Let's get straight to the point: what do you know about IPMA that you don't learn from books?
That is, first and foremost, the stubbornness of the field of project management in practice. In the IPMA course, you learn about leadership and team building, neatly on paper, with models and theories included. But to put it in Cruyffian terms: you only start to see it when you understand it.
You can learn as much as you like on paper about leading a team—ensuring that it actually becomes a team. But as soon as you have a team in front of you, people rarely behave as rigidly as Tuckman's team stages. Of course, it is good to understand forming, storming, norming, and performing. That is your foundation. In practice, your ability to observe, listen, and feel comes into play. What is happening in the group, who is withdrawing, where is tension rising?
And you don't learn that from a book; you learn it by simply doing it. I also always tell people: you don't have to see it all by yourself. You are not the only one looking. There are more people around you looking with you. Dare to call upon them, especially if you don't have much experience yet.
You are essentially saying: you learn project management primarily in practice. Do you, as a trainer, then always have to come from practice as well?
I once met teachers who had literally never done a project. Never. I really thought: how is that even possible? How do you teach about that if you’ve never experienced it yourself? By the book?
For me, that is requirement number 1 as a trainer. If you share your knowledge, you must have put it into practice yourself. Otherwise, you simply don't know if it works. You can tell a very nice story about stakeholder management, but have you ever sat at the table with an angry client? Have you ever had to save a project that spiraled completely out of control?
That is the difference between transferring knowledge and transferring experience. Both are necessary, but without the latter, you miss something essential.
Now that we’re on the subject of practice… What is your ultimate IPMA hack?
At IPMA, the real value lies in the soft competencies. In other words: the behavioral and leadership competencies. As a project manager, you are inclined to think: if I have a good plan, I'm all set. But in practice, you realize that it is much more than that. You spend 80% of your work on communication. I only truly realized that after a much longer time.
Your work as a project manager consists almost entirely of communication! You aren't just sitting at your desk updating your Excel spreadsheets. As a project manager, you are engaged with your environment, your team, and your client. So that is my hack: your work is 80% communication, so make sure you become really good at it.
Could you make that a bit more concrete for project managers reading along? How do I put that into practice?
In concrete terms, this means that as a project manager, you are constantly engaged in alignment. This is not so much about the content; the relationship with the people around you always comes first. Only when that mutual alignment is right and feels good can you move on to the content.
You can look at it this way: as a project manager, you are always negotiating. You negotiate from the very first moment you are asked to join a project until the final moment you walk out the door and say: the project was a success.
And what is the core of negotiation? Exactly, communication. And so the circle is complete. You spend 80% of your time persuading people.
Do you have a tip for students?
Realize that project management is truly a profession. Not something you 'just do on the side' alongside your job. I sometimes miss that awareness in people who are just starting out.
And make sure you don't stop at the training. Organize some form of support yourself afterwards, or simply demand it. Say to yourself: I have completed this training, I am going to work on projects now, but I also want someone to spar with when things get tough. A sort of buddy, someone who thinks along with you.
That is not asking too much at all. I am a line manager myself, and I know: you can see it in people who are working on their development in that way. It works.
👉 Do you also want to learn what project management is really all about, beyond the theory? At Lagant Academy's IPMA training courses, you learn from trainers who have been practicing the profession themselves for years. View the current offerings.
