Navigating out of Comfort Zone to achieve your goals & Latest PgMP® / PfMP® Stats 2020

Navigating out of Comfort Zone to achieve your goals & Latest PgMP® / PfMP® Stats 2020

The term “Comfort Zone” has been put to use in professional citations since the 1991 work “Danger in the comfort zone”. It became widely popular after the paper “From Comfort Zone to Performance Management” by Alasdair White in 2008. “Comfort zone” is to be understood as a behavioral state from which an individual operates or works or carries on his way of life. Comfort zone is almost unique to everyone, and it may or may not be equivalent to another individual.

In our life, we do come out of our comfort zones many times, though we rarely recognize it. Your first day at school, moving from school to college, college to your first job, making your next big career move, etc. could be stated as examples.

Comfort zone

Comfort Zone

At these points in time, we would have experienced a lot of pressure to adapt, expand our skills and continue to learn and evolve. Our inner ego would have pushed us to get out of being labelled as incompetent, inauthentic or an imposter and succeed in the new role assigned to us by time.

It’s also critical to understand first the opportunities this journey out of your comfort zone would reward you. Here we discuss some ways using which we can navigate ourselves out of our comfort zones to achieve success.

Indicators of you being in a comfort zone

Let’s take a case where you have been working as a manager in a reputed organization, handling specific operations, and you are awesome at what you do. If you have specific career goals, and you have identified your destination, you need to understand whether you are currently in a comfort zone first.

Some indicators could be,

  • You are doing your job with ease and make consistent paychecks
  • You don’t have anybody to benchmark within the organization or the industry forum
  • You are pretty much self-sustained, and you don’t see yourself any scope for further growth
Being in a comfort zone

Being in a comfort zone

Comfort zone Assessment Questions

Here are some questions which can help you understand if you are already in the comfort zone.

  1. When was the last time you were very stressed in making some decisions at work?
  2. When did you last take up a new challenge?
  3. When did you do something creative and new?
  4. Are you happy with what you are doing?
  5. Are you sure that you are not lost nor out of control?

Why do we need to move out of the Comfort Zone?

When we are in the comfort zone, we don’t learn; we don’t evolve. Learning gets halted, and we fail to embrace new ideas and concepts. We stop experiencing newer things in life, and this might result in loss of acquiring critical behavior or skills. We naturally become the victim of behavior patterns which we are used to as the time spent on comfort zone becomes longer.

Why do we need to move out of the Comfort Zone?

Why do we need to move out of the Comfort Zone?

Gone are the days where living in such a context is not a life challenging issue for an individual. Times have changed, and in today’s professional world, only those who embrace continuous learning and adaptability are better poised to succeed.

Understanding the Fear zone

For any individual contributor of a team, the moment you feel that you have the capability coupled with an excellent opportunity to be part of leadership or management, your journey out of your comfort zone has begun.

When you think about doing something new, you naturally get fear, or you feel terrified. When this thing happens, most of us cloak ourselves with any of these following excuses:

  • Yeah, I’m doing what I know very well, and there is nothing wrong about it.
  • Why do we need to change the status when everything is going fine today?
  • Having a false impression that you have future proof skills because you are thriving today.
  • I have maneuvered myself this far, why do I need to propel my limits further.
Understanding the Fear zone

Understanding the Fear zone

When we are in the fear zone, we also tend to be affected by other opinions and get annoyed. Typically, in projects, some people can be identified in a peculiar way wherein they will not share any information due to insecurity or fear. They always worry about what is going to happen.

These are individuals who build a shell around themselves thinking what will others think If I ask this question, maybe people will laugh at me, ridicule me, etc. These are good signs indicating you are in the fear zone.

What is needed to come out of the fear zone?

