Introducing the Project Manager Competency Development (PMCD) Framework

The PMI, Project Management Institute Switzerland Chapter has been working on new initiatives to provide more services to his members and to create more value for the membership. Antonia van der Holst, Vice-President of Community Outreach, has been collaborating with certified professional coaches to develop a new project manager competence development service based on the PMI, Project Management Institute’s (2007), Project Manager Competency Development (PMCD) Framework. Jaume Gallifa, MBA, PMP, ACC, has been appointed as the Program Director of the initiative.

The PMI is well known for the Project Management Body of Knowledge standard (PMBOK) as well as for the Program and Portfolio standards. In line with the ISO quality standard approach, the PMBOK focuses on describing the knowledge, tools, techniques and processes used in managing most projects most of the time.

Two other less known but not less important standards complete the list of foundational PMI standards: The Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) and the Project Manager Competency Development (PMCD) Framework – Second Edition, published in 2007. These standards look at the organizational and human dimensions of project management.

It is interesting to observe that the PMI PMP certification is mainly based on the PMBOK content and process approach while the success of any project is mostly based on organizational project management maturity and the project manager competences.

With this in mind the PMI Switzerland Chapter has recently chartered and approved a multi-year competence development program that has the objective of promoting the development of project manager competences by offering marketing, communication, evangelization, information and competence development services to his members.

The competence development program will be launched in pilot mode in September 2013 in Swiss Romande during a Chapter public event that will take place in Lausanne. Depending on the results of the pilot phase, a second pilot could broaden the approach to all of Switzerland.

By promoting and providing solutions and services for developing the personal and performance competences of his members, the PMI Chapter intends to position itself strategically as a key partner of the project management community of practice in Switzerland.

Jaume Gallifa, MBA, PMP, ACC is Managing Director at Gallifa & Partner LLC and can be reached at jaume.gallifa@gallifa.ch

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