by DharamCW | Jun 26, 2020 | General
The impact of Covid-19
The key to surviving a global crisis is to display resilience by adapting to the ever-changing circumstances and giving up current practices in favour of those that are more tailor-made for the situation at hand. Given that Covid-19 has led to an unpredictable stagnation of growth, we are now faced with what is known in project management terms as the “unknown unknown”, which are risks that come from completely unexpected situations. We are witnessing this in the form of a disease outbreak that has upset all of our lives.
Resilience of Project Management Professionals
Entire business pyramid collapses have left organizations with the question of whether or not to change their entire mode of operations. Naturally, the answer is to adopt any means necessary to ensure that they continue to generate value for their beneficiaries. With a PgMP® certification, program managers can add value to their organizations and truly make a meaningful difference in this aspect. There will always be a demand for qualified professionals in the market. A PgMP® certification allows its holders to stand apart from their peers.
PMP® and PgMP® certification – What is the difference?
PMP®: It is purely knowledge-based and theoretical, relying on test-taking to quantify a candidate’s ability in recollecting facts and data. There are over a million holders of this certification globally.
PgMP®: It is competency-based, and it requires the candidate to become acquainted with theoretical concepts and demonstrate their applications in a practical setting, akin to the real world. The candidate is subjected to a peer review where he must explain the thought process that led to his decision. Such rigorous scrutiny has kept the bar high and has helped produce some of the most competent program managers that the world has ever seen. There are only around 3100 holders of this certification.
PMP® | PgMP®
In this environment of job insecurity and mass layoffs, such certifications are the most worthy qualifications that a professional can possess, to project his skill set and capabilities.
Value management: The generation of value is at the core of any organization. It may take on the form of project, program and portfolio management. Still, it is ultimately based on a single, underlying framework that binds them together, which is termed as “value management”. When program managers realize and embody this simple principle, an increase in revenue, market share and share value is bound to follow.
Value | Change | Risk
Change management is the ability of a manager to respond to disruptions, and it is the key to survival. But even when things change, some things will hold true at all times; one of which is the importance of the bond between organizations and their stakeholders. In times of adversity, program managers must display resilience and instil confidence in not just their organizations or their clients, but also their community at large.
Risk management: According to the PMI-PMBOK guidelines, risk is a subset of threats and opportunities. Where one sees a threat, another senses a chance, and by wreaking havoc on traditional establishments, the current economic climate has revealed gaps in the same that can be exploited by opportunistic individuals. The example that comes to the forefront is the health-care sector, and especially companies that manufacture masks, which have directly benefited from this disruption. However, this does not tarnish their reputation, as the global pandemic was neither orchestrated nor premeditated. Instead, they are merely providing an essential commodity that has gained tremendous value seemingly overnight. Hence, they are right to capitalize on this timely outcome.
So, while the path is clear for the health-care sector at the moment, it leaves professionals in other fields without clear guidance. Given the increased availability of free time, they ought to set their sights on an immediate short-term vision and leverage this half-year time frame to up-skill themselves, such as by acquiring PMI certifications, and the PgMP® in particular. This strategy would not only secure one’s immediate future but also pay dividends in the long term.
Staying ahead of the curve:
One of the ramifications of mass layoffs is the sudden arrival of experienced professionals in the job market pool, which inevitably fosters intense competition among job seekers. Driven by desperation, even veterans in the industry are willing to work for lower wages, which further snuffs out the ever-shrinking prospects of inexperienced, first-time jobseekers. As for those who have managed to keep their jobs, they still face the dilemma of maintaining relevancy within their organizations and justifying their pay. In both cases, an advanced certification such as the PgMP® will go a long way in proving one’s ability to create value, which is the hallmark of a competent manager. As stated by Michael Porter during the 2014 PMO conference, managers must always compete on value creation rather than a price reduction.
Staying ahead of the curve
Growth mindset vs predefined mindset
Growth mindset: A program manager who possesses this mindset is willing to adapt to changing situations by following the best course of action even it requires him to give up standard procedures.
Predefined mindset: A project manager who possesses this mindset sticks to the standard procedure regardless of the situation at hand.
Growth mindset vs predefined mindset
Despite the aura of despair in our current scenario, there is a case to be made for a bright future for those resilient managers who are willing to adopt a growth mindset and let go of a predefined one. And in terms of value proposition, an advanced certification can lay down the foundation for a sustainable future for one’s business as well as personal career growth.