  1. Courage
  2. Compassion
  3. Wisdom
Come out of the fear zone

Come out of the fear zone

Have the courage to understand and look situation like “You are not alone” in this. Look at the situations more positively. Consume information which is more reliable and that which will lead you the right direction. Trust yourself first, and also others around you. Get around with people who are your well-wishers and find them within the project organization. Discuss your fears openly with them take baby steps to come out of it. Believe that when you confront your fears, you will also be able to help others confront the fear and manage it better for the overall good of the organization. It might take longer than you think to come out of it, but it is alright. You will be able to maneuver out of the fear zone and move towards reaching your full potential by getting transformed at the Learning Zone.

Most individuals tend to get stuck in this zone or go back to their comfort zone. You must stay in the course of advancing into the subsequent zone. The journey is more rewarding than the end goal of getting beyond the growth zone. Now let’s look at the learning zone.

Learning Zone: Knowing vs Doing Gap

Learning Zone

Learning Zone

You are managing a project in India; you have a multi-cultural and a multi-lingual environment. Such a context could position you to get out of the comfort zone to interact, manage these stakeholders.

You, an expert in process manufacturing, is assigned to work on a new project where you are dealing with discrete manufacturing. Here you will have the pressure of handling something new which you haven’t done before.

Given these kinds of situations, project managers tend to look at various resources in terms of books, YouTube videos, courses and prepare themselves. Yet, they will have the anxiety as there is a Knowing-Doing gap. In this case, the learning ought to get transformed as behavior.

Dr Andy Molinsky is a professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School and author of “Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge and Build Confidence” recommends 3Cs for the same they are:

  • Conviction
  • Customization
  • Clarity
3Cs

3Cs

Conviction is more towards understanding the deep sense of purpose which can come from the activities which can help your self-esteem or when you have the intent of helping or enabling others. For example, you have a challenge in your project to work on a Gantt Chart, which is essential to be presented to the management. You find that no one else in the team knows about it. Now you need to have the conviction to build it yourself first time as you want to enable the team to help them understand the project situation better. That intent helps you to get you the transformation required. This way, you have responded to the challenge, and also acquired a new skill in the process.

Customization is more of tweaking the solution in your way. Every project organization or PMOs could be different. What worked in your previous office might not work here, as people have cultural and behavior differences. You must customize the data, context, terminology, presentation to their needs by taking steps completely new compared to what you have done in the past. Being adaptive is the most beautiful thing people always admire.

Clarity serves the situation where it is very distorted and chaos. Especially in Project/Program/Portfolio management, where pressing priorities of activities create a nightmare for the managers and resources become contentious. Step away for a short while to take stock of the situation, put yourselves in other person shoes, Self-reflect upon the situation in the right context. Many times, reaching out to a coach or mentor would help in the situation.

Keep building your resilience by doing good things which you are not comfortable. Some simple examples could be Saying “Hello” to strangers, ordering food other than your routine. These acts could increase your will power and mental attitude. By doing these, you can make learning zone your comfort zone and start advancing into the growth zone. Consistently focusing on moving out of the comfort zone is the key.

Growth Zone

Instead of thinking “What if I’m not good enough?”, thinking more like “What if I’m good enough and moving towards success?” would help to be in the growth zone.

Instead of worrying and being stranded at the learning zone, identify the gap in terms of training, upskilling needs, mentoring, coaching needs that navigate towards your objectives. For example, if you are lacking in risk management or project management and need guidance, reach out to the right consultants or coaches or mentors who can help you succeed.

Eradicate the habitual negative thinking and internal fears. With the help of knowledge that you acquired in your learning zone; you should be able to manage things in the growth zone easily. Always ask “What’s the best, most productive action I can take to get the best possible outcome given the situation?”. Change your environment to be positive, have positivity anchors and use visualization techniques. By changing the internal representation of the problem, your ability to recover from that is increased manifold. As a project manager, there are a lot of dependencies and constraints you ought to manage; these dependencies and constraints need to be overcome to eliminate the fear of failure.

