It was good to see the Association for Project Management (APM) today breaking their “dignified silence” regarding the progress of their quest to attain the guardianship of Chartered Status for project professionals in the UK. Andrew Bragg the CEO of the Association confirmed that the APM is still committed to achieving this Status in as short a timescale as possible. Bragg acknowledged that their “dignified silence” and project management “don’t always go hand in hand” but maintained that it was necessary in order “to allow for due process of consultation amongst the Queens Advisors”. In terms of the overall progress of what is probably the largest change project the APM has ever seen there was no update regarding the anticipated timescales on an outcome from the formal petition which was submitted to the Privy Council back in October 2008.
Whilst the wait for news on the application continues, the APM used this opportunity to tell the community that they are launching a project professionalism pilot which focuses on the five dimensions “created by an expert, pan sector working group” of; breadth of knowledge, depth of competence, achievement through professional qualifications, commitment through CPD and accountability through adherence to a code of professional conduct.
The team at Arras People welcome the fact that the APM have finally broken their silence on the Chartered Status and as an organisation we are 100% behind initiatives that will support increased professionalism within project management. We still have reservations about the process and how inclusive it has been, but like the 50% of project professionals who responded to the 2010 Arras People Project Management Benchmark Report (PMBR 2010) agree that we should “have a single body that represents, regulates and enhances our reputation”.
Regarding Braggs “dignified silence”, as project management professionals we firmly believe that SILENCE has no place in a change project; we believe this has been a fundamental flaw in the APM’s approach as the silence will always be filled. As practitioners we believe communication is key and ALL stakeholders should be updated even if the message is “there is no update, but we are doing xxx”.
We are also concerned that the emphasis of Bragg’s message is around “support from leading organisations across the public and private sectors”. In our opinion the APM has shown too much emphasis for this group of stakeholders whilst failing to engage with the wider practitioner community, who after all are major stakeholders in this process and its outcome. As a respondent to the PMBR 2010 said “where is the debate?” people don’t like change that is done to them!
With regard to the APM’s work to define project professionalism; in project speak that’s great initiation but we must wait to see how “project professionalism” will be executed and again what this means for the project practitioner. We especially look forward to the “accountability through adherence to a code of professional conduct” and how this will be adopted by the wider community of PPM practitioners in the UK.
Note! By Arras People’s calculation of 80,000 PPM practitioners active in the UK (PMBR 2009), the APM has approximately 20% of the community as members. If this is checked against the alternative APM calculation of 300,000 practitioners their membership accounts for just 6% of the community.
The press release in full:
CHARTERED STATUS REMAINS TOP PRIORITY FOR APM
Interviewed in the March issue of APM’s Project magazine, CEO Andrew Bragg confirms that APM is committed to achieving chartered status for the Association in as short a timescale as possible.
The in-depth interview explains the rationale for the continuing ‘dignified silence’: to allow for due process of consultation amongst the Queen’s Advisers. Bragg acknowledges that progress of the application has been slower than initial planning assumptions. These were based on the highest levels of support from leading organisations across the public and private sectors that any association has ever achieved for its campaign for chartered status.
The article confirms that, in response to demands for a single professional standard, APM is to launch a pilot in April 2010 for the new project professional standard. Created by an expert, pan-sector working group the standard will be rigorous, whilst the routes to achievement will be diverse and flexible, reflecting the wide range of career paths by which professional competence in project management can be achieved.
Referring to APM’s ‘professionalism’ agenda, Bragg says:
“We are determined to maintain the huge momentum for raising professionalism within project management that the chartered campaign has created. In APM, we now define project professionalism as comprising five dimensions: breadth of knowledge, depth of competence, achievement through professional qualifications, commitment through CPD and accountability through adherence to a code of professional conduct. We are committed to increasing awareness and achievement of these five dimensions across the many organisations intent on improving project management capability.”
The interview will be reproduced in full on APM’s website at http://www.apm5dimensions.com/content/chartered-status-remains-top-priority-apm
Practitioners made the campaign for chartered status happen. Our members, who are almost all practitioners themselves, voted for the APM to apply for chartered status at the AGM in 2007. Practitioners have been responsible for helping to define the professional standard, through a continuous process of consultation and collaboration. Practitioners will be testing the standard in the pilot project about to kick off.
In the early days, we held focus groups with individual self-employed practitioners and those employed in organisations large and small to ensure that the professional standard meets their requirements. A survey we conducted in 2007 showed that 75% of non-APM member respondents were interested in becoming chartered practitioners. Over the past two years, we have been making regular presentations at branches, in corporate organisations, at conferences and exhibitions to explain the development process to practitioners and to give people a chance to challenge and enhance the programme. The support remains as strong as ever, despite the time it’s taking.
The members of the chartered working group who are involved in the development of the professional standard are themselves practitioners or are responsible for the professional development of practitioners.
The point about organisational support for the charter is that the 50 pan sector organisations whose leaders put their names to letters of support, are either users or suppliers of project management services. Their primary reason for offering their support was to gain recognition for the profession and practitioners and to drive up professional standards.
Members of APM already work within the framework of a code of professional conduct. It can be found on our website at https://www.apm.org.uk/ProfessionalConduct.asp