Chapter News

A message from the Director:

Kellie Brits – Director, Professional Development, PMI Netherlands Chapter

Alexander Graham Bell said that “great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds”.  When the program was founded in 2020, our primary goal was to add value to our Chapter members, explore opportunities for self-development, and leverage the network of project management professionals we have in the Netherlands.  We could never have imagined that the program would grow and become so valued by all stakeholders in just two years.  Now we’re excited to announce a new partnership.

 

Vienna, can you tell us more about the Chapter’s Mentorship Program?

Vienna Rijker – Mentorship Program, PMI Netherlands Chapter

The Mentorship program is a twice-yearly program exclusive to PMI-NL members.  Its main goal is to help mentees gain professional insights by connecting junior project managers (mentees) with senior project managers (mentors) in a 5-month engagement cycle. The program provides an opportunity to ask a mentor for advice on any subject that the mentee may encounter as a Project, Program, or Portfolio Manager.

PMI-NL sets up a collaborative, mutual exchange environment for addressing challenges and enabling growth through knowledge sharing. The program is focused on developing PM expertise by increasing knowledge in the following areas: project management, career development, and leadership. Additionally, it is a great way to grow professionally by networking, gaining insights through lessons learned, and learning from those who have walked the path.  Our pilot program started with 14 pairs, and our current intake has 22 pairs.

Visit the website below to see how you can register for our next intake starting Jul/22.

https://pmi-nl.nl/pmi-nl-mentorship-program

 

Nina, what is the vision for 2022/2023 and for growing the program?

Nina Kettle – Mentorship Program, PMI Netherlands Chapter

Our vision for 2022 is to engage in more extensive conversations around current industry and organizational trends and how experience in a diversity of industries can achieve more significant results.  In current times, we are looking for out-of-the-box solutions to unconventional problems.  Today’s markets require broadening one’s perspective with people outside of one’s industry.

To achieve our vision, we want to focus our efforts on feedback gained, rethink current processes where necessary, incorporate more topic-specific events, celebrate successful mentoring relationships, leverage networking opportunities, and get together as a group and explore options for adding even more value to our members and participants.

We look forward to welcoming new and existing members into our mentorship program.

 

Sven, what is the goal of Threon’s collaboration with the Mentorship Program?

Sven Gellens – Talent Manager, Threon

Over the 20 years of Threon’s existence, we have seen trends come and go in the project economy.  We are happy to sponsor and collaborate with the Mentorship Program, as it tackles two pains we see clients struggle with:

First, there is an increasing surge in project management job openings and a knowledge erosion in organizational project experience.  The latter is primarily due to retirement, and although it gives rise to new jobs, it can lead to a drop from, for example, 30 years of available project talent to 5 years for some organizations.  The Mentorship Program tackles this knowledge erosion by sharing knowledge and experience that might otherwise have remained untapped.

Secondly, Threon strives for maximum value delivery for our clients, and when it comes to training, social learning is faster and better than individual learning.  When you receive feedback or tips & tricks from a mentor, and you can deliberately use this person as a sounding board, learning and skill acquisition become very effective.

Hence, we did not have to think twice to sponsor the Mentorship Program, especially since we can offer added value to the program as a PMI-ATP partner for certification, PDU’s through our webinars on project, program, and portfolio-management, CAPM training for students together with TU Delft, and much more …

 

Anton, what does this partnership mean to the Chapter?

Anton Zandhuis – Partnership Director, PMI Netherlands Chapter

With a revised Partnership approach, we move away from the past Sponsorship model, which solely focused on funding, now concentrating on more active collaboration so that both our members and the Partner organizations can benefit.  Experiencing the fast-growing need for a more professional approach to (strategic) change realization, the international recognition of PMI’s extensive knowledge base and network, and the many opportunities available to strengthen the growth and development of the Chapter, its members, as well as Partnering organizations, we believe that the Chapter and its programs have enormous potential and will grow into the Dutch Project Management association of choice.

 

Threon has been a sponsor and partner of the PMI Netherlands Chapter for a long time, and this relationship dates back to the Chapter´s initiation. Threon supported the Chapter in many ways, providing volunteers and creating enthusiasm for PMI NL Chapter membership, even for Board membership, which is how I ended up on the Board. Threon is also the first PMI Authorized Training Provider in the Netherlands, so we are happy to have them as one of our Partners to collaborate in actively growing the Mentorship Program and adding value to current and future members.