Growth Zone

Growth Zone

Typically, negative experiences are what creates fear within. If you believe and value whatever you are doing, you will find a way. You will begin to see them as challenges as opposed to problems or obstacles. Make your goals SMART and start recording your smaller achievements in a book which you can use to track and repeatedly revisit to gain motivation. By eliminating needless fears and factors that hamper your progress, you can break out and live a life beyond limits!

PgMP® / PfMP® certifications

For most senior professionals in the project-program-portfolio management community, there has been no bigger phobia than the PgMP® / PfMP® certification exams. Over the past few years, an aura of unconquerability has been associated surrounding these certifications, but nothing can be far from the actual truth. With proper guidance supported by a well laid out action plan, followed by commitment and hard work, these certifications are achievable, and many of my students are witnesses to the fact. Let us look at the recent stats, concerning these two certifications to understand how exactly this community has managed to thrive irrespective of the current context.

Between 1st July 2020 and 1st Sept 2020, 60 professionals successfully attained their PgMP®, of which 12 are my students. Congratulations to all 60 of them for continuing to have the inner drive to succeed in these tough times.

Welcoming 60 New PgMPs

Welcoming 60 New PgMP®s

 

Welcoming 60 New PgMPs

Welcoming 60 New PgMP®s

 

Welcoming 60 New PgMPs

Welcoming 60 New PgMP®s

Regarding PgMP®, as on 1st Sept 2020, vCare has contributed to the success of 289 global PgMP®s (out of 3,286) from 43 countries.

vCare Project Management PgMP Stats

vCare Project Management PgMP® Stats

 

Global PgMP Stats

Global PgMP® Stats

Between 1st July 2020 and 1st Sept 2020, 27 professionals successfully attained their PfMP®, of which 2 are my students.

Welcoming 27 New PfMP®s

Welcoming 27 New PfMP®s

 

Welcoming 27 New PfMP®s

Welcoming 27 New PfMP®s

As on 1st Sept 2020, Global PfMP® count is 911, with 41 of them (5%) with a successful pass rate of 100% being aided by our services.

Global PfMP® Stats

Global PfMP® Stats

Special thanks to the 14 students for entrusting me with their PgMP® / PfMP® certification journey.

1. Vikas Kumar  2. Gautam Bhatia  3. Jason Gardel  4. Faysal Ghauri

5. Tushar Rawal  6. Oleg Kazalov  7. Kalo Atanasov  8. Ranjit Oberai

9. Ambarish Gupta  10. Hemansh Rastogi  11. Vincy Li  12. Natalie Romanoff

13. Omair Mustafa  14. Hisham Sami Ghulam

Even as this pandemic crisis is still rolling out and impacting our economy and jobs, many professionals have elected to emerge out of their comfort zones and work towards pursuing their learning/certification goals. For us, as a leading training provider, the challenge was to customize and optimize our training delivery to meet the online learning requirements that time has thrust on us. What we saw as a challenge and a difficult mountain to climb initially, later turned out to be a smooth journey filled with more advantageous in terms of course delivery, benefiting both the trainers and students on many fronts. Whoever is taking advantage of this lean period to lunge forward are already starting to see benefits with their professional life.

My opinion is that 95% of people stay in their comfort zone. Around 3% people take steps to walk in the fear zone and stay there or come back to comfort zone. 1.5% people stay in the learning zone, and some of them come back to Fear Zone or even Comfort Zone. 0.49% people reach to the Growth Zone, some come back to the lower zones. Less than 0.01% of people go above or stretch beyond the Growth Zone and do wonders. They never return to the lower zone as they move with the escape velocity. Do come out of your comfort zone; the sky is your limit. For those already in the sky, space is your limit. Trust me; you will live a life beyond your dreams. Between, no one is born with skills and attitude, which will take you all the way. More you look inside it will assist you to look beyond the invisible boundaries.

