The Association for Project Management (APM)’s new Competence Framework delivers a valuable tool for organisations that want to understand and analyse levels of project management competence across their organisation. The new Framework delivers a wide range of benefits from measuring employee competence against the national standard for project management to define the current levels of knowledge and application, against 14 new Role Profiles.
The new Competence Framework is a significant improvement from the first version. The reduction in the number of Competencies, from 47 to 27, provides a more manageable benchmark for best practice. Significantly, the introduction of Role Profiles with Rating Scales allows individuals to measure their progress in the current and aspirational roles using the same self-assessment form.
The APM Competence Framework provides a robust, holistic and clear set of standards and comprehensive assessment method for measuring personnel against the APM’s 27 individual competencies needed for effective project management and 14 defined role profiles.
Each competence is measured against two domains – Knowledge of and Application of the competences. Each domain is measured using 1 – 5 rating, when 1 means aware of the competence and 5 means an Expert in the competence.
Assessment against the full set of competences enables an identification of strength and of other areas potentially requiring further development, as well as allowing individuals to align their current scoring with a range of qualifications and certifications.
Significant benefits can be derived from the use of an approved competence framework, both for individuals and the organisation employing them. Specifically, from the perspective of the individual, the framework ensures a common understanding of the competences required of them; it enables an assessment against a framework aligned with an agreed international standard; helps to identify areas for development and judge readiness for attainment of professional qualifications. From the employer’s perspective, the framework enables a judgmentally to be made regarding the project management competence of employees at all levels, assessed against an internationally agreed framework; it also enables identification of strengths and weaknesses and corporate training and development needs.
20/20 has been engaged in Competency Framework Assessment and Reporting projects by many of its Clients in the Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Engineering & Construction, Utilities, Transport & Logistics and other sectors since the company was formed in 2003. Significant similar projects in the last few years have included Clients such as Centrica, Wood Group, Petrofac and Merlin Entertainment.
