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March 2023

Jump to: Chair Message | Welcome New Members & Member Highlight | News Around the Web
 Certification Committee & Triennial Recertification | CMC Committee | Membership Committee 
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Julia Demkowski Message

Coming Soon through IMC USA – ISO 20700 Self-Declaration Checklist Training

We are pleased to announce an IMC USA ISO 20700 workshop is coming soon. Please be on the lookout for an announcement when the program is open for registration.

ISO 20700 is a management consulting standard that provides guidelines for the effective delivery of management consultancy services. It covers all aspects of the management consultancy process, from start to finish. It is the first international standard for guiding the management of a professional service and it provides a framework for management consultants to follow when contracting, delivering, and closing their professional services. First published in June 2017, the standard enables management consultants to reduce risk in management consulting assignments and provide better value to their clients.

In order to help management consultants efficiently use the ISO 20700 standard, ICMCI has developed the self-declaration checklist. This is a useful tool for the consultant and client to use through the various steps of their projects. It promotes transparency and initiates discussions to ensure that all required points are covered in agreement with each other.

The checklist follows the same three major components of the standard: contracting, delivering, and closing the project.

IMC USA has partnered with Effective Managers™ to now offer the checklist training in our Academy through our new learning management system (LMS). The course has been developed and is delivered by Dwight Mihalicz, accredited by ICMCI as an ISO 20700 Checklist Trainer. The training will give you practical, hands-on experience in the use of the standard, and the tools you will need to use with your clients.

Why Attend the Training

  • Learn how the standard can help you to provide higher impact consulting projects for your clients.
  • Use ISO 20700 to create a fully transparent project, strengthening the client – consultant relationship.
  • Be ready for clients who ask for the standard.
  • Strengthen your marketing efforts by promoting your global registration as an accredited user of the ISO 20700 Checklist. You will receive a certificate directly from ICMCI together with a logo to be used in promotions.
  • You will have an easy-to-use checklist that will ensure you and the client are on the same page with respect to deliverables and accountabilities throughout the project.
  • Empower the client to be a partner in the consulting process.
  • Have access to a potential marketing tool for CMCs by showing proof of alignment and differentiates the CMC and deliverables from other providers.
  • Create a roadmap that can be used to inform the client of their expectations and responsibilities during the project cycle.
  • Empower the client to be a partner in the consulting process.
  • Understand the differences between the CMC designation and the ISO 20700 Guidelines and how you can leverage them in your practice.

The use of this ICMCI checklist tool will help you apply these guidelines on all your projects, creating transparency between you and your clients.

Click Here to Learn More: The Top 5 Reasons Consultants Should Take the ISO 20700 Training - Effective Managers

ISO 20700, Guidelines for Management Consultancy Services, helps management consultants and their clients improve transparency and understanding of consulting assignments in order to achieve better results.

What is your Business Identity Index?

Just a reminder from last months newsletter. New Orchard, an IMC USA Affiliate Member is offering a one-time access to the Business Identity Index to our members. Simply click on the following link to take the BII (Business Identity Index) and find out how you perceive you or your firm is approaching critical decisions. This is an assessment on your Business Identity, and you will receive a report of your assessment results. This is a “no-fee” offer from New Orchard.

https://imcmembers.assessments.journeysystem.com/Identity/

What is your Business Identity? For more detailed information about what the Business Identity Index is click here.

I hope all are off to a great 2023 and looking forward to spring!

Julia Demkowski

IMC USA Member News

Welcome January - February New Members

  • Desmond Delce, Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Josh Goldman, Columbus, Ohio
  • Raman Jha, Winter Garden, Florida
  • Paari Rajendran, San Ramon California

Member Stories: What IMC USA Means to Me

Michiko Wolcott, CMC, of Msight Analytics has experienced the value of IMC USA membership and certification. Have you? Visit http://ow.ly/LfbV50I8xzG to learn how membership can benefit you!

Membership

Thinking about starting, growing and sustaining your practice? What better way than utilizing the resources and community IMC USA offers! If you are seeking to begin your practice, implement a proven competency framework, develop business, optimize performance, exceed client expectations and much more – it all starts with membership and personalized onboarding! Click here to get started today!

News Around the Web

Classics to Help Your Practice Grow

IMC USA Committee Updates

CMC Graphic

 Certified Management Consultant (CMC®)

CMC® Certification Committee and Volunteers
This year, we’re moving to a quarterly Oral Examination schedule that allows us to better serve our CMC® Applicants and Examiners. Again, the CMC® Certification Committee consists of qualified volunteers who are stepping up to serve as Panel Chairs and examiners and all must comprehend:

  • the Exam Panel Instructions (page 5) and
  • the Exam Orientation-Agenda Letter format that facilitates the CMC® Oral Exam Panel Chair to custom fit an agenda for the exam panelists to follow.