For those of you in the project management space, who wish to get help in navigating out of your comfort zone and achieve PgMP® / PfMP® certifications, consider signing up for our online programs. We will guide you through all the facets of the PgMP® / PfMP® certification journey. Taking into consideration the hardships that companies and professionals are going through currently, we are offering multiple discounts and flexible payment options to these programs. These programs are conducted over customized timings across different time zones to cater to the requests of the students. Given below are the various online programs’ links. Kindly share this information with anyone who you believe might benefit from it.

PgMP®: http://bit.ly/2oBKQXQ

PfMP®: http://bit.ly/39jOZSf

PMP®: https://bit.ly/2BU0mFp

E-Learning: http://bit.ly/3b2HOid

For any questions related to Project Management career, training and certifications, you can book an obligation free 15 minutes session with me by visiting talktodharam.com

PgMP4U is an online mobile application that helps one prepare for the PgMP® exam on the go. Our app gives the essential support required for cracking the PgMP® exam.

PgMP4U

PgMP4U

PgMP4U LinkedIn Group: http://bit.ly/2SBPwIp

PfMP4U LinkedIn Group: http://bit.ly/31P7GKR

Subscribe to vCare Project Management YouTube Channel to view our PgMP® and PfMP® Success Stories: https://bit.ly/2YF0wJl

Subscribe and follow my Podcasts and interviews with Project Management Experts on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2NDY8wd

“Working together for success.”

 

Being Responsive vs Responsible

Being Responsive vs Responsible

Responsibility and Responsiveness have the same Latin root, Responsus. Responsible means being morally accountable for one’s actions. Responsive means reacting quickly with positive outcomes for all. In today’s digital world, your customers, irrespective of whether they are internal or external, are looking for faster response times, coupled with the appropriate action. Even some large organizations have been unable to compete with small players because of being non-responsive.

Today’s organizations and their projects need to be both responsive and responsible on a day-to-day basis. Especially when handling and delivering projects, a project manager, needs to be both responsible and responsive.

Defining Responsibilities

Right from the startup stage the project board or the corporate must define attributes such as tolerances, change authority, severity ratings, priority ratings, project initiation related documents etc., In fact, right from the business case validation stage, various responsibilities need to be assigned to stakeholders such as Corporate Management, Executive, Senior Users, Senior Suppliers and Project managers. Defining the responsibilities helps to bring upon the clarity on the job function they need to perform. It also helps in the alignment with business goals and brings about a common vision.

Responsibility

Responsibility

In the Project Management Office, different stakeholders have a different set of responsibilities for effectively meeting the project objectives in alignment with the program or portfolio objectives.

Examples of PMO Responsibilities would include:

  • Aligning the project resources and their goals towards project work and organizational strategy
  • Establishing governance structure and coordination of the same
  • Performing portfolio management functions
  • Ensure strategy alignment
  • Tracking benefits realization
  • Managing and Tracking data related to projects
  • Administration to support project/project team.
  • Managing communication to multiple stakeholders
  • Defining roles and responsibilities
PMO Responsibilities

PMO Responsibilities

When the corporate management sets a mandate, they also set forth any standards to be fixed or followed. An outline of the expected benefits will be shared. Senior Users will outline the desired outcome, anticipated benefits, etc.,

Project Managers Responsibilities

Project Managers responsibilities cut across Planning, Organizing, Leading, Monitoring, Communicating and Managing the risks. Responsibilities need to be well defined and communicated effectively. It is always recommended to have well established and agreed, roles and responsibilities for all the people involved in the project as it will be a means for effective communication. This aspect will also apply to the other stakeholders in a project. A Project manager will be playing multiple roles and will have larger responsibilities in a project assigned to him/her including but not limited to Quality Control, Management Reporting, Risk Planning, etc

Project Manager | Roles and responsibilities

Project Manager | Roles and responsibilities

The Project manager must do justice to the roles and responsibilities he/she is assigned and needs to cultivate the necessary skills to do so. Skills such as communication, negotiation are some other essential skills to name a few. The project manager also assesses and reports on the project performance during the closure stage.

