A Project Manager Competency Model

Are the competencies that people need to develop to be successful project managers in the Federal sector really any different from those that needed for successful project management anywhere? The answer to that is probably no if you think of "project management skills" as being only the project management processes and concepts described in the Project Management Institute's PMBOC (Project Management Body of Knowledge). These generalized processes are the same across the Federal sector and outside it.

However, the unique characteristics and demands of Federal sector projects shape the knowledge and competencies that successful Federal project managers need. For example, federal projects operate in a unique regulatory environment and they can be among the largest and most complex projects being conducted in the U.S. at any point in time. Also the size and complexity of Federal organizations and the importance of their missions produce unique project demands in areas like stakeholder management, communications, and time urgency. As a result, Federal project managers need a strong grounding in the leadership and management competencies that support project management and a detailed knowledge in the standards, regulations, missions, and processes related to the agencies they serve.

When selecting or developing content for the Federal PM site we therefore take a somewhat broad view about what project management skills are. We see four types of Federal project manager capabilities, with the most basic types supporting the learning and use of higher-level skills. The pyramid graphic on the right shows the relationships among the types.

Supporting Competencies

The foundation of project manager skills are the competencies that support the development and practice of general leadership and management. For example, it would just not be possible to be an effective manager without skills in areas like decision-making, analysis, communication, and time management. Similarly, leadership relies on a broad range of interpersonal skills such as persuasion, effective listening, and an insightful knowledge of team dynamics.

For the purposes of this site, we’re also including learning skills in these supporting competencies. To be an effective project manager you need to be an effective learner throughout your career. That starts with the development of your basic project management knowledge and skills and continues throughout your career in the continual strengthening of that knowledge and those skills. In addition, your effectiveness as a project manager will depend upon your staying abreast of changes not only in your technical field (for example, system engineering, medical research, logistics) but also in the requirements, processes, and priorities of the agency or military service you support. To meet all these challenges a project manager needs to be both a quick learner and a lifelong learner.

Leadership and Management

The next level of project management skills, leadership and management, draws upon the supporting competencies to address the particular challenges in directing a group. Obviously, a lot of thought and time has been devoted to the question of what the differences are between leadership and management. Just what these differences are and how they relate to one another will not concern us very much here. We recognize that running any enterprise requires a combination of skills and abilities that people generally agree fall into the categories of leadership and/or management. Our approach on this site will be to focus little on the attributes of these categories and more on leadership/management tasks (such as planning, performance monitoring, performance counseling, and communication in its many forms) and techniques.

Project Management

The third level in our model consist of the unique content knowledge and skills needed for project management. These are spelled out extensively in the PMI PMBOK.

Federal Requirements

The final level consists of the knowledge and skills uniquely needed to manage in the Federal sector generally and the agency or agencies a project manager supports, particularly. For example, there are laws and regulations that shape and direct federal projects. Since federal projects frequently involve the acquisition of contractor and support, a knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) is important to successful Federal project management. Similarly, the knowledge of the acquisition process of a particular agency or military service is important to success whether you work for a Federal Agency or for a firm that supports one. Finally, each agency/service possesses a unique mission, language, and culture that project managers supporting it need to master in order to be effective in that environment.

Using the Competency Model for PM Development

The site will include content from across all four levels in the competency model, with focus areas for a couple of site feature. For one, the site’s quizzes will focus heavily on areas covered in the PMBOK. In addition, our plan is to only link to agency/service-specific material unless it has a broader value across the Federal PM community that would warrant including that content directly on this site.