Could a Cadre of Project Management Professionals (PMP)® have Prevented the SVB Collapse?
Since Cheetah Learning’s payroll account was with SVB, I experienced firsthand the impact of this bank’s collapse. Yet it was not the first time one of our banks had collapsed. In 2008, we had the company’s operating funds in Colonial Bank when they collapsed. I got notification of that from a Cheetah PMP coach on his way to teach a class when his company credit card was no longer working. That time we were able to wire money into his personal account to cover his travel costs. This time, we had ample contingency funds in another bank to cover payroll and had sufficient time to change the withdrawal routing information with our payroll processing company.
With the tumultuous nature of the financial markets, it’s only prudent to avoid putting all our eggs in one basket. As a PMP, I knew the importance of a contingency plan – especially where our finances were concerned. It’s surprising Venture Capital (VC) firms financing a whole portfolio of start-ups are not as diligent. Does this also extend to how they exert influence over their portfolio companies’ project management?
Considering 85% of projects fail to meet their objectives, it makes sense for those financing start-up projects require their companies to have a cadre of Project Management Professionals(PMP) lead projects (like the Federal government mandates on the projects it funds). Having ten percent of the staff involved in projects who are PMP certified and requiring PMP certification for all Project leadership is often sufficient to counter the strong “cowboy” personalities who run companies into the ground (we know this story too well). Considering the impact a banking collapse has on all of us, we need vetted professionals at the helm.
We have ample evidence over twenty years of what a cadre of PMPs can do for a company’s bottom line. For the publically traded companies who have retained the services of Cheetah Learning to help their PM staff become PMP certified, a year following this investment, 90% of those companies had a nice bump in their Return on Equity. We tracked two companies in the same sector over fifteen years- one made a significant investment in having their staff become PMP certified, and the other made a minimal investment. The company on the left invests in having 10% of their project staff become PMP certified every year by going through Cheetah Learning.
Let’s look at three reasons why having at least 10% of staff Project Management Professional (PMP) certified can improve a company’s performance:
- Project Governance – In the process to become PMP certified (at least with Cheetah Learning) PMPs learn how to set up effective project governance infrastructure within an organization. Projects are the lifeblood of how an organization achieves its strategic objectives – having a solid support system in place on how projects are initiated, planned, executed, controlled, and closed significantly increases the chances of selecting the right projects and seeing them through to successful completion.
- Project Risk Management – A cornerstone of effective project management is project risk management. It’s so important that it makes up a good percentage of the Project Management Professional Exam. PMPs leading a rigorous PM process within an organization achieve project success by effectively reducing and managing project risks.
- Effective Team Leadership – Rarely do project managers get to pick their project team members. PMPs trained through Cheetah Learning become masters at bringing out the best of who they have available to work on their projects. They learn how to lead and empower virtual project teams, agile project teams, and conventional project teams. They master issue resolution with the lowest level of intervention required and elevate the performance of everyone around them.
It’s highly likely if SVB and their Venture Capital firms had committed to the rigors of projects led by PMPs, I would not be writing this blog post.
Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, CCPM, RYT
Chief Cheetah, Cheetah Learning
“The first thing my boss said when I told him I was interested in getting my PMP certification was that if I was going to do it, he’d heard Cheetah Learning was the best.”