Establishing Responsibilities

Responsibilities come along with the role. One person might play a different role and might take up different responsibilities based on that. These responsibilities can be accomplished using various tools and nature of the business and operational aspects aligned with the goals. How can this be done?

  • Audit what you have from an organizational standpoint, i.e. take inventory of Staff, Roles in the company.
  • Identify business operations and enumerate the tasks being performed in it.
  • Identify the gaps between project-program-portfolio
  • Identify functions that are lacking and in what functional area.
  • Identify required new positions, eliminate positions which are becoming irrelevant, and process which is no more required, etc.,
  • Outline Job Role, Description, Task/Functions, Responsibilities, Skills required, Experience needed, Performance indicators, etc.,
  • Prepare final organization chart for the project.
  • Get to the Collaborate, Review and Approval process at the executive level.
  • Establish RACI – Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed
  • Communicate the roles and responsibilities across the organization through RACI
Establishing responsibilities

Establishing responsibilities

Importance of RACI and how to get that done

When implementing the roles and responsibilities, it’s also easier to bring upon the necessary changes through RACI Rollout.

  • Responsible – Doing the Task – The person/role which is going to act on the task
  • Accountable – Owning the job – Responsible for the overall completion
  • Consulting – Consulted/Assisted during the task analysis/planning/execution/completion – Mostly individual
  • Informed – Keeping aware – Making cognizant of the task-related progress. Can also give feedback
Responsibility Assignment Matrix

Responsibility Assignment Matrix

RACI charts would be deployed across different phases of the project and various stakeholders’ groups with roles. When clarity and focus are established with the help of the RACI charts, it can bring upon good results as they remove ambiguities in communication.

Problems in owning responsibilities

Responsibilities are effective only when the person/role can do something about a problem and provide actionable oversight for the group or stakeholders where the problem occurs.

  1. What are the different existing issues concerning owning up of responsibilities?
  2. Why people are not owning up are having problems in taking responsibilities?
Problems in owning responsibilities

Problems in owning responsibilities

Some reasons could be:

  • Fear of failure
  • Lacking interest in the areas of responsibilities
  • Missing deadlines
  • Challenging tasks
  • Inability to take risks
  • Lack of trust with the team members and stakeholders
  • Unfair treatment by team leaders and members
  • Frequent excuses

Having these problems, how can we resolve them or how can we encourage ownership by responsibility?

Just replacing people would not solve the problem. Rather leaders need to back them and identify the different perspectives and indicators mentioned above in the context of the issues and help alleviate them. Take initiatives to help them by providing training, skill up-gradation courses, aided with additional resources and tools that could support decision making. Allowing them to make mistakes and backing them up could be a way forward. Having frequent interactions with the project managers would be very helpful to solve problems and providing constructive feedback on how it can be handled better would be of definite help. Reinforce or communicate the roles and responsibilities and their alignment with organizational goals. Highlight their roles importance and its impact on the organization. Motivate small deeds without micromanaging things.

Find the right people

Find the right people

Being Responsive

Nowadays, being responsive has been one of the key factors which are part of the CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) quarterly evaluations in large engagements. So, responsive is an essential ingredient required for any project engagement from a holistic perspective which needs to be reflected across the project team. Its core components are value and speed. It is contrary to being reactive, which is acting without any specific plan or giving due thoughts and given as an excuse for speed.

Being responsive will become a critical component when there are specific deadlines to be met. Examples of such projects would be GDPR compliance, HL7 migration, Compliance within a timeline, as any delays would attract huge penalties. In such cases, the project managers who need to act on matters of urgent/immediate basis, with risks also involved, need to think of long term and short-term goals to be accomplished without giving in to any knee jerk reactions.

