once they understand
the value of good proj-
ect management prac-
tices,” he says. “In the
next five to 10 years,
we will reach a much
higher level of maturity
as the younger genera-
tion gets the training
and experience they
need to succeed.”
Frederic Casagrande, PMP, faces a similar
challenge in bolstering his company’s project
management corporate culture. Mr. Casagrande
is director of the corporate PMO for Transguard
Group, a business process outsourcing, security
services and facilities management provider in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. His PMO has been
actively promoting the value of project manage-
ment across the organization, from the executive
team down to new recruits. The PMO sends
executives a monthly report highlighting project
successes and project management’s impact on
the bottom line, and it contributes to Trans-
guard’s regular internal corporate newsletter.
The company is also in the process of projectiz-
ing the whole organization. All these efforts are
paying off.
“Our stakeholders recognize that good project
management brings so much value to the business,”
he says. And this is driving changes in the way the
company recruits and trains new staff.
“Transguard has a large portfolio of projects in
the pipeline. If we want to succeed, we need to
“It’s not difficult to sell the idea [of developing core
skills] once [young employees] understand the
value of good project management practices. In the
next five to 10 years, we will reach a much higher
level of maturity as the younger generation gets
the training and experience they need to succeed.”
—Wael Aljasem, PMP, Kuwait National Petroleum Co., Ahmadi, Kuwait
either hire an army of project managers, or build
them ourselves,” Mr. Casagrande says.
Since there aren’t a lot of seasoned project managers in the marketplace, Transguard has turned its
gaze inward. In the past year, the PMO has rolled
out a project management training program open
to anyone in the organization, even if they’re not
on a project management career path. The goal is
to foster a project management culture enabling
everyone to speak the same language around project
delivery, Mr. Casagrande says.
So far, the program has been a huge hit. The
training course is in such demand that the PMO has
had to roll out extra sessions.
“It has been a clear win for the business,” he says.
Since implementing the project management training and process, Transguard has seen significant
reductions in the time required to deliver projects,
which translates to increased savings and flexibility.
For example, it used to take 12 weeks for the company
to set up a “work camp” facility to provide employees
with room and board during long-term projects.
Now it takes less than eight, thanks to streamlined
planning and more efficient use of resources.
Because of these tangible results, Transguard’s leadership is firmly behind the PMO’s development of
a strong project management culture. That, in turn,
allows the organization to attract and retain promising practitioner talent. “The quality of candidates and
résumés we receive for every open position clearly
shows a lot of interest in what we are doing,” says
Mr. Casagrande. “The 12-month rolling churn rate
in Transguard’s project management discipline is significantly lower than for the rest of the company.” PM
“If we want
to succeed,
we need to
either hire
an army
of project
managers, or
build them
ourselves.”
—Frederic Casagrande,
PMP, Transguard Group,
Dubai, United Arab
Emirates
