ILX Group and the Home Office devise new accredited
qualification to transform leadership of programmesILX Group
and the Home Office devise new accredited qualification to
transform leadership programmes
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
ILX Group plc has worked with the Home Office to develop and
deliver an accredited qualification for Senior Responsible
Owners (SROs) as an industry standard. It will be the World’s
first comprehensive training course to measure the leadership
of Programmes and Projects at Sponsor level. The programme has
been accredited by the APM Group and the qualification, APMG
Programme & Project Sponsorship (PPS) and will be available
from 24 June 2008.
This qualification is based on a series of Executive Briefings
developed by ILX Group plc for the Home Office. These briefings
equip senior level staff with the practical knowledge and
skills needed to lead the successful delivery of complex
policies and initiatives. ILX Group plc is the only training
provider to support the development of this product from
conception through to launch of the qualification, including an
active role on the APMG exam panel. To date, over 70 people
have attended the briefings and over half of these have now
taken the new exam.
Howard Joseph, Head of PPM Skills in the Home Office Centre of
Excellence comments, “The SRO Executive Briefings take a new
and practical approach to project leadership by providing
sponsors and SROs with the top line information, cherry picked
from the key products that are available. For example, when
covering Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) or PRINCE2, the
course doesn’t go into the minutiae of the methodologies
themselves; instead it tells the sponsor ‘this is the
technique, this is how it can help you, and this is when you
should take an interest in using it’. Put simply, the focus is
to provide practical advice to SROs and other sponsors to do
the right thing at the right time and to establish appropriate
engagement with their project team.”
The Home Office currently has 35 major projects/programmes in
progress costing in excess of 40 million pounds and many
hundreds of smaller ones. The APMG Programme & Project
Sponsorship qualification takes the training a stage further by
testing the key components through a formal exam. The exam
certifies that sponsors are equipped with the knowledge and
skills needed to lead successful delivery of a policy or
initiative.
On 8th May, Sir David Normington, the Home Office Permanent
Secretary presented certificates to the successful candidates
from the pilots of the APMG exam said, “It is very important
that senior managers understand their sponsor role and are able
to adopt an appropriate approach. In the Home Office we
currently have many important projects, so it is extremely
important that we professionalise the role of Senior
Responsible Owner. I recognise the value of effective project
management and will be encouraging our project sponsors to take
this qualification”.
Eddie Kilkelly, Managing Director, ILX Group plc, says, “The
focus is on equipping senior leaders with practical skills they
need to lead successful programmes, the training can support
individuals in the public sector and private sector. A good
illustration of this is that the first candidates to pass the
examination came from the Home Office, UK Borders Agency, the
National School for Government and the Atomic Weapons
Establishment.”
The two day modular PPS programme which is also available as
4-6 hours of e-learning does not have a course ‘book’, but
instead a ten page syllabus and reading lists for additional
information. The syllabus contains four training modules: • The
role of the sponsor: the more traditional material defining the
role of sponsor • The sponsor working with people: including
leadership and stakeholder engagement • Identifying and
establishing a programme/project • The delivery journey:
mid-term running and various types of ending.
The syllabus is methodology independent and uses generic terms
as far as possible. Candidates are assessed with a formal
objective testing examination (OTE), a practical assessment
that poses situational questions based on a given scenario.
The Home Office is the government department responsible for
leading the national effort to protect the public from
terrorism, crime and anti-social behaviour. As such it is
responsible for the police, immigration and passport services
and MI5. Furthermore it is responsible for government policy on
security-related issues such as drugs, counter-terrorism and ID
cards.
Comment: The 4-6 hour e-learning
course cannot totally replicate the 2 day course in that some
face to face element is essential. However, it can very much
prepare those who will be attending a future course, act as
refresher work for those who have been on the course whilst
also being available to those who cannot attend a 2 day
course.
17 Jun 2008
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Source:
http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=113098&Itemid=31
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