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AXELOS ProPath – a new approach to career development

Blog posted by: Debbie Gee [Trainer and Associate, ProjectPlus, New Zealand] & AXELOS ProPath Project and Agile Project Expert, 20 August 2021.

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When seeking solutions to challenges, organizations went through a period of hiring the “narrow specialist”.

Now, however, they need people with a broad range of skills plus some specialization: in other words, real breadth rather than narrow depth. And, with so much happening in the world, there’s a demand for people who can make connections across multiple areas of knowledge.

This is why I can – as one of the first professionals to achieve the AXELOS® ProPath Project and Agile Project designations – recommend this approach to skills development, certification and long-term career planning.

A skills and certification journey

Long before AXELOS ProPath offered a coherent framework and incentive for ongoing learning and certification in project, programme, risk and portfolio skills, I was gathering knowledge that made sense to my career.

Though I’d spent much of my working life in communications and engagement, I’d also managed a lot of projects, applying project management to rebranding, websites and rolling out major public education and social marketing campaigns.

Consequently, I certified in PRINCE2® and – along with training other people in the method – I started adding other certifications (PRINCE2 Agile®, MSP®, MoP®) to my credentials, as they connect well with each other as part of the overall “jigsaw”. This connection is invaluable in explaining the overall framework in my role as a trainer.

Mainly, they have provided me with a solid framework which I can tailor. In one example, an organization I introduced to MSP is now framing their work with the guidance and a common language, while adapting it to their circumstances.

Adding Management of Risk (M_o_R®) to my certifications in May 2021 had a dual incentive: obtaining all the certifications needed to achieve AXELOS ProPath Project Expert and ProPath Agile Project Expert designations and bringing new knowledge for me to use alongside PRINCE2, PRINCE2 Agile and MSP.

ProPath gave me the extra impetus to do what I was planning anyway and it’s been good to have higher levels of qualifications that come together in a coherent programme.

AXELOS ProPath – for the established and up-and-coming change professional

I think that the advent of AXELOS ProPath should change the way project and programme professionals think about their career development.

First, it shows you have thought about a career path and how having multiple but complementary certifications, knowledge and skills fits together.

Starting with one certification but seeing the pathway beyond that allows you to set a more long-term goal. While earning individual certifications is great, this gives you something more to aspire to.

And for organizations employing project, programme and portfolio practitioners, aiming to achieve ProPath designations shows a higher level of commitment from the people they’re investing in and expecting to deliver meaningful and valuable change.

As the ultimate life-long learner, ProPath has given me the incentive to focus and achieve the next certification and designation.

I think the days of the professional generalist are coming back and we are the ones that can make the right connections between things for successful organizational change and improvement.

 

Channel website: https://www.axelos.com/

Original article link: https://www.axelos.com/news/blogs/august-2021/axelos-propath-new-approach-to-career-development

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