Required Courses

The following courses are required to achieve the CMC designation (these courses can be taken in any order). Exceptions may apply, please see details below for each course.

Professional Conduct and Ethics: Best Practices and Professional Standards

The Essentials of Management Consulting

Proficiency in Project Management

Proficiency in Interpersonal Skills

Proficiency in Personal Skills

Professional Conduct and Ethics: Best Practices and Professional Standards

(required for the following streams: Entry, Experienced, Executive)

This CMC-Canada online course has received glowing reviews since its launch in the spring of 2000. Its goal is to teach consultants about the challenges associated with professional standards and best practices in the management consulting profession. In addition, it explores how to resolve ethical dilemmas frequently faced by management consultants.

The course cost is $200.00 plus tax for members, $275.00 plus tax for non-members and is administered by Captus Press.

This course takes approximately two to five hours of online time to complete and may be taken at the candidate's own pace. The course is presented in a series of seven modules with a self-administered exam at the end. A CMC member of the Association marks all exams.

All candidates will be notified by writing of their pass or fail status within ten business days. If the grade received is a fail, candidates will have two days to re-take the exam at a cost of $75.00. Any candidate requiring more than two days to re-take the exam will have to pay an additional $30.00.

The answers to the following questions, and other thought-provoking issues, are addressed within the course:

What are the professional standards and best practices in the management consulting profession?
When a conflict of interest arises between you and your client, how should it be resolved?
What is a conflict of interest?
What does it mean to treat a client's information as "confidential"?
Is your duty to serve your client absolute?
When could this duty conflict with other responsibilities, such as those owed to the profession, your firm and other professionals?
How, practically, can these and other ethical dilemmas frequently faced by management consultants on a regular basis be resolved?
Is there an approach that works?
Can you limit your legal liability in the process?

Click here to register for the Best Practices and Professional Standards course.

Click here to view a demo.

The Essentials of Management Consulting

(required for the following stream: Entry. Experienced and Executive Stream candidates are not required to take this course. For details on applying for the Experienced or Executive Steams, click here)

Dynamic and interactive, the Essentials of Management Consulting (EMC) course is valuable to management consultants wanting to deliver superior value to their clients, to anyone who is considering becoming a management consultant, and to any member who is pursuing the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation.

The Essentials of Management Consulting course focuses on three core consulting competencies:

Helping clients assess their current situation, including the business challenges and opportunities they can address to improve upon the present.
Helping clients develop strategies for growth and development.
Helping clients address change management processes while implementing recommendations.

To develop your strengths in these areas, the course covers:

The five stages of the consulting process and the deliverables associated with each stage.
Introduction to consulting tools and techniques used during the various stages of the consulting process especially in Diagnosis and Action Planning.
The importance of considering all six functional areas of organization management (Human Resources, Strategic Planning, Finance, Operations, Information Technology, and Marketing) during a consulting assignment.
Teamwork using Tuckman's forming, storming, norming, performing (and adjourning) model; including teambuilding tools, techniques and opportunities for both co-located and virtual teamwork activities.
Client Communications, including simulated milestone presentations and meetings with a client and key written reports associated with the consulting process.
Change and Change Management, including tools and techniques related to assessing change readiness, understanding absorptive capacity and managing change.

The Essentials of Management Consulting course is offered both online and in-class. The online version is 3 months in length, and you will spend 1-2 hours each week in instructor-led sessions or in team meetings. The classroom-based version consists of 3 days of classroom-based sessions, and a half-day online preparatory overview. If you are new to the management consulting profession, we highly recommend taking the online version of this course.

For more information and to register for the ONLINE version, click here

For more information and to register for the CLASSROOM-BASED version, click here

Proficiency in Project Management

The attached list of courses have been approved by CMC-Canada as equivalent for the above program.
Provide evidence of completion of one course (at least two days in length) covering the basic principles of project management. For details on CMC-Canada’s course content requirements, click here.
CMC-Canada does not offer this course but can recommend providers in your area. Approx. cost $1,000 to $1,500.
CMC-Canada can advise whether previously completed university or other professional development courses meet equivalency requirements. If you completed a project management course in the past and would like to have it evaluated, submit both a complete course description and your certificate of completion/transcript.
Contact CMC-Canada before you register for a course offered through a third party to ensure it meets equivalency requirements.

Individuals with the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential are exempt from this requirement.

Proficiency in Interpersonal Skills

The attached list of courses have been approved by CMC-Canada as equivalent for the above program.
Provide evidence of completion of one course (at least one day in length) which may cover, but not limited to, the following areas: Leadership, Team Building, Conflict Resolution, etc.
CMC-Canada does not offer this course but can recommend providers in your area. Approx. cost $500 to $1,000 per course.
CMC-Canada can advise whether previously completed university or other professional development courses meet equivalency requirements. If you completed an interpersonal skills course in the past and would like to have it evaluated, submit both a complete course description and your certificate of completion/transcript.
Contact CMC-Canada before you register for a course offered through a third party to ensure it meets equivalency requirements.

Proficiency in Personal Skills

The attached list of courses have been approved by CMC-Canada as equivalent for the above program.
Provide evidence of completion of one course (at least one day in length) which may cover, but not limited to, the following areas: Communication Skills, Negotiation Skills, Creativity/Innovation, Time Management, Report Writing, etc.
CMC-Canada does not offer this course but can recommend providers in your area. Approx. cost $500 to $1,000 per course.
CMC-Canada can advise whether previously completed university or other professional development courses meet equivalency requirements. If you completed a personal skills course in the past and would like to have it evaluated, submit both a complete course description and your certificate of completion/transcript.
Contact CMC-Canada before you register for a course offered through a third party to ensure it meets equivalency requirements.

If you have any questions about the required courses, please contact Hélène Théberge at htheberge@cmc-canada.ca.