Transferable skills

Recently I started a new role as Secretary for my local football club and it got me thinking about how

 

transferable skills are from one role to another. Here are my thoughts on some of these skills which get used in a PMO role that I am using with my new secretary role

Stakeholder management

CAFC Logo

This one often appears on the job descriptions for roles, but what does this really mean? Does it mean putting a stakeholder map together and working out your comms to (and from) those people? Or does it mean getting on with people. Within my new role I have a variety of stakeholders. There is the rest of the executive committee, all of the youth coaches, the FA, the leagues that the teams compete within, the parents, the supporters. Each of these stakeholders come with a different set of challenges. And although I admit I haven’t formally done my stakeholder mapping I am using my knowledge of how to do this to understand what they all want and how I can best go about giving that to them, whilst still ensuring that the club don’t sway in the wind as we try and be all things to all people

Configuration management

Something that is the bane of a lot of PMOs, sometimes referred to as document management. As we have around 260 youth players spread across different age groups from U6 to U18 it is important that we keep on top of who those players are, ensuring they are registered with the appropriate leagues (otherwise they can’t play a competitive game of football) and have paid for the privilege (registering with the league costs money).

Planning/Scheduling

Whilst I am not going to get an MS project plan out in an Exec committee meeting (see the comment above about understanding your stakeholders) I am using my knowledge of how to put a plan together to ensure that when there is something needing to be done that it gets broken down into smaller chunks, we assign milestones (deliverables) and we assign individuals to those tasks, with a timeline that they need to complete this in. That then gets tracked against to ensure we are on track and if necessary the plans adjusted

Meetings

It is well known that PMOs get involved in lots of meetings just because they need someone to take the minutes. And yes being secretary does involve lots of meetings with the Exec Committee, youth coaches etc. All of these need to be organised, attended and minutes taken. I think this is an area that lots of people overlook. In fact I think its so important that last year, along with a colleague I delivered a course on PMOs & Meetings

Other skills

I am sure I could write more about all of the other skills, primarily the behavioural skills that I have picked up as a PMO that I am using within my new role. It just goes to prove that despite recruiters asking for a perfect fit for their organisation (if they know what that is) that actually people from a variety of backgrounds could come in and have the skills they are looking for, regardless of whether they have done so in the same context.

What other skills do you feel are transferable? Leave a comment below