New IPMA Global Standard for Individual Project Management Competence

The burden has never been higher for project, programme and portfolio managers to produce measurable results on time, on budget, within the scope and while meeting the quality criteria.

“Projects begin and end with people, and competent execution is at the heart of every successful project,” says John Atkinson, international IPMA validator and assessor.

John is the Irish team leader for implementing the new IPMA Individual Competence Baseline (ICB4), which is the global standard for individual competence in projects and is intended to support the growth of individuals and organisations as they grapple with increasingly competitive project environments.

John and his team will be travelling to Riga mid-March to share implementation strategy concepts with delegates from 60 other countries.

The ICB4 builds upon the prior editions of the ICB. It takes the Eye of Competence into the next generation, with a redefinition of the competence elements required by the modern project manager.

Projects, programmes and portfolios are at the forefront of change in the world today. Projects drive the development of new products and services, investments and expansion, capabilities, the implementation of new strategies and a new generation of infrastructure.

The modern manager must work with a wide range of partners outside of their organisation and with a broad array of factors, including industry, culture, language, socioeconomic status and organisation types. Project management has to be applied, considering these contextual facets, and often these broader contexts are seen as the most critical success factor. When working with many different people, it is crucial to ensure everyone is on the same page, so everything can function smoothly and avoid conflict between partners. Therefore, the Institute offers the Leading & Negotiating for Project Success course focused on bettering managers’ efficiency by teaching them successful negotiation techniques and different leadership styles.

The ICB4 emphasises these challenges. It took three years, from defining the business needs through architectural design, developing the content in a multi-dimensional manner to editing and layout. With the ICB4, a new standard is available with a target implementation date in Ireland for Q4 2016. But it is by far not the end of the journey; in fact, it is a start.