“Change is the end result of all true learning.” – Leo Buscaglia [Depositphotos/uatp12]We are already experiencing so many changes, disruptions, and transformations related to the 4th industrial revolution in different industries and foresee many more in the future.
Professor Klaus Schwab is the founder of WEF and gives an impressive account in his book “The Fourth Industrial Revolution”. He also has concerns about the future.
“Organizations might not be able to adapt; governments may fail to use and regulate new technologies to reap their benefits; shifting power could create new security concerns.”
What does this revolution mean for project managers?
PMs will be involved with projects involving the deployment of disruptive technologies. Given the rapid development of new technologies, and the extent of the changes, PMs will likely face many problems and need to find solutions to the following questions.
Managers, employees, and stakeholders won’t be ready for the disruption and adoption. It is therefore important to know how to manage them during this transition.
What are the chances that elements of the change curve (*), will be affected? Here’s a look at possible trends in changes curves resulting from technological maturity changes in different industries.
Dr Elisabeth Kubler – Rosas. Copyright (c. 1969 by Elisabeth Kubler–Ross; copyright renewed c. 1997 by Elisabeth Kubler–Ross. All rights reserved. Technical people will constantly face the challenge of delivering rapidly developing technologies. How can we manage teams in this transition while making sure they have enough training time?
How can PMs quickly improve their skills?
To do this, it is important to be aware of changes in the demands of the job market.
Perform a skills analysis to match the market demand for PM (hybrid), roles
Over the past four months, I’ve analyzed 860 job ads focusing on PM or transformational roles. This was originally a personal study, but I turned it into an analysis for new PM roles.
I wanted to find out if these new applications are influencing transformational and change management projects. I used specific keywords such as: to monitor major UK job search websites.
Change project manager
Manager of business projects
Project Manager – Applications & Change
Manager of business change projects
Project Manager – Change & Transformation
This analysis did not take into account:
industry
Project size
Dimension and organization structure
Technology involved
These are the results
There were 404 job ads for “Business change project managers” or “Project manager – Change and Transformation”. They must have 100% PM skills and experience in working on business change-driven projects. Additional tasks were not required.
456 jobs were advertised for “Change project managers” or “Project manager – Applications and change”. These jobs required a variety of skills, in addition to those that are typical for PM.
These hybrid roles (e.g. Project Manager-Change Management or Change Project Manager) had the following requirements (see figure 2):
9% of jobs required a combination (50%) of PM and CM skills.
19% of jobs required a mixture of 40% PM, 30% CMC and 30% BA.
72% of jobs analyzed required a greater range of PM skills (80%), with a minor portion of CM (20%).
These jobs require equal amounts of PM and CM skills:
An average annual salary of PS58K
An average daily rate of PS500
These jobs require a combination of PM, CM, and BA skills
An average annual salary of PS50K
an average
How to prepare for changes in the Project Manager role? (in 2018)
