Projects as vehicles of learning

The consistent fluidity of the world means all professionals benefit from understanding change and being adaptable. Aspects that help achieve this are; understanding the role projects have in making successful change happen, be familiar with project management approaches and being a member of project teams. More importantly, every professional benefits from the constant learning and new knowledge stimulated through experiencing projects and how this helps to remain relevant. Project performance is normally focused on delivery of scope, to the desired quality within the allocated time and budget. Whilst it is important to measure the tangible outputs projects generate, organizational performance improves more, when projects are managed as strategic vehicles of capability development and acknowledges the longer-term, intangible outcomes these generate. This chapter proposes the optimal way to achieve sustained high performance, for individuals, teams and organizations, is to extend our perception of projects to include the intangibles they deliver. These include learning, relationships, trust, confidence, social connections, critical thinking and understanding of complexity. It is time for the project management profession to acknowledge the value these bring for team and organizational performance and to plan them as strategic outcomes of projects.