AXELOS ProPath is a new professional certification scheme that brings together many of the world’s biggest frameworks for project, program, risk, and portfolio management. It outlines a clear learning pathway for professionals seeking to study demonstrably effective and lucrative practices, helping them advance in their careers and unlock incredible opportunities.
But what about companies? Why should they care about ProPath?
To put it simply, the disciplines covered in ProPath invariably overlap. Project success influences program success, and so on. Despite this, many businesses fail to understand that these disciplines each often require their own practices and perspectives. When a candidate is fully qualified according to ProPath, they have a holistic understanding of how to create value with targeted, strategic transformation.
Even so, frameworks like PRINCE2 and Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) can be studied separately, so why commit to an entire branch of ProPath, or even the whole certification scheme? In this article, we look at the most important points to make if you want to sell the idea of ProPath training to your organization!
An End to Narrow Specialization
When it comes to modern businesses, it is becoming less and less feasible to rely on siloed specialists. Having expertise within a given sphere is hardly detrimental, but when a business has an overwhelming reliance on individuals – and especially individuals who cannot operate across different areas of knowledge and expertise – it can have a major impact on efficiency, as well as collaboration.
By training staff in the frameworks covered in ProPath, businesses can guarantee they have sufficient skills and insight to collaborate effectively and even pick up the slack when necessary. Widening the expertise of high-level staff will also make them better able to consider multiple angles and perspectives simultaneously. Finally, being able to combine tools and practices from different frameworks can also help businesses achieve results far more quickly and reliably.
Widening Management Perspective
In a successful organization, managers need to be able to consider multiple perspectives and points of view. Project deliverables are important, but how do they relate to strategic goals? Strategic targets can be vital, but are they aligned with the business’s portfolio? Ultimately, each of these areas contributes to value and strategy.
Herein lies a major advantage of investing in ProPath training. When managers lack perspective across these disciplines, they can end up focusing too heavily on siloed targets and areas of interest, leading to negative impacts elsewhere.
Not only do the frameworks in AXELOS ProPath offer world-class tools, practices, and insight within their own spheres, but they are also designed to complement other frameworks. This keeps ProPath practitioners grounded and mindful of the wider context of their work, helping them collaborate with other teams and report on their progress in ways that better correspond with wider strategic plans.
Flexible Practices
An important point to recognize about ProPath frameworks is that, while they are undoubtedly some of the most popular approaches on the planet, they should not be followed to the letter. Rather, they are designed for a certain level of flexibility in both how they are applied and the kind of organization that can utilize them.
A key example of this is in project management. ProPath has two branches for this, ‘ProPath Project Expert’ and ‘ProPath Agile Project Expert’. While the first focuses on traditional project management, the latter looks at Agile management. Both approaches are popular, but the best option for an organization will usually be down to context and preference rather than one style being inherently better.
What does this mean? By studying multiple branches of ProPath, businesses give themselves the flexibility to select the best options depending on the structure, shape, size, and context of projects, programs, and so on. This can be crucial for achieving the best possible ROIs. The resources, timeline, and client preferences for one project might warrant a more Agile approach, while another may require a strict traditional route, and so on.
The importance of having such a cross-disciplinary approach is even reflected in the frameworks that make up ProPath. PRINCE2 Agile simply would not exist if so many businesses hadn’t been demanding it!
Employee Retention
The thing about employees with the skills and experience to succeed with project, program, and portfolio level-tasks is that they are extremely valuable – and they know it. The best talent out there gravitates towards businesses that offer not just a paycheck but also the potential for growth and career progression.
With this in mind, it is worth taking a moment to consider why ProPath is so attractive to professionals. AXELOS frameworks are highly popular, to the extent that many high-level positions have certification in options like PRINCE2 or MSP as prerequisites. Career-minded candidates jump at the opportunity to study for certification, as it benefits not only their employers but also themselves.
Because of this, you may think that investing in certification training will simply empower employees to look for jobs elsewhere. The truth is that, by giving staff the potential for development at your organization, you are demonstrating the value of staying on board, especially if you also have a clear career progression path available.
By investing in ProPath training, an organization demonstrates its commitment to developing and retaining the very best employees. This can even make staff commit more enthusiastically to training, as they will see that they too can stand to benefit in a big way.
Expertise
An important point worth making whenever you try to advocate corporate training is the pedigree and popularity of the training itself. AXELOS is a leading certification provider across a wide range of topics, even outside of the ProPath syllabus.
It is also worth noting that, unlike other certification providers, AXELOS regularly updates its syllabuses to accommodate new insight and even new areas of expertise. This is usually done with input from leading subject matter experts and practitioners. By investing in AXELOS training, your company will be committing to modernized tools and practices well-suited to the challenges it will be facing in the world of business.
Not only do AXELOS frameworks offer the heights of expertise, but they are also updated in a way that makes them future-proof. Practitioner communities are also extremely active in networking and sharing insight. When selling ProPath training to your organization, you should have no trouble convincing stakeholders of the quality of ProPath training.
