1 IPMA Competence Baseline Behavioural competences By Oliver Chorvát, Nikol Kokešová, Jiří Harazim Hello everybody. I d like to welcome you to our presentation. We are team number 8, Oliver, Nikol a Jirka. We are going to present to you several interesting facts about the IPMA organization and competences defined by their document ICB, which stands for IPMA Competence Baseline. In our presentation we will focus on Behavioural competences.
2 Terms Functions Tasks,methods Management processes Practices, skills Techniques Specialist knowledge and experience Innovative and advanced practices used in in more specific situations First of all, we should explain what IPMA is. IPMA is an abbreviation for International Project Management Association. It s a non profit organization grouping (45) firms and single persons interested in project management. The main goal of IPMA is to support knowledge of project management as a profession. It produces project management standards, a lot of articles, news, and so on It s four level certification program is very well known around the world. We will talk about it later. In the ICB, IPMA defined the following three cathegories of competences for project managerers. Technical project structures, time phases, changes... Behavioural opennes, relaxation, negotiation, Contextual project orientation, programme orientation, bussiness Each block of competences contains terms, functions, skills in context of project management. Each competence element involves general description, possible process steps, relations to other competeneces and key competences of individual levels of certification.
3 Based on a number of reference documents Selected behavioural comp. elements relevant to project man. Description of elements with respect to project management As we have mentioned before, we are going to focus on one of the groups of competences behavioral competences. These competences represent the behavioral aspect of project manager how he should behave. For example these competences describe how a project manager should negotiate, discuss or reduce the stress level in a team. In general, these are behavioral competence elements relevant to project management. The descriptions and recommendations in the ICB are, of course, based on a number of reference documents. That means that the people at the IPMA didn t just make the whole thing up. Now, let us introduce some of these competence elements.
4 15 Behavioural competence elements Leadership Engagement and motivation Self-control Assertiveness Relaxation Openness Creativity Results orientation Efficiency Consultation Negotiation Conflicts and crisis Reliability Values appreciation Ethics This group contains 15 behavioral competence elements you can see them listed on this slide. We have chosen 6 of these competence elements (distinguished by color) which we will introduce to you in full detail.
5 Leadership Direction and motivating others in their role or task to fulfil the project s objectives To choose the appropriate leader style Also representing the project to senior management Leadership is a vital competence for a project manager. It involves directing and motivating others in their role or task to fulfil the project s objectives. It s especially important when problems occur. The task for the leader is to analyze situation, to choose the appropriate leader style, to use it and review performance and seek feedback. And what is the leader like? Simply said It s a person, who has a vision and expresses it very clearly. He delegates tasks to the others and takes responsibility. In the description of the leadership competence element the IPMA also defines what the leader should look like. It is not about blue eyes, brown hair and black suit, it is about personality. To quote from the ICB description of leadership: Combining power and charisma and Being inspiring, making people proud to work with him is labeled as adequate for a project manager.
6 Project manager? a representative person natural authority charisma respect people should be proud to work with him representative person
7 Self control Systematic and disciplined approach to cope with daily work, changing requirements and stress Maintaining an awareness of the stress levels in the team Management of one s life, appropriate balance between work, family and leisure time On one hand the appropriate level of stress could help to increase productivity in a team, but if the stress level was too high, it would be dangerous for the team members and for the project. So the goal of the project manager is to analyze the stressful situation, working behavior, strengths and weaknesses in the team and try to identify actions to reduce stress level. He should learn from the stressful situations and loss of self control. Project manager should control himself and the others too.
8 Relaxation Ability to relieve tension in difficult situations Relax after stressful events and ensure that the team do likewise. Team building and social events This competence is about how to relieve tension in difficult situations, or simply how to relax. An important part of this competence are teambuilding events. They can help team members to reduce tension in team, to bring people together and to improve the atmosphere in team. Teambuilding should be planned, regulary take place outside workplace and have some entertainig components. For example a cottage in the mountains, barbecue, sport actions and so on. Teambuldings don t need to take place outside the workplace. I d like to mention one interesting Chicago firm threadless. They make t shirts with motives from artist from all the world. Employees of threadless is young people (20 30 years)and young people want to have some fun, to have friendly coworkers, to play games, to look forward to their job. So they decided to create a playground from their workplace. They have ping pong tables in the middle of their office, photographic center, skateboard ramp and so on. They want satisfied and relaxed team members, minimal level of stress in the team. Good atmosphere is essential for good team and good work.
9 Results orientation Focus attention on key objectives Clustering the project into results relevant to different parties, delivering satisfactory solutions The manager is paid for delivering results not for working hard This competence describes the project manager like a bussinessman he does what he has to do and at the same time he tries to realize his creative ideas and communicate them to the team members. Possible process steps for this competence could be as follows: He clearly defines the project results. Cluster results into groups according to interested parties. Define the critical path Complete the project plan and try to find some quick wins Repeat the steps when neccessary and inform concerned parties It s important to know, that the project manager isn t paid for working hard but for delivering results.
10 Negotiation Helps to avoid real conflicts Each party s interest should be regarded (attempt to achieve win-win situation) To negotiate hard at the content level while maintaining positive relationships Negotiation helps to avoid real conflicts by finding appropriate solution that is acceptable for all interested sites. When the project manager has to negotiate, he should define the minimum acceptable position. Set out negotiation strategy and try to achieve a win win situation. In some cases, due to commercial or political reasons, the only possible sollution is a compromise, that doesn t satisfy all interested sites. WIN WIN There is a thin line between this competence and soft skills such as body language or voice modulation. It is interesting that according latest research body language is part of our comunication. BOOK
11 Values appreciation To acknowledge others people values and understand their point of view Allow sufficient freedom to subordinates, let them carry out work in their own ways Engage team members in making decisions, being receptive of their values The project manager has to accept his values, people values and the values of the firm. He has to communicate with other team members and encourage them in expressing their ideas. He respects them and appreciates them.
12 It's only a part of a complex However, not only behavioral competences are sufficient. If you would like to be a professional project manager, you should cover all parts of the block of competences. All competences elements are important.
13 % Certification A - Certified Projects Director B - Certified Senior Project Manager C - Certified Project Manager D - Certified Project Management Associate IPMA project manager certification is world famous. There are four levels of certification A, B, C and D. Everybody can reach any of these levels. It depends on teoretical and practical knowledge. If you would like to reach level D, which is the lowest level, it is enough for you to have only teoretical knowledge of competence elements. For level C you should have some practical knowledge, you should have experiences in leading of projects with limited scope. Level B practical experiences with leading of complex projects, train other lower project managers Level A advanced level of Project management, deeply knowledge of theoretical principles, a lot of practical experiences. On the picture we can see the changing importance of the competence element blocks. At first at the D level the technical competences block is of the highest importance. As we move up through the levels, we can see that the other blocks behavioural and contextual become increasingly important.
14 The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. John Maxwell
15 Interesting sources IPMA Competence Baseline Version 3.0 (1.5 MB) http://eutaskforce.ning.com/forum/attachment/download?id=3499298%3auploadedfile%3a123 Projektový management podle IPMA http://www.grada.cz/katalog/kniha/projektovy-management-podle-ipma_5625/ Colin Powell's 13 Rules of Leadership http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-vve55fdau Kreativita a její rozvoj http://knihy.cpress.cz/knihy/kariera-a-rozvoj-osobnosti/rozvoj-osobnosti/kreativita-a-jeji-rozvoj/ Jste asertivní? http://knihy.cpress.cz/knihy/kariera-a-rozvoj-osobnosti/rozvoj-osobnosti/jste-asertivni/