In the below video, you can watch my interaction with Thomas Walenta and Olivier Lazar on the Resilience of Project Management Professionals amidst the COVID-19 crisis.
You can subscribe to my personal YouTube Channel using the link https://bit.ly/2NDY8wd. In this channel you can find videos of success stories, Q&A sessions and interactions with project-program-portfolio management experts. Subscribe to the channel and get notified on new videos.
For any questions related to Project Management training and certifications, you can book an obligation free 15 minutes session with me by visiting http://talktodharam.com/
View all our Online PgMP® Mentoring Programs
View all our Online PfMP® Mentoring Programs
PgMP4U LinkedIn Group: http://bit.ly/2SBPwIp
PfMP4U LinkedIn Group: http://bit.ly/31P7GKR
Email: [email protected]
by DharamCW | Mar 17, 2020 | General
The Coronavirus has gripped countries across the globe and employers are now changing their plans and policies as they prioritize employees’ safety first. The primary concern of the governments, organizations, have been aggressively trying to stop or limit the spread of the virus. However, life cannot be a standstill. With necessary precautions in place, we must carry on with both our personal and professional life. Governments in your respective countries are on top of things and are undertaking comprehensive precautionary measures to reduce the risk of transmission. The scientific world is still not able to find a vaccine that could immune individuals from the virus.
Employees and Employers are both anxious and concerned. Currently, employers are providing compulsory leaves, encouraging employees to work remotely and decentralizing the workforce as and where possible to avoid large teams to operate from one single location. In-person meetings have been converted to virtual meetings, and employees have been suggested to use video conferencing to attend their meetings. International conglomerates such as JPMorgan Chase, Apple, Kraft Heinz, HSBC Holdings, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ford Motors, LG Electronics and Hershey Co have all barred their employee travels to affected regions. Also, many corporate events, meetings, conferences and shows have been postponed indefinitely. Specifically, employees returning from areas of widespread, have been mandated to take 14-28 days of paid leave. BCP’s in place for tackling contagious disease has been triggered to ensure operations are not affected.
Measures To Be Taken
Personally, my company vCare Project Management has been affected by this, with many of our confirmed training programs both corporate and classroom, planned in locations worldwide such as Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Riyadh, Al-Khobar, Seattle, San-Francisco have been rescheduled or postponed indefinitely. This was a big disappointment for me on both personal and professional lines. Professionally, our commitment to students who wanted to undertake the programs in person got affected. Our plans with regards to their preparation, application process, individual learning curves, training delivery etc. need to be altered now to meet the new timelines. Also, my objective and target for 2020 to support a minimum of 100 PgMP’s and 30 PfMP’s to their success are now under jeopardy.
With these thoughts on my mind, I was skimming through my LinkedIn feed yesterday where I was suggested an article that has been published in the Washington Post. It detailed how Sir Isaac Newton survived the great plague of London in 1665 via social distancing and while doing so, how he was also able to emerge more successful in his career as a scientist. While he retreated to his abode and spent a couple of years there because of the plague outbreak, he was able to generate many hypotheses including his early works on calculus, the theory of optics and the most famous attribution to him till date, the ‘theories of gravity and motion’. This period in his life could be classified as ‘annus mirabilis’, meaning “year of wonders”.
Reading this was a huge source of inspiration to me, and this has made me take to resolve. Taking a leaf out of Newton’s life, we all too could do wonders in the coming months by emerging more robust than before.
Professionals who were long postponing their plans to prepare for your certification journeys due to travel or time issues or availability concerns etc. can now benefit from this situation. Companies whose business operations today stand disrupted due to the present situation and whose workforce or nature of work cant be supported through remote work too can now benefit from this situation.
Not sure how long we have to wait for the corona virus-related restrictions to be lifted off. But vCare Project Management and its trainers are brazen to take up this challenge to support aspirants and organizations in these tough times. With their higher availability now, many aspirants have already reached out to me to capitalize on the current context for completing their certification journeys. So we are organizing multiple virtual training programs to cater to them.
