For the public good? Volunteering in the Chartered profession

ROAD TO CHARTERED SERIES

The second in the series of APM Chartered papers has been published. This is one of a series of Chartered thought leadership papers –‘ The Road to Chartered’ – created to help build the capacity of APM as a Chartered body. This paper entitled ‘For the public good? Volunteering in the Chartered profession’ focuses on a theme that APM has always had at its heart: volunteering.

The advent of Chartered status is an excellent time to look at how we can further increase the value of volunteering and the recognition of our volunteers. It will provide the focus for ideas to feed into the Volunteers Steering Group (VSG) to look at how the volunteer community can help deliver the APM vision by engaging both the membership and an increasingly diverse profession.

As this series progresses it will provide members with insight into how their professional body will develop, what this will mean for them, and crucially, how they can be involved in this evolution. It will also signal to the wider public the intent of the project management profession to play its part in the development of the social and economic well-being of the country. A contribution that we believe has been under-appreciated for too long.

This series of papers will also act as a springboard for debate – surely an essential role for a professional body – and will help and support the transformation APM requires as it evolves as a Chartered body.

It also provides a backdrop to the essential and detailed work undertaken throughout 2017 and into 2018, as APM develops the new standard for the profession and establishes a register of chartered individuals. Despite the granting of the Charter at the end of 2016, this essential benchmarking work needs to be as thorough as possible to ensure APM establishes the appropriate standard for a fully constituted Chartered body that will inspire public confidence.

We need to identify imaginative ideas and alternative ways to engage in addition to traditional routes, such as running events, publishing knowledge and serving on committees. We will learn much from other Chartered bodies. The objective of the VSG is to develop new ideas, and galvanise and broaden the reach, diversity and impact of our volunteering. As we move forward we will ensure that APM volunteers continue to align, enrich and deliver the new APM strategy.