Becoming more responsive will take time and would require bringing upon a daily incremental change at the behavioral level. This activity would naturally be inhibited both in Leadership and team level. However, we all know that procrastination is the biggest enemy for being responsive. Here are five ways in which you can improve your responsiveness in projects.

  • Identify and note down the events where you became reactive in the past.
  • Practice mindfulness and at the same time, be aware of a timeline to respond. Try the SOBER Method (Stop, Observe, Breathe, Expand, and Respond mindfully)
  • Understand the culture shift in Agile methodology
  • Identify and categorize the areas you can practice being responsive.
  • Adopt tools such as Agility Evaluation Matrix, Todo List, Kanban Board, Alerting Tools etc.
Becoming more responsive

Becoming more responsive

After the implementation of these tools and methods, how will one know and track whether improvements are happening? Evaluation can be carried out at different levels, and some examples are provided here. Questions which might lead an evaluation of responsiveness improvement could be,

  • How much time does it take to respond to queries?
  • How much time do we choose to respond to emails on project engagements?
  • How much are we addressing/adhering to SLAs with our response for the first time?
  • How many outcomes have been successful with this change in responsiveness strategy?
  • How many times have we missed being responsive, and has it been escalated?

Handling problems of Poor Responsiveness

Project managers, most of the time, are responsive due to their experience and maturity. But in some cases, their responsiveness might be impacted due to dependencies. Though, it is always important to remember that expectation on the project team being responsive falls under their responsibility. What can be done in this case?

Being Responsive

Being Responsive

Be responsive first. Walk the talk. Always our followers inspire from us. As a lead project manager, you must be responsive with respect to key communication made with the peers and followers. When he/she walks the talk about being responsive, they would be the one who acts first and be demonstrable on the expectations.

Make any expectations explicit and set up an SLA on when you expect a response on your communication. Be fair with them. Define timelines when you want them to respond – in hours, days, weeks. Also, ask about how quickly they want your responses to be. Make it a two-way road.

Be Proactive if the other person is not responding according to the timeline, and follow-up to remind them. Contact them for an acknowledgement. Ask again and follow up with them if they drop the ball. Ask them if they have any other dependencies which you can help to get resolved if its a top priority.

Being responsible and responsive are both important in the current business world. Communication holds the key to being both responsible and responsive. Being mindful of these can help one to be a successful project manager.

For any questions related to Project Management career, training and certifications, you can book an obligation free 15 minutes session with me by visiting talktodharam.com

For the latest PgMP®/PfMP® stats visit https://bit.ly/38SSGiS

Subscribe to vCare Project Management YouTube Channel to view our PgMP® and PfMP® Success Stories: https://bit.ly/2YF0wJl

Subscribe and follow my Podcasts and interviews with Project Management Experts on YouTube at https://bit.ly/2NDY8wd

 

If Newton can create wonders working from home, then you can too

If Newton can create wonders working from home, then you can too

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

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

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 info@vcareprojectmanagement.com. 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

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'

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: dharam@vcareprojectmanagement.com

Link to the Washington Post Article: https://wapo.st/39WfjlZ

 

Celebrating my successful mentoring of PgMP’s across 40+ countries & PgMP stats as on March 2020

Celebrating my successful mentoring of PgMP’s across 40+ countries & PgMP stats as on March 2020

PgMP® Certification

The PgMP® certification is uplifting professionals to experience new verticals with their career opportunities. This elite professional certification is crossing borders and reaching new heights. The importance of pursuing PgMP® is now widely evident from the increasing rate of adoption.

As on March 1, 2020, the global PgMP® count has reached 3176. In that, vCare Project Management has contributed to the success of 273 PgMP®s across forty countries. This number is 9% of the total global PgMP®s.

Global PgMP® Stats

Global PgMP® Stats

February 2020 has produced 19 new professionals to the PgMP® community and amongst that vCare Project Management has contributed to the success of 4 of them. This count constitutes 21% of the total PgMP®s of February 2020. Kudos and best wishes to all the 19 new PgMP®s.