One of my corporate program for Telstra in Melbourne too was put on hold due to the virus outbreak. With the acceptance of the company and the candidates, I converted it into an online virtual program, and the classes have been completed successfully. I have received great feedback from the participants and the company for accommodating according to their requirement. Now, this program has helped me to provide them with even more value and implies that companies too can make use of this option where they can authorize or approve for long-standing training programs to their workforce. Get your staff trained now so that when the tough times pass, they are encouraged to combat your business challenges later.
We are planning to conduct three different types of virtual online boot camps addressing multiple time zones worldwide. Also, this could be a great chance to study with a very diverse group of individuals.
Virtual Bootcamps
Because of the hardships that the companies and professionals are going through currently, I have decided to offer multiple discounts and flexible payment options to these programs. Stated offers will be decided on a case by case basis and to know your eligibility, reach out to me in a personal message or kindly mail to [email protected]. Please share this information with your friends who would find it useful.
- 3 Days Virtual Program (Standard 9 AM – 5 PM) with a couple of breaks in between
- 5 Days Virtual Program (5*4 hours / session) Half a Day programs
- 4 Weeks – 12 Weeks Weekend only Virtual Program (1 – 4 hours per day, either Saturday or Sunday or Both)
Online Bootcamps Calendar
Following are the program links,
PgMP® , 4-8 April 2020 – http://bit.ly/2QacgPd
PfMP® , 16-20 April 2020 – http://bit.ly/33hDeKj
PgMP® , 20 – 22 April 2020 – http://bit.ly/2Wc3GU0
PgMP® , 1-3 May 2020 – http://bit.ly/3aVakC6
PfMP® , 8-10 May 2020 – http://bit.ly/2QeHG7d
PgMP® , 10-14 May 2020 – http://bit.ly/2TWCN3C
Prince2® starting from March 29, 2020 (10 Weeks Weekend Program) – http://bit.ly/2vRu8ry
PMP® starting from March 29, 2020 (12 Weeks Weekend Program) – http://bit.ly/3aQr7X0
Leading SAFe 5.0® starting from March 29, 2020 (4 Weeks Weekend Program) – http://bit.ly/2xAKSDX
View all our Online Self E-Learning Programs : http://bit.ly/3b2HOid
I encourage you all to utilize this lean period that has been imposed by nature on us. Other than the programs planned above, I am going to make use of this time by creating more podcasts with project management experts in the coming days on various topics surrounding Project-Program-Portfolio Management. These discussions will provide critical insights on multiple titles. Please find below my latest interaction with Vincenzo Arnone on “How Program Management can act as a distinguishing factor.”
You can gain access to these discussions and many more scheduled to happen in the coming days by subscribing to my YouTube channel by visiting http://bit.ly/2RMvsTv. Apart from gaining knowledge, one can also post their queries in the comments section below with the hashtag #AskDharam. Selective questions will be clarified on the following videos whenever we find the time.
Also I am planning to document many success stories of my previous students through webinar sessions which would help motivate current and future aspirants in their pursuit of certification and career success. One such event planned on March 22, 2020, is that of Ahmad Hassan, from the USA, who completed his PgMP on March 09, 2020. You can register for the webinar event by signing up using this link, http://bit.ly/39YmOJa
PgMP4U is an online mobile application that helps one to prepare for the PgMP® exam ‘On the Go’. The app gives the essential support required for cracking the PgMP® exam.
Prepare for PgMP® | ‘On the Go’
Our telegram group will assist aspirants in preparing for the PgMP® exam. It is a very active group with vibrant discussions happening daily. Individuals can get inspired more through the analysis and brainstorming happening in the group. If interested, kindly message me to add you in the group.
For any questions related to Project Management training and certifications, you can book an obligation free 15 minutes session with me by visiting talktodharam.com
PgMP4U LinkedIn Group: http://bit.ly/2SBPwIp
PfMP4U LinkedIn Group: http://bit.ly/31P7GKR
Email: [email protected]
Link to the Washington Post Article: https://wapo.st/39WfjlZ
by DharamCW | Dec 6, 2019 | General
It is my immense pleasure to announce that vCare Project Management and PMI Puget Sound Chapter has formed a synergy for helping aspirants of PgMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMI-PBA®, and PMI-SP®.
