Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Please help make my chapter the best and share your thoughts on:
How a local PMI chapter can reach out to the business?
What could the business gain from the chapter?
I am interested in ideas that are almost unreachable and yet they would create the biggest impact. Saving Changes...
Hi sir hru? i am Suneel Kumar from Pakistan. I am civil Engineer and i want to ask you PMP preparation and i want to get Appear PMP examination.Plz sir you can connect me and i want to chat you.
Thanks Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Andrew
interesting and creative question!
the simplest way is sponsorship: the Chapter offers publicity, thru its newsletter, website, social media, meetings channels and gets money. 3 tiered sponsorships work well.
More work is offering to extend the networks of employees, using Chapter volunteers and special meetings for industry-specific events (e.g. if you have several companies in one industry in your area, say pharma, make pharma PM events). Or if a company wants to offer social opps to their staff, suggest to be a partner, e.g. utilizing PMIEF resources.
If the Chapter is mature, you may consider to enter in commercial partnerships within the constraints of the Chapter charter and bylaws, the Chapter selling a (PM) service outsourcing some of the work to the partner (e.g. a cloud service, SaaS). Could also be done with universities.
Thomas
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1 reply by Andrew Soswa
Aug 01, 2021 1:25 PM
Andrew Soswa
...
Hi Thomas,
At the Chicagoland chapter, we already have a sponsorships program and tried CoS (community of service) meetings.
Please tell me more about your vision on " the Chapter selling a (PM) service outsourcing some of the work to the partner (e.g. a cloud service, SaaS)".
Did you see it happen in any other Chapter?
Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Something obvious: add value to members. Members must feel they are more rich with the chapter than without it where "rich" does not mean more money only. Then, asking to people that are working like portfolio/program/project managers which is their pain and try to create an space inside the chapter to work on finding solutions by creating interactions between members is a must, in my humble opinion.
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1 reply by Andrew Soswa
Aug 01, 2021 2:57 PM
Andrew Soswa
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Hi Sergio,
Thank you. PMI Global and local chapters are performing 'voice of the customer surveys. We sometimes do not ask the right questions. For example, we perform a quantitative survey (i.e. yes or no, or Likert scale answers) whereas our questions are qualitative "do you like to participate in x, y, or z program?"
As you suggested, we should be asking the members what is their most current pain point - and then proposing solutions that the chapter can do.
Given the not-for-profit nature of chapters, I'd suggest that connecting skilled practitioners with companies that could benefit from their expertise would be the primary approach.
Another option would be to provide opportunities for members to volunteer with companies as part of their community outreach or charitable work. For example, if a company was already planning a tree planting event, the chapter might partner with them to provide volunteers to help plan and promote the event and to participate in the tree planting process.
Kiron
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1 reply by Andrew Soswa
Aug 01, 2021 2:52 PM
Andrew Soswa
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Hi Kiron,
Good idea to partner with other orgs on short term projects.
I am thinking that a program vision would be to manage a portfolio of projects, outreach to ensure steady flow of such projects into portfolio, and awarness campaigns. On the operational side, I know that I could easily onboard PMs for a quick gig that they would execute their way. Or the chapter could event turn it into a training program.
Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Andrew,
some more ideas, I have seen Chapters try
- offer a business roundtable, with a prestigious speaker about a business topic and a dialogue involving all participants. Max 15 participants. The dialogue should lead to topics for follow-up roundtables. Try to make it regular.
- offer a partnership agreement, basically (publicly) recognising each other and expressing the willingness to cooperate. Details can follow once there is a dialogue (invite to a quarterly partnership dinner).
- extend this partnership to sponsorship or better to an association type of relationship, offering services and perks to the business AND their people, also non-PMI members
- make sure Chapter volunteers running those programs are assigned not elected and ensure there is continuity in this relationship business.
Understand that the PMI branding is an reputational asset you can use to enhance local Chapter impact on professionals, but also just everyone, business, government (schools?, military?), social (clubs? Toastmasters? helping refugees? Greenpeace?) organizations - within the context of the charter and bylaws.
Be creative but make sure it can be sustained beyond the term you are elected for. That's a good reason to employ a general manager, if you can afford it.
Non-profit status does not mean you cannot have profits. You just can't distribute them to owners, you need to use them for your purpose. PMI itself is a good example for this. I know 'rich' Chapters employing staff. Their volunteer leaders have a sandbox in making a (social) business successful.
Hope this helps, Thomas Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Dear Andrew
Interesting theme that brought to reflection
Thomas, Sérgio and Kiron contributed with many fruitful ideas.
How about starting with the basics? Schedule, and make presentations, about PMI and its certifications in companies and universities Saving Changes...
Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Jul 31, 2021 6:10 AM
Replying to Thomas Walenta
...
Andrew
interesting and creative question!
the simplest way is sponsorship: the Chapter offers publicity, thru its newsletter, website, social media, meetings channels and gets money. 3 tiered sponsorships work well.
More work is offering to extend the networks of employees, using Chapter volunteers and special meetings for industry-specific events (e.g. if you have several companies in one industry in your area, say pharma, make pharma PM events). Or if a company wants to offer social opps to their staff, suggest to be a partner, e.g. utilizing PMIEF resources.