Welcoming 19 New PgMP®s

Welcoming 19 New PgMP®s

PgMP® Fact File

  • The USA is on the top of the list with 1257 PgMP®s. Five new PgMP®s were added in February 2020. The USA continues to maintain its leadership in PgMP professionals with 40% of the total global PgMP®s
  • India, Canada, and UAE have each added three new PgMP®s to their count (India – 353, Canada – 219 and UAE – 81)
PgMP® stats

PgMP® stats latest trends

  • Australia is just 9 PgMP®s away from reaching 100. My upcoming scheduled PgMP® boot camps in June 2020 at Melbourne and Sydney should facilitate those aspiring professionals who wish to make it to the list within the top 100 PgMP® professionals in the Country.
  • By supporting Edward Githure from Kenya on his PgMP® journey, I have now successfully mentored PgMP® professionals across 40 different countries with my direct classroom programs or my online mentoring programs. Special thanks to Edward for helping me achieve this feat.
vCare Project Management PgMP® Stats

vCare Project Management PgMP® Stats

Our PgMP® Success Stories | February 2020

Our PgMP® Success Stories | February 2020

My first direct PgMP® and PfMP® boot camps in Saudi Arabia were highly successful. This success and also based on multiple requests from aspirants in Saudi has made me schedule new direct training programs in Riyadh (http://bit.ly/38LWJMX & http://bit.ly/2P9Izh4) and Al- Khobar (http://bit.ly/2T2ykvN) for March 2020. Hoping to see more successful PgMP®s and PfMP®s from Saudi Arabia by the end of 2020 that have been aided by vCare’s guidance.

I firmly believe that “Knowledge shared is Knowledge squared” and this case applies to the increasing propagation of PgMP® certification. Many Local Chapters, Partners and Project Management Experts are collaborating with me for conducting PgMP® boot camps across different parts of the world.

With a focus on my upcoming programs scheduled to happen at Germany and Italy, the expert individuals supporting these programs have also taken time to discuss on different topics surrounding project, program and portfolio management through podcasts. These discussions will significantly benefit the community as a whole in which critical insights on various titles are delivered. Please find below my latest interaction with Thomas Walenta on “Top 10 tips to become a Pro Program Manager”

Heartfelt thanks to Thomas Walenta and Vincenzo Arnone for their time and contribution. 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.

Early applicants for the upcoming PgMP® boot camps can avail special benefits and group discounts. Please share this information with your friends who would find it useful.

PgMP® Training Calendar, 2020

PgMP® Training Calendar, 2020

For more information on our upcoming direct PgMP® programs, visit http://bit.ly/2oCfpg0.

For people who are unable to join any of our direct classroom programs due to distance, safety or schedule concerns, kindly check out our online mentoring program options. Both Group Mentoring and Fast Track Personal Mentoring programs for PgMP® and PfMP® exam preparation are available

Program Management PgMP®- Online Mentoring Programs

Portfolio Management PfMP®- Online Mentoring Programs

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 the PgMP® exam | 'On The Go'

Prepare for the PgMP® exam | ‘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: dharam@vcareprojectmanagement.com

 “Working together for SUCCESS.”

Latest PgMP Stats 2020 – Welcome Jamaica

Latest PgMP Stats 2020 – Welcome Jamaica

The growth of PgMP® Professionals around the globe is evident from the fact that the certification opens doors to various career aspirations. PgMP® is a sign of superior experience and skill, giving one a distinctive advantage when compared with peers. The benefits of pursuing a PgMP® are innumerable that the stats in itself are high proof.

Global PgMP® Stats

Global PgMP® Stats

The total number of PgMP®s as on February 1, 2020, is 3158, amongst which vCare Project Management has produced 269 PgMP®s, i.e. 9% of the total global PgMP®s. The month of January 2020 has contributed 26 PgMP®s to the Program Management Community. The number of PgMP®s from vCare Project Management in January 2020 is 5, which is 19% of the total PgMP®s. Congratulations to the 26 new PgMP®s.

