Why Most PM Training Fails in AEC Firms – And Why It’s Not HR’s Fault

At the Engineering Management Institute, we get contacted by HR professionals regularly asking for us to help their organizations with, “PM training.” Usually, this request is prompted by a directive that came out of a strategic planning effort or a goal of improving project delivery and profitability, or they simply want PM training because their executive team has seen some financial losses that they attribute to poor project management. Either way, the HR professional contacting us isn’t usually given more information than that, making it very difficult for them to lead what we think is the most important initiative for an AEC firm looking to grow, a sound Project Management Development Program (PMDP).

HR professionals are asked to do many things for their organizations, including talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, employee relations and discipline, compliance and policy management, performance management, employee well-being, and training and development. Tasking them with a PM development program is not a fair request for many reasons, one of them being that they don’t have a background in delivering and managing AEC projects, making it very difficult for them to understand what is needed to build a sustainable program that works.

Why PM Bootcamps and Internal Programs Keep Falling Short

What tends to happen is that, due to limited resources, including their time and the budget provided to them, HR professionals need to pull together an internal PM training program on a shoestring budget, or they will send a group of project managers to an external bootcamp. There are many problems with this approach including:

• The HR professional usually gets very little help from project managers because the company doesn’t want them to sacrifice their billable hours.
• The programs are short and very topical in nature because the organization doesn’t want its project managers spending too many unbillable hours in training.
• Sessions tend to be generic because project managers in their organization work on so many different types of projects that it’s hard to cover all of their needs in one short training session.
• Participants suffer from information overload, especially if the training is an all-day bootcamp format. The content may be great, but it’s too much to handle and digest all at once.
• Due to all of the reasons above, very little action is taken to transfer what was learned back to the job.

What AEC Firms Actually Need from PM Development

Instead of providing a check-the-box PM training, what AEC firms really need is a solution that provides real learning transfer, more consistent project management efforts firm-wide, and a program that scales as their company grows.

To achieve these targets, the program should be delivered in bite-sized pieces using a theory called spaced repetition so your project managers can learn a concept and then apply it before they learn the next one. There should also be assignments tied back to real projects your project managers are working on.

What a novel idea, to provide hands-on learning experiences! I know it sounds like we’re back in elementary school, but it works.

A Proven Path Forward (Without Overloading Your Best PMs)

There is a solution to this problem that the Engineering Management Institute has been helping AEC firms implement for years: design and deliver a scalable PM ecosystem that fuels growth, one that ensures consistent delivery, drives profitability, and attracts and retains top PM talent. HR professionals are key to making it happen.

This PM ecosystem goes beyond simply training and prompts actions that will support sustainable PM development including:

• Defining clear PM roles and career pathways
• Assessing strengths and gaps with the right tools
• Aligning PM development programs with career trajectories, considering the different growth stages of PMs
• Standardizing tools, templates, and onboarding for consistency

About the Author:

Join me and some of my colleagues for a workshop at this year’s AEC HR Summit entitled: Developing Tomorrow’s PM Talent: A Workshop for HR Professionals, which will provide HR professionals with a practical blueprint to move beyond training and build a PM development engine that strengthens people, projects, and profitability. Each attendee will also receive a copy of my book Beyond PM Training: How to Build a Scalable AEC PM Ecosystem. You can find out more information about the session here.

Anthony Fasano, P.E., AEC PM is the CEO of the Engineering Management Institute. EMI helps AEC firms build transformational people leadership and project management development programs to support their employees’ progression on those paths. You can connect with Anthony on LinkedIn here or contact EMI at 800.920.4007 or through their website.