If the Chapter is mature, you may consider to enter in commercial partnerships within the constraints of the Chapter charter and bylaws, the Chapter selling a (PM) service outsourcing some of the work to the partner (e.g. a cloud service, SaaS). Could also be done with universities.
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
At the Chicagoland chapter, we already have a sponsorships program and tried CoS (community of service) meetings.
Please tell me more about your vision on " the Chapter selling a (PM) service outsourcing some of the work to the partner (e.g. a cloud service, SaaS)".
Did you see it happen in any other Chapter?
...
1 reply by Thomas Walenta
Aug 01, 2021 1:56 PM
Thomas Walenta
...
Andrew
some years ago the Frankfurt Chapter had a PMP Prep Program. We sold the program at higher prices than any REP to counter any competition complaints and we hired excellent coaches for 50% above avg rate.
PMI brand, coach quality and program specifics (8 Saturdays instead of a bootcamp) led to sufficient revenue and excellent profits. We even franchised the concept to a company and another Chapter.
What is important: think outside of the box.
Thomas
Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Aug 01, 2021 1:25 PM
Replying to Andrew Soswa
...
Hi Thomas,
At the Chicagoland chapter, we already have a sponsorships program and tried CoS (community of service) meetings.
Please tell me more about your vision on " the Chapter selling a (PM) service outsourcing some of the work to the partner (e.g. a cloud service, SaaS)".
Did you see it happen in any other Chapter?
Andrew
some years ago the Frankfurt Chapter had a PMP Prep Program. We sold the program at higher prices than any REP to counter any competition complaints and we hired excellent coaches for 50% above avg rate.
PMI brand, coach quality and program specifics (8 Saturdays instead of a bootcamp) led to sufficient revenue and excellent profits. We even franchised the concept to a company and another Chapter.
What is important: think outside of the box.
Thomas
...
1 reply by Andrew Soswa
Aug 01, 2021 2:45 PM
Andrew Soswa
...
We tried a similar program to yours several times (stopped & restarted).
In these programs, too much depends on the lead volunteer and succession planning (volunteer responsibilities, SOPs, onboarding). We are working hard on succession planning but losing volunteers is detrimental to programs.
We are not the only chapter that deals with the same issues.
The obvious step is to outsource manual, 'procesized' work but it's a hard sell to change 'we are non-profit' mentality.
I am not looking for a golden nugget that solves all my problems - looking for creative, out-of-the-box ideas. Please bring all your suggestions.
Saving Changes...
Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Aug 01, 2021 1:56 PM
Replying to Thomas Walenta
...
Andrew
some years ago the Frankfurt Chapter had a PMP Prep Program. We sold the program at higher prices than any REP to counter any competition complaints and we hired excellent coaches for 50% above avg rate.
PMI brand, coach quality and program specifics (8 Saturdays instead of a bootcamp) led to sufficient revenue and excellent profits. We even franchised the concept to a company and another Chapter.
What is important: think outside of the box.
Thomas
We tried a similar program to yours several times (stopped & restarted).
In these programs, too much depends on the lead volunteer and succession planning (volunteer responsibilities, SOPs, onboarding). We are working hard on succession planning but losing volunteers is detrimental to programs.
We are not the only chapter that deals with the same issues.
The obvious step is to outsource manual, 'procesized' work but it's a hard sell to change 'we are non-profit' mentality.
I am not looking for a golden nugget that solves all my problems - looking for creative, out-of-the-box ideas. Please bring all your suggestions.
...
2 replies by Andrew Soswa and Thomas Walenta
Aug 01, 2021 3:14 PM
Thomas Walenta
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Andrew
yes, 1 or 2 year volunteer terms don’t fit to multiyear programs. I have seen multiyear programs succeed, with profit or not, if you can setup multiyear volunteer roles.
The ‚non profit‘ mindset is sometimes driven by consultants in chapter roles wanting to avoid commercial competition like hell. We could do that because our board majority was from big companies.
If you share multiyear programs with 1 or 2 other chapters, you could establish rotating leadership. It is a governance problem.
Aug 01, 2021 4:08 PM
Andrew Soswa
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Thank you Thomas. Very interesting feedback how to deal with the issue. Much appreciated.
I like the idea of sharing profit and fame with others. It looks like there is an ongoing Global strategy to group chapter offers together so that small and big chapters can share the benefits and responsibilities on a rotating basis. I see that ongoing in R2. This poses challenges because if Global provides localized benefits, and most local and Global offers are online, why belong to local?
Saving Changes...
Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
Jul 31, 2021 10:12 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Andrew -
Given the not-for-profit nature of chapters, I'd suggest that connecting skilled practitioners with companies that could benefit from their expertise would be the primary approach.
Another option would be to provide opportunities for members to volunteer with companies as part of their community outreach or charitable work. For example, if a company was already planning a tree planting event, the chapter might partner with them to provide volunteers to help plan and promote the event and to participate in the tree planting process.
Kiron
Hi Kiron,
Good idea to partner with other orgs on short term projects.
I am thinking that a program vision would be to manage a portfolio of projects, outreach to ensure steady flow of such projects into portfolio, and awarness campaigns. On the operational side, I know that I could easily onboard PMs for a quick gig that they would execute their way. Or the chapter could event turn it into a training program. Saving Changes...
