Our latest State of the PMO 2025 research report data shows (and has consistently shown since 2007) a direct correlation between training and performance, especially in PMOs. High-performing organizations offer more kinds of training, for more days, and in more advanced topics. 

Training isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. Most PMOs (79%) provide project management-related training, and the difference between high and low performers is stark. In top-performing PMOs, 83% of staff receive specialized training, compared to just 52% in lower-performing counterparts. The takeaway? Investing in your team’s skills directly improves outcomes.

Alarmingly, the number of PMOs not offering training has risen sharply—from 12% in 2022 to 21% today. This backslide is particularly evident in manufacturing, where 56% of PMOs offer no training at all. Contrast that with professional services organizations, where 88% invest in PM-related training, and it’s clear which industries are positioning themselves for long-term success.

Size and scope also matter. Larger organizations are more likely to skip training, surprisingly, with 36% offering none. Meanwhile, PMOs operating at the enterprise or strategic level overwhelmingly prioritize training—91% offer it—demonstrating a clear understanding of its value in driving organizational goals.

The conclusion is simple: training is not just about knowledge; it’s about performance, culture, and future readiness. Organizations that want to lead must first invest in the people who will take them there.

Are you empowering your employees with the training they need to succeed?

https://pmsolutions-webinars.rallypointwebinars.com/register/4399?source=blog

You might recognize this research title from previous reports, webinar, and a couple of PMI presentations. We originally developed this study in 2018 to explore the adoption of agile, adaptive and hybrid strategies after these were added to the PMBOK®, Sixth Edition. With all the changes, disruptions, and growth in project management these past five years, we thought it was time to revisit those statistics--and add a couple of additional "changing approaches" -- AI and PMaaS.

Here's something that has not changed, though: in 2018 we were rather surprised to find that no particular adaptive method (i.e. Scrum, SAFe, Kanban, etc.) was correlated with organizational high performance in adaptive approaches. Instead, what drove high performance was having employees who adopted an "agile mindset," the willingness to try new ways and work together collaboratively. That is still the top scoring strategy for organizations in 2024.

So, once again ... it's all about people. Join us on Nov. 19 to learn more ways in which these new approaches to PM support the concept that training and humanely managing people is your winningest strategy in uncertain times.

In the adoption of agile and hybrid, we were able to establish trends, since we had asked a very similar battery of questions in our 2018 version of the study. These questions, from a training and development perspective, show how the capabilities of team members and leaders have evolved over the past six years—a time of incredible change and challenges in project management and in the world.

One practice of team leaders stood out as the most improved over this period: the extent to which they were likely to celebrate team success had leapt by 17%. That’s big! And it underscores a key aspect that I think is sometimes overlooked about using adaptive approaches in the workplace: less rigid and predictive work approaches are more human-scale and have the potential to boost morale and bring out the best in us.

I’ll be exploring that idea more in a forthcoming white paper about how new approaches to project management can help us tame our resource management demons, but for now, just take a look at the top practices of high-capability team leaders in the 2024 study—they:

• Pave the way for the team to do its best work
• Promote safety, respect and trust
• Promote collaboration and conversation within and between teams
• Encourage teams to create an environment where everyone can succeed
• Work to streamline processes and remove impediments to the team’s agility
• Listen well.

These are the leaders who inspire teams to great achievements and make it fun along the way. They possess both skills and personal attributes that organizations should be working hard to identify and develop. When it comes to agile transformation—that buzzword of the century—it has to begin with … and within … this type of leader.

And then the celebrations can begin.

This year, a new study, The Adaptive Organization: A Benchmark of Changing Approaches to Project Management, also asked about the top capabilities of team leaders. The number one?

“Promoting safety, respect and trust.”

Training leaders may ask: Is trustworthiness a teachable skill? While it may come more naturally to some project leaders than others, the ability to inspire trust has a number of corollaries in more traditional project management training. Chief among these is clear communication. Trusted leaders express themselves with both honesty and sensitivity. They set clear goals and boundaries … in language that is understood by all … without being heavy-handed. In old-fashioned terms, we might say they have good manners. “Manners,” my late mother-in-law once observed, “Exist to set other people at ease in your company.” People who are at ease with you are more likely to share information, bring problems to light, and work collaboratively. Manners can be taught and, even more important, can be modelled by leaders within the organization, setting a standard for how team members and managers treat each other.

Clear communication can also be taught, along with active listening. So can realistic goal setting and the wise choice of performance indicators. In fact, the more solid your leaders and teams’ grasp of project management basics is, the easier it will be for them to communicate clearly with each other about progress, issues, and outcomes.

“Trust the process,” is a kind of buzzword—but when applied to project management, it couldn’t be more true. The better we understand project management processes, the more clearly we can communicate about them, and the more trusted our judgment will be.

