PMI’s Pulse of the Profession report was published toward the end of 2022, highlighting the importance of power skills for project management success.

According to PMI, among a diverse pool project professionals surveyed, “…there was consensus around the most critical power skills: communication, problem-solving, collaborative leadership, and strategic thinking.”

The value of prioritizing power skills among project management professionals is clear from the following data: “The survey found that organizations placing a high priority on power skills tend to perform better against multiple key drivers of success. 72 percent of their projects successfully met business goals, only 28 percent of their projects experienced scope creep, and they experienced less budget loss (17 percent) when a project failed.”

However, PMs seem to still be struggling to get support from organizations to develop their power skills.

The report states that “…while nine out of ten project professionals agree that power skills help them work smarter, organizations face challenges in prioritizing 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 percent of their professional development hours on technical skills and only 29 percent on power skills.”

MPUG Supports Power Skills Development

Supporting project managers in developing power skills through our membership, articles and webinars is part of MPUG’s mission. We also offer a space for project professionals to share supportive information, build a strong network, and help prove the value of power skill development to organizations. Our next Power Skills webinar is coming up in February!

To dive deeper, read the PMI Pulse of the Profession report summary here, and watch the repay of our recent webinar:

Do you want to learn more about specific power skills? Fill out our quick survey here and let us know!