The annual PMI® Leadership Institute Meeting (LIM) @ EMEA took place in London this time. More than 300 project managers met in a nice and convenient location called ExCel, serving with several meeting rooms for different topics to be discussed at the same time, as well as a big conference room for meeting key note speakers and several board members from PMI.
By starting early on May 8, board members from all German PMI chapters met each other for following up and continuing our collaboration efforts in organizational outreach and sponsorship. To achieve our common goal following strategy items were shortly discussed:
- One common landing page
- One common sponsoring contract
- One common monthly magazine, comprising of a general German-wide part and a local part per each chapter
Especially, a common landing page was in the focus of our discussion for which we agreed on a timeline for making a launch to be happening by at latest end of Sept, 2015. Of course, many details such as budget, acquisition of volunteers, CMS platform (WordPress vs. Joomla), PMI German logo, etc. are still to be clarified, aligned and mutually agreed.
Continuing with an opening session on the very first day, the PMI® UK Chapter having a 25 years anniversary and the PMI® Board of Directors introduced themselves to all attendees for getting to know who’s who and fostering an open communication between all attendees. This did also imply that everyone should take the opportunity to network with peers from other chapters not only for taking impressions from several speeches back to their chapters but also for making contacts for a follow-up later on when they are back in their chapters.
From a 3-days meeting only a few highlights are given as an example below to show you how important and useful one’s participation as a project manager in the LIM really is:
- Educational sessions
a. Academic Track: How to build up project management competence at our universities and what knowledge can we share from PMI Academic Resources?
By getting in contact with our next generation of project managers early enough we make sure that the right project management knowledge will be given to undergraduates preparing them for an increasing job market but also for becoming new members in the PMI. To find out what’s available for you that can be shared with universities please check out the following repository from PMI, or write your inquiry to Carla.messikomer@pmi.org.
b. Volunteer Engagement Track: What are our possibilities as members to get more engaged with PMI either at community level or the Institute level? What opportunities can I realize by also growing professionally and personally in becoming more involved?
Through the VRMS every member can find several opportunities, starting from an individual contributor to dedicated leader.
c. Leading in the Heat of Conflict: How to identify conflicts which can sometimes be quite subjective, depending on someone’s point of view? How can I overcome and resolve a conflict to not only resolve negative implications but also to increase productivity and relationships for strengthening skills and capabilities of a project manager?
Leaders do often face contradictions, constraints, and conflicts in which they have to prove their skills and capabilities in resolving those issues. Conflicts, in particular, do deal with emotions, good intentions, beliefs, and different cultural backgrounds. By means of five keys (Anticipate, Prevent, Identify, Manage, Resolve) a project manager can manage a conflict and achieve a better outcome that will be satisfactory to all participants in the conflict. Of course, one should always think of an exit strategy if nothing helps to resolve the situation. Conflicts can also occur in our chapters for which PMI does serve us with an own program in order to assist in the event of a deadlock situation. To get to know further details on the program please register yourself to the PMI Conflict Resolution Program.
d. PMI Updates, Tools and Resources: What’s the PMI suite of credentials we do have nowadays? How did the acceptance of all credentials change from 2010 to 2015? What will be changed in our CCR Program in the next two years and what does it mean to us and our chapters?
In the time span from 2010 to 2015 we perceived quite a significant increase of 88% in the amount of PMP® credential holders, summing up of up to 657,775 active certifications, while further striving path of attractiveness of PMI suite in coming up with new credentials such as PMI-ACP®, PfMP®, and lately PMI-PBA®. This diversity is a reaction of needs from different stakeholders such as industry, non-profit organizations and ultimately us as project managers. Due to latest market needs in enhancing our capabilities and knowledge a PMI Talent Triangle (Leadership, Technical Project Management and Strategic and Business Management) got envisaged that will change our way of claiming for any PDU’s in the near future. Therefore, please take a look at following website and get familiar with any upcoming adaptations.
2. Key Note Speakers
a. “Be an influencer”, Vinh Giang
Vinh inspired all attendees with all his wisdom, life experience, suggestive power and magician performance so that he got a standing ovation at the end of his show. Main takeaway was to make the 1st step into the direction of our own vision rather than hesitating ourselves and even getting stuck in our beliefs, feelings and apparent constraints.
b. “The Culture Map: Breaking through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business”, Erin Meyer
With a great enthusiasm and experience Erin showed and explained to us how the ignorance of cultural differences can lead to disastrous situations which we as project managers can easily get involved due to an increasing globalization. By showing to us her eight-scale model (Communicating, Evaluating, Persuading, Leading, Deciding, Trusting, Disagreeing, and Scheduling) she made it very clear to us how different cultures do commonly behave in various situations a manager can easily find herself or himself confronted with. To make sure that all attendees get a grip on all details she gave her book, “the CULTURE MAP”, to everyone as a gift.
Thanks to a great preparation and support from the PMI® UK Chapter combined with all contributions from all speakers, PMI EMEA and PMI Board of Directors our LIM was a success to everyone being involved. By looking on all results and networking opportunities, it is a must for all project managers worldwide to join the LIM in the near future as well.
PMI Cologne Chapter
www.pmicc.de
V.i.S.d.P. VP Marketing Robert Baumgartner and President Klaus Stephan
