Out on a LIM
17 May 2010
PMI runs regional congresses, as many of you will be aware or indeed have attended in the past. Perhaps less well known is the Leadership conference that is run on the weekend immediately prior to these congresses. This meeting is open to Chapter and SIG officers (and in the UK this would include regional chairs, board members and the volunteer of the year). Conference fee and attendance expenses are met by the Chapter if funds permit.
The purpose of the conference is to inspire and educate those volunteers who are currently working in support of the visible face of PMI – to whit the Chapters. As tenure in the UK is for two years with a maximum term overall, this is one way of ensuring best practice is shared and spread, contacts are made and the workings of PMI are explained for new comers. It also allows us to challenge the PMI leadership on their service to members and clarify directly matters of policy and future direction. Things can get lively at times.
Attending my second LIM (last year in Amsterdam, this year Milan) I used my prior knowledge to advantage: Rule one: Locate the Swiss Chapter folk as quickly as possible – they bring chocolate. Rule two: To brush away any sense of complacency find the Italian chapter(s) as they work miracles (produce books, run charity events, primary and secondary school courses, broker world peace – you name it!). Rule three: For organisational excellence go find the Frankfurt guys . Rule four: If any topic starts to pall you can always whip up a consensus with your fellow attendees by raising the subject of the user friendliness of the PMI central website. We all know and are grateful that we are 3d beings and not Avatars. If we were many would have gone in there to look for the buried treasure but few would have returned. Have you ever tried to navigate with success on that thing? (Note: If you have, please send me your CV I am looking for some bright folk to join my team).
On that topic, to bring a bit of balance PMI has revamped the PDU registration (for those certified) and it is a lot easier to register. They also piloted the automated registration of PDU’s (and this works) using a swipe card. That technology would be for Registered Education Providers but shows the direction that PMI is taking. The search facility is also undergoing upgrades and the new version is in test. We made some pleas to make sure the credential checker is more prominently displayed. You may not be aware that you can check the status of anyone credential (you do not have to be a member of PMI to do this). Spread the word to job agencies and let your HR department know, you earned it so let’s make sure it doesn’t get abused. PMI will act if informed people are claiming accreditation when they don’t have one.
The LIM is a mix of sessions on good practice from other chapters (that gives us ideas and material to adopt in the UK). For example, giving new and renewing members a voucher entitling you to bring a guest for free to our events. Seems like a really good idea to me (thanks Swiss chapter!), a BOGOF benefit to encourage new folk to join.
More technical (governance) based sessions included best practice in framing chapter policy for tenure, grievance, elections, finance and metrics. This is maybe not quite so exciting but its necessary if we are to be a good stewards of the chapter income – working for the UK membership. No worse anyway than another session on EVM.
Next week the board will discuss and hopefully approve initiatives inspired from our learning at the conference, to bring the good ideas from the wider PMI community into reality at home in the UK.
Finally and not on the subject of LIM, for those of you in the 10 and 15 year club (UK Chapter Membership) I have finally obtained some rather spiffing pins to mark your status. These will be despatched to you shortly. I awarded one to Chris Field (President) and Nick Lake (Outreach) at the conference to recognise their contribution over 10 years and very smart they looked too.