CMC Candidates who are awarded the CMC® (Certified Management Consultant) credential by the IMCUSA have demonstrated an exceptional level of performance that includes:

  • professional standards in technical competency and ethics,
  • global standards in consulting competencies,
  • professional and ethical behavior,
  • client and project management, and
  • personal conduct.

Our IMC USA has successfully addressed the ICMCI’s Triennial Assessment for awarding the CMC® credential. IMC International Members are encouraged to explore and consider earning the Global CMC® through the ICMCI (The International Council of Management Consulting Institutes). The ICMCI’s CMC-Global Institute link is located at https://www.cmcgi.org/content/cmc-designation.

2023 CMC® Triennial Recertification Form

Recertification continues with more CMC's renewing their credential this year. Since July 1, 2022, one singular CMC® Recertification Form has been adopted that adheres to the already authorized format from the IMCUSA Board of Directors.

In the future, following a July 31 deadline, a $70 administrative charge will be added to process any candidate’s recertification form. If you do not recertify, your IMCUSA status will be changed from Certified Management Consultant (CMC®) to Professional.

To purchase The Mastering Management Consulting "Ethical Challenges Module", which satisfies the ethics requirements for CMC Recertification, please visit this link.

If you are a non-member or expired member, and you wish to join or renew, or apply for Certified Emeritus, please contact Noelle Campany at [email protected].

For any other questions regarding CMC® Recertification, please contact Lindy Rome at [email protected].

Thanks, again, for helping advance our IMC's unique credential: the CMC® (Certified Management Consultant).

Gregory Lunde, CMC®-Emeritus
IMCUSA CMC® Certification Committee Chair

CMC® Committee

The CMC Committee has worked on developing a comprehensive communication plan around the CMC certification. Working alongside members of IMC USA staff, the board of directors, and other committees, audiences of IMC USA including prospective members, current members without certification, and those CMCs interested in helping us to spread the word will receive

appropriate messaging on various channels. Our goals include growing awareness, communicating the value, and facilitating the process of applying for the CMC to raise the bar among practicing management consultants in terms of competencies and ethics.

IMC USA stands on the pillars of community via membership, education via our various training programs, ethics via our Code of Ethics and the CMC's upcoming additional Code of Conduct, and the CMC certification to demonstrate mastery in consulting. We strongly believe that education plus community can and will inspire more consultants to look to the CMC as the international mark of excellence.

Finally, discussions have begun to develop the CMC Firm program whereby consulting firms and their staff may earn a certification through an internationally valid and reliable credentialing process.

New Membership Committee Chair Looks to the Future

The IMC USA Board of Directors recently appointed Cecilia Sepp, CAE, as the Membership Committee Chair. Sepp joined IMC USA in July 2020 and served as the Treasurer of the National Capital Region (NCR) Chapter through December 2022. "I'm looking forward to learning more about the inner workings of IMC USA, its global opportunities, and how we can work together to elevate the performance of Consultants." The Membership Committee will also focus on educating members on the path to becoming a globally recognized Certified Management Consultant®. Have any ideas or suggestions about the Member Experience? Please send an email to: [email protected]

Why ISO 20700?

Did you know there is an international standard providing guidelines for delivery of management consulting services?  A colleague, Dwight Mihalicz (CMC® Canada), writes the following about ISO 20700, “It is a new standard [which] aims to improve transparency and understanding between clients and management consultancy service providers to achieve better results from consultancy projects.”  Thanks to DFW chapter programming!

This new tool (ISO 20700) is relatively new and in its early adoption phase by consultants worldwide who wish to further differentiate themselves and their practice from others.  More importantly, it is the first ISO service delivery standard for professional services in the world and, therefore, “marks an essential milestone in further development” of the consulting industry.  Further, it is a guideline, not a compliance standard and is flexible in its application.

ISO 20700 brings increased attention to the need for transparency.  The checklists embedded in ISO 20700 provide a common framework within which to hold constructive, open conversations with prospects/clients about the intended/proposed service, better ensuring success and satisfaction by clients.  Its use provides this common framework for prospects/clients to appraise consultants and evaluate their work, precludes misunderstandings about the nature of the assignment, and clearly identifies the value of the engagement.

Look for more information as we put the training in our Learning Management System shortly.

Check it out, several of us have done so and are able to say, “Trained in ISO 20700” on our collateral material, email signatures, proposals, etc.

Upcoming National and Chapter Events

IMC USA produces several programs each month. Please visit the online calendar to plan your participation. The majority of these programs are included with your membership! You may search by category and month.

Chapters

There are 9 chapters throughout the United States that serve members on a local basis – including programming and networking. Please click here to determine the closest chapter to your vicinity.

Affiliate Program

Management consulting is a $259B market with 875,000 consultants and 3-4% annual growth. If you are seeking greater exposure and business development opportunities within the management consulting marketplace, click here now! Thank you to our affiliate members for supporting IMC USA!
For a fully directory of our affiliate members, click here.