Three things to know about developing your project management competencies: Let’s play a game!

Despite efforts to improve the relevance of project management methods, projects continue to fail. The 21st century has already shown that projects are increasingly complex. Based on best practices, project management competencies are groupings of related knowledge and behaviors which influence project success. Stemming from his recent doctoral research, Dr. Clark has found evidence which shows that project management competencies predict project success in difficult and complex projects. Employers, as well as the Project Management Institute, emphasize the need to strengthen project management competencies. But how can a project manager improve project management competencies? The solution could be as simple as playing games. In this presentation, Dr. Clark and Dr. Dyson discuss some simple and interactive solutions which can help organizations improve management competencies in their project managers and tackle the challenges of the 21st century. Over the past two decades video games have been used not only for entertainment purposes but for educational, training, and in providing ongoing therapy treatments. The evolutionary research of video games has evolved to the point at which individuals are learning new skills and applying them to real-world situations. Leadership roles, project management roles, and project team member roles can all learn new techniques and strategies by engaging in video game play.