The PMI Puget Sound Chapter was established in 1984 and is one of the largest Chapters in the United States. Its vision is to increase the awareness, effectiveness and value of professional project management for practitioners and organizations. In alignment with their mission of advancing the project management profession, they have opted to ally with vCare Project Management.
project management excellence
Since its inception in 2011, vCare Project Management has been providing training, consulting, advisory, resourcing services in project-program-portfolio management space. Our specialized training programs meet requirements of PMP®, PgMP®, PfMP®, RMP®, ACP®, SP®, PBA®, Prince2®, ITIL® and SAFe® aspirants. Our offerings also include customized training programs to meet organizational requirements. We are a global R.E.P (Registered Education Provider) of PMI and were the first to get R.E.P status based on PgMP®.
vCare Project Management
Our collaboration with PMI Chapters began in Australia with the PMI Sydney Chapter in October 2014. Since then we have allied with other PMI Chapters in the region including PMI New Zealand Chapter from November 2014, PMI Melbourne Chapter from February 2015, PMI Adelaide Chapter from January 2016 and PMI Queensland Chapter from October 2016 in supporting their project management training requirements. We are also proud sponsors of the PMI Australia Conference since 2016.
Our Collaborations
We have also collaborated with the PMI North India Chapter, PMI Hyderabad Chapter, PMI Singapore Chapter and PMI Dubai Chapter.
With the beginning of 2019, vCare Project Management decided to serve directly from the USA to meet the increasing training requirements of professionals from this region. Our initial collaborations were with the PMI San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and PMI Nashville Chapter on May 2019, and now our partnership has extended to PMI Puget Sound (Seattle) Chapter from November 2019.
2019 Collaborations
My Special thanks to Ronald Tschech, VP of Education, PMI Puget Sound Chapter for facilitating this collaboration with vCare Project Management. PMI Puget Sound Chapter members enjoy a strong network of support in project management through education and volunteerism. In addition, such a Chapter Membership saves money on PMI certification events and exams conducted in association with the Chapter.
First of our planned training programs is the PgMP® boot camp that occurs on February 21-23, 2020. Ronald Tschech, VP of Education, PMI Puget Sound Chapter is the event organizer and Bala Dodoye-Alali, Lead Director of Professional Development, PMI Puget Sound Chapter, will be the event lead. Early-bird registration for the program closes on January 15, 2020, and final registration closes on February 18, 2020.
To know more about the Program, visit :
http://bit.ly/2PeWS2W (Chapter Link, Geo-restricted) or http://bit.ly/2Lqt0iW
PgMP® Bootcamp
PgMP®s From North America
We have also planned for events covering other certifications such as PfMP®, PMI-RMP®, PMI-PBA® and PMI-SP® within the next year. Will keep you people posted on those.
We are hoping to pass on the value of vCare Project Management to all the professionals attending the programs and expecting a great success in this collaboration with the PMI Puget Sound chapter.
We look forward to collaboration possibilities to meet the training, consulting, advisory, resourcing requirements in the project-program-portfolio management space. We are currently in talks with many PMI chapters and Organizations for a mutually beneficial partnership. Stay tuned for updates.
Are you preparing for PgMP®? You might be working as a Project Manager, but can be eligible for PgMP®? Let us talk and find out how I can make your PgMP® / PfMP® journey easy and fun. Please book 15-min obligation-free appointment with me by visiting talktodharam.com
You can visit our YouTube Channel for all past and future webinar recordings of PgMP® and PfMP®. Every month, we are adding 2-3 sessions. If you subscribe, you can get the notification for every new session.
Join PgMP4U Telegram group for free and enjoy the daily discussions on PgMP® exam preparation. This group has about 365 members, and it is a very active group. If you are interested in this group, please download the Telegram Messenger and send me a message.
Our PgMP4U App is ready to be downloaded on Android phones. Sorry, the iPhone version is coming soon. You will find this app most comprehensive, and it will assist you in preparing for your exam.
PgMP4U
Check Out our Online Mentoring Programs,
Program Management PgMP®- Online Mentoring Programs – Click Here
Portfolio Management PfMP®- Online Mentoring Programs – Click Here
Project Management PMP®- Online Mentoring Programs – Click Here
If you have any questions related to Project Management training and certifications, please book your 15 mins free obligation session by visiting talktodharam.com
Please feel free to call me or message me at +1 6502830123
Email: [email protected]
“Working together for SUCCESS.”
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