Check out the executive summary of the 2024 research here, and sign up to receive alerts about our work, including a free webinar exploring the research findings later this year.

As usual, our results show that companies identified as high performers in the study have a more robust training profile, offering courses on more topics to more people in the organization. That's no surprise--more and better training has been a hallmark of successful organizations over the course of 25 years of research studies.

But this year's study asks a new set of questions about a new topic in project management: Artificial Intelligence. And while only 18% of the organizations in the study are currently using AI tools to manage projects, among the high performers that percentage jumps to 35%. (Only 5% of low-performing organizations use AI.)

But the red flag in the AI stats this year is that so few organizations -- only 38% -- are conducting training in AI. You'd think that, for tools whose promise is being shouted from the rooftops (see PMI's AI Impact resources), more organizations would be investing in the future.

If yours isn't, take the intitiative: just Google AI training to find a wealth of online courses.

Six months later, I'm seeing that same theme played on multiple channels:

• Wired Magazine featured an article stressing the importance of people skills to make the most of using an AI assistant;
• The New York TImes piece discussed how the advent of AI will cause us to finally put a proper value on human and interpersonal skills.
• Forbes stressed how AI will allow project managers to develop higher-value skills and have the time to employ them.

So the question is not what we need to do to train ourselves and our employees to make the most of AI, it's how to get started, and where to focus. Despite the hype, says The Economist, the level of investment in AI is lagging. Is this also true in project-oriented companies? Join our research study population to contribute your thoughts on AI adoption (and other Changing Approaches to Project Management). But hurry--the study closes tomorrow, March 8.

As we know, the reality is quite different.

There’s a significant lag between excitement about a changing approach to projects or business … and the ability to implement it successfully. And that’s because it takes time for humans and their organizations to absorb—not to say, master—new concepts. That's why our 2024 research study, The Adaptive Organization: A Benchmark of Changing Approaches to Project Management, asks participants about their training strategies as well as project management practices.

Where are we today with agile and hybrid approaches? In 2018 our research found that organizations were cautious adopters of adaptive project management. In 2024, we’ll be looking at the trends in these approaches, including what topics organizations are training for. And we will be able to compare the organizational performance of agile/hybrid organizations to their performance in 2018.

But in 2024, “changing approaches” means more than just agile. The new study also revisits questions we asked about Project Management as a Service (PMaaS) in our 2021 study of the strategies that helped organizations thrive through the pandemic. As a way to bring new knowledge and skills to an organization rapidly, PMaaS is a valuable partner to training.

Speaking of new skills needing rapid adoption … there’s AI. The 2024 study would not be complete without an assessment of AI adoption in projects and organizations. From the PM College standpoint, we’ll be most interested in how many companies are providing training in AI usage and skills. It would not be surprising if the hype has far outpaced the actual capability.

Be a part of answering all these questions by completing the research survey. Your responses are confidential, and as a thank-you, all participants will receive the full-data report of the results. Here’s the link.

When it comes to project management practice, learning takes many forms. Among the most powerful of knowledge transfer systems is mentorship. Combining the age-old learning method of apprenticeship—student working side by side with a master—with expert project management skills, plus Emotional Intelligence, the resources staffed using PM Solutions PMaaS model are capable of raising the skill levels, practical understanding and value delivery outcomes of the organizations they partner with.

It has long been known that outside experts have this effect on the organizations that contract them. PMaaS just focuses that effect on the projects and programs where continuous learning is of most value.

Speaking of continuous learning: stay tuned for a new research brief on the organizational performance effect of PMaaS, as well as a new white paper on the topic, coming out soon. We’ll also be exploring PMaaS in our 2024 research study, launching this month. To participate in our research, sign up here to receive alerts.

Given that the AI revolution is likely to shift around the responsibilities and tasks of project managers in the near future, what are some ways that organizations should begin to prepare their project staffs for this new reality? Yes, AI assistants hold the promise of freeing up project manager time for higher-order tasks ... but will your project managers be ready for those tasks? Our 2023 research study, Project Management Skills for Value Delivery, indicated that, for the majority of organizations across all the industries represented, the communications, interpersonal and business skills needed today are lacking. Where to focus training dollars now and in the immediate future is a pressing question, and one that many organizations, due to misunderstandings and miscommunications within the organization, are ill-prepared to answer.

We invite you to use the skills inventory in the Value Delivery research to identify gaps in your own training programs. Need help? That's what we are here for.

Join me and PM Solutions' VP, Client Success, Eric Foss--one of the key SMEs involved in the development of the study--to learn more during our free webinar:

Thursday, Oct. 5 at 2 pm ET (1 PDU offered)

We'll give an overview of the study and take your questions live. Don't miss it!