initiatives. You can see this for yourself by reviewing a free download of the competences.

If you are interested in attending our Competence Framework webinar for public sector organisations on Wednesday 15th July at 12:00, book here. You can discover more about how the full package of assessment materials including the 14 role profiles– available under licence from APM - can help you and your organisation.