Sunday Edition: The Value of PMP® Certification and a Learning & Development Curriculum

The best project managers inside Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young, and KPMG are certified project managers. The Big Four requires the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) credential and pays for the program for their employees as part of their Learning & Development.

Project managers vying for the PMP® certification do not have to lead every project cradle to grave, but at a minimum, they have to lead and direct all the processes in five domain areas of project management: initiation, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing basic projects or complex programs.

State and local governments that support the PMP® certification of their employees generally have a more disciplined, leading edge, and knowledgeable workforce. In addition to the leadership and governance components alongside PMP® in any successful project in the private sector, there is also great utility in instituting PMP® certification in the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

U.S. Virgin Islands commissioners, directors, and managers would benefit from the PMP® certification, realize projects faster, cheaper, with minimal risk and higher quality, and increase their overall success rate of delivering projects on time and on budget, even leveraging commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) opportunities so projects can be transferred seamlessly among departments and agencies where applicable.

Other requirements for earning the credential include three years or 3,500 hours of project management experience, five years if an applicant does not have a Bachelor’s degree, and 35 hours of project management education. Project managers also need to fill out an application documenting their education and project management experience, and pass a four-hour, 200-question exam.

In a few months after PMP® certification has been achieved, government employees will be able to demonstrate their solid command and consistent application of all standard project management methodology processes, tools, and documentation aligned to the PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).

The rigors of the PMP® certification don’t stop there. There is a requirement that certifications be maintained through continuing education. Continuous education means that employees who maintain the credential will always be aware of the latest developments and trends in the PMP field.

PMP Certificate

Commissioners, directors, managers, and other leaders across each government department play a critical role in aligning employee requirements, interests, and skills with governmental needs. However, the Commissioner of Labor and the Director of Personnel should be held to a higher standard as they work together across the enterprise to deliver the Human Capital Agenda.

In recent weeks, a Transition Team responsible for vetting commissioners, front line, and other Mapp administration applicants has been announced. It is my hope the Commissioner of Labor and Director of Personnel is playing a significant role in the recruitment process of the Transition Team. For realized and measurable success in their positions as commissioners, directors, and managers, it is mandatory that the Commissioner of Labor and Director of Personnel both be Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)-certified and qualified to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

If the Commissioner of Labor and Director of Personnel are not SHRM-certified and MBTI Qualified, it is necessary that someone or several people on the Transition Team hold these human capital credentials, and it is necessary that candidates hired in these positions earn the credentials on a strict timeline. Coupled with the experts assembled in key and specific areas, from technology and finance to healthcare and justice, SHRM-certified and MBTI Qualified professionals can really add value in the recruiting process and help the Mapp Transition Team make hiring decisions that benefit the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands immediately and over the course of the next eight to 20 years.

Once the Mapp administration is in place and confirmed by the 31st Legislature, the Commissioner of Labor and the Director of Personnel need to work together to develop and deliver the workforce and human capital agenda for the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Beyond their current and respective day-to-day jobs, and because so much of both of their duties overlap, one mostly internal, and the other mostly external, these leaders need to connect at the hip and unleash synergies amongst themselves, and with other key stakeholders that include the University of the Virgin Islands, the Departments of Education, Health, and Tourism, and the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network (viNGN). Doing so will leapfrog the government, and improve the internal and external workforce of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Commissioner of Labor and Director of Personnel have a pearl of an opportunity in their hands to leading-edge performance in their respective departments, and should work together in their matrix environment to educate and transform the government workforce and the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands by leading simple and complex projects on time and budget that include, but are not limited to:
• Establishing compensation benchmarking
• Developing a job description and salary range for each position in government
• Instituting an annual 360 Performance Review of all government employees
• Serving as internal consultants at the GERS to correct the unfunded liability and the retiree to active employee ratio
• Competing for and receiving funding from American Apprenticeships Grants, which will create training and guaranteed employment opportunities
• Restructuring compensation to align with changing markets and better reward actual business results through a targeted mix of cash, short-and long term incentives
• Implementing a Learning & Development (L&D) Curriculum that includes sexual harassment prevention, managing self, managing conflict, PMP® certification, change management, grant writing, customer service and support, and the Lominger Leadership Architect model
• Assisting U.S. Virgin Islanders and veterans with their employment needs
• Facilitating career fairs and resume writing
• Enabling the ability to view L&D lectures anywhere and anytime via streaming video, live chat rooms, CD-ROM or MP4 files
• Implementing systems that allow interaction with government employees and instructors easily through convenient tools like virtual whiteboards, email, live chat rooms, online message boards and two-way voice over IP (VOIP)
• Implementing the Oracle HR Intelligence module to support business decisions or implementing People Soft in a few months, on-schedule and on-budget. (Oracle and People Soft empower modern HR and deliver great employee experiences)
• Developing a shared-service HR Center, providing service delivery and HR “Center of Excellence” support that ultimately becomes the HR operating model for the government

Aligning the current culture, structure, and talent in the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands with the Mapp administration business strategy is challenging, complicated, and necessary. Melding the best of both worlds is hugely important in the acculturation process. Strategic shifts such as new leadership, innovative technology, and evolving learning and development strategies, all impact the most valuable asset—people.

Through working together, the Commissioner of Labor and the Director of Personnel can help the administration align with the critical changes required for success. Working across the enterprise, they can offer business-oriented and data-driven solutions to drive Mapp’s agenda to achieve high-impact and sustainable results.

Virgin Islanders near and far encourage and support the Mapp administration, and we tip our hats to their labor of love and impending success.

Welcome to Sunday Edition with Teri Helenese. Each Sunday at 9 a.m., the VI Consortium community will be treated to a diverse offering of articles that touches on various topics to help stimulate the minds of those ever seeking to succeed in business…and in life.