Our PgMP® Success Stories | January 2020

Our PgMP® Success Stories | January 2020

 

Welcoming 26 new PgMP®s

Welcoming 26 new PgMP®s

 

Welcoming 26 new PgMP®s

Welcoming 26 new PgMP®s

PgMP® Stats

  • The USA is leading the PgMP® club with 1253 PgMP®s which is 40% of the global PgMP®s
  • With a total number of 380, China is following the USA by adding 25 new PgMP®s to its count since Dec 1, 2019.
  • India is in third place with 350 PgMP®s

    PgMP® Stats

    PgMP® Stats

  • Australia PgMP® numbers have reached 90 (10 more needed to make century, probably if you can pass your PgMP® exam within the next 3 months, you will be in the Top 100 Australian PgMP®s)
  • Jamaica has entered the world of PgMP®.

My PgMP® mentoring journey with Australia has always been a great one. Our collaboration with PMI Sydney Chapter, PMI Melbourne Chapter, PMI Adelaide Chapter, and PMI Queensland Chapter had been a fruitful one to many PMI certification aspirants. vCare has supported 32 PgMP®s (as on February 1, 2020) from Australia thus far, which is 36% of the total Australian PgMP®s. As stated in my previous PgMP® article, I expect Australian PgMP® numbers to touch 100 before May 2020. The month of March 2020 is going to be of great benefit to the PgMP® aspirants in Australia. The PgMP® Boot Camps in Sydney and Melbourne will help Senior Project and Program Managers to pursue their certification aspirations with my personal mentoring. Check out the video to know more information about it.

Please find below My PgMP® Training Calendar for the first half of 2020. After my successful bootcamps in Saudi Arabia, I have scheduled programs in Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Seattle, Houston, New York, Washington DC, Chicago and Toronto before visiting Europe in Mid 2020.

PgMP® Training Calendar

PgMP® Training Calendar

Besides Germany and Italy, my contribution to the success of PgMP® professionals in Europe is extending to Greece too. Theofanis Giotis, First President and Co-Founder of PMI Greece Chapter and CEO of ’12 PM Consulting’, is supporting me for conducting the PgMP® Boot Camp between May 15 and 17, 2020 at Athens.

I strongly hope that these boot camps will benefit you in many ways and make your 2020 more productive. Apply early to avail higher discounts and group benefits. Also, kindly share this information with your friends who would find it useful.

For more information, visit https://vcareprojectmanagement.com/collections/pgmp-classroom.

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

PgMP4U is an online education mobile application built for applicants who are time-constrained to prepare for their exams. The app enlightens you with all essential practices required for attending the PgMP® exam. The app helps one to prepare for the exam, ON THE GO.

PgMP4U

PgMP4U

You can subscribe to my personal YouTube Channel using the link http://bit.ly/2RMvsTv. Here you will find videos of success stories, Q&A sessions and interactions with project-program-portfolio management experts. Please find my latest interaction with Thomas Walenta where we discuss the Transition of a professional from being a Project Manager to become a Program Manager. Also we have discussed about examples of some outstanding programs.

You can clear your doubts with me by typing your queries along with #AskDharam in the video comment section. Selective questions will be clarified in later videos whenever I have time. Subscribe to the channel and get notified on new videos.

Our telegram group can assist you further in your PgMP® exam preparation. It is a very active and interactive group with discussions taking place between aspirants on a day-to-day basis. If you are interested in this group, download and install the Telegram application and message me to add you in the telegram group.

For any questions related to Project Management training and certifications, you can book an obligation free 15 minutes session by visiting talktodharam.com

Email: dharam@vcareprojectmanagement.com

 “Working together for SUCCESS.”