What is the PMI Talent Triangle?

On December 1st, 2015, the PMI has updated its CCR program by including a Talent Triangle concept. This program was developed due to industry demands and employers’ need for specific skills.

The inclusion of the Talent Triangle in the CCR program helps you develop your skills in three areas defined by the PMI. These areas are technical project management, leadership, and strategic business management, collectively known as the Talent Triangle.

The Talent Triangle applies to all PMI certifications, which includes PMP, PMI-RMP, PMI-SP, etc.

The PMI has taken this step after interviewing many industry experts regarding what skills should be included to make professionals more efficient.

Technical Project Management

You should have technical knowledge of the project activities that you will need to complete the project. You should know how to calculate the earned value, how to use the schedule network diagram, and about procurement, cost management, etc.

It will also be helpful if you are aware of the other project specifications. For example, let us say you are working on a pipeline construction project. In this case, you should have technical knowledge about the materials used in pipeline construction and their specifications. You should also know about welding and various testing methods.

You will face difficulties with understanding their problems if you do not know about the project activities, and finding solutions will be difficult. Moreover, you may lose the respect of your team members because of a lack of technical expertise.

So, you have seen how technical expertise is necessary to complete a project successfully. In one word, you may have problems with understanding the project details and technical issues if you lack the technical knowledge for the project, which may jeopardize the future of your project.

Leadership

As a project manager, you will have to lead the team to complete the project successfully. Therefore, you should possess leadership skills; these skills help you to develop a vision for your team members and inspire them to achieve the target. Leadership is about winning as a team, not as an individual.

As an effective leader, you should inspire your team members about the future, and give them a vision which ultimately will help you achieve your target. As an effective team leader, you should be proactive and a problem solver.

You should also have motivating qualities. The team members will have motivation at the beginning of a project but as time passes this motivation fades away. Therefore, you will have to work hard to connect with the team members and keep them motivated until the project end to complete the project successfully.

You should also have management skills so that you can get your job done; management skills help you get the job done efficiently. Here you can decide to whom you should entrust a particular responsibility or not.

As a project manager, you will have to ensure that your team members possess the required skills to complete the given job successfully. You will give them training or coach them yourself if they lack any skills.

Strategic and Business Management

Now, we come to strategic and business management, which is the third arm of the Talent Triangle.

Strategic and business management helps you to analyze business decisions before you implement them. These analyses include cost-benefit analysis, strength and weakness analysis, market conditions, legal requirements, compliance, etc.

The goal of strategic and business management is to give an organization fresh energy for its betterment. This helps the organization to achieve its long-term goals. Your strategic and business plan must get support from all stakeholders to secure success.

Summary

In today’s dynamic environment, a project manager has to be versatile. Having expertise in one skill is not enough. PMI’s Talent Triangle is the set of skills that a project manager should possess to complete the project successfully. Technical project management skills help you to perform specific functions or tasks, leadership skills help you to achieve your organization’s business goals, and strategic business management enables you to deliver better business outcomes.

Here is where this blog post on the PMI Talent Triangle ends. If you have something to share, you can do so through the comments section below.