Types of Training To Consider in 2023
One of the annual activities we do in the Ten Six office is to reflect on the last year and spend some time thinking about professional development goals for the coming year. We look back on what we achieved individually and as a team, and any professional milestones reached. Then we consider what we’d like to achieve this year and we make plans.
We’ve always found it incredibly beneficial to plan out how to achieve professional development goals, for ourselves and our teams. If you don’t plan how you are going to develop people, you can’t really move the needle on the services you offer to clients. Plans are the ways we turn ideas and goals into actions.
With a plan, you can hold yourself accountable and keep track of how you are doing. There’s no risk of getting to the end of the year and going, “Oh yes, we were going to do that, weren’t we?” And then doing a half-baked job of trying to squeeze something in before the end of the financial year. Or worse, finding out that another team has used up all the training budget and you didn’t get in early enough to secure any funding for yourself.
We’re obviously passionate about high-quality training and ongoing professional learning – it’s what we do. So if you’re at the point of thinking about professional development plans for your teams in the coming months, how about considering some of the types of training that are most popular with our clients.
Project management
Get all your team on the same page, using the same terminology and consistent processes.
Does that sound like wishful thinking? It’s not, if you enroll team members in a project management course.
Many project management courses are simply designed to get your employees through a professional exam. There’s nothing wrong with that, but often the techniques taught on certification prep courses don’t naturally translate to how your business operates. Exam students need to know the ‘official’ way to manage the project – what answers to regurgitate in the test to pass the exam.
But leading successful projects requires more than that: an in-depth knowledge of how to integrate existing processes with the tools you use, the client and contract requirements, and how to actually do the job. That’s where non-certification based training can really boost your team’s efficiency.
Everyone from the project sponsor to the experts leading work packages and responsible for completing tasks will benefit from using common terminology and standardized practices. Choose between short or long courses to best meet the needs of different team members, and work with experienced trainers who can support the transfer of learning back to the workplace.
Earned value management
The biggest challenge we find for companies using earned value management – or thinking about using it – is that they are worried they aren’t ‘doing it properly’. It’s a very structured, disciplined way of working, but once it is set up with clear processes, it’s relatively straightforward.
Boost confidence in your team by offering earned value management training. A course for sponsors will provide a 3-hour executive overview for those in charge of leading at the most senior levels. For hands-on practitioners who need to get into the detail, our 4-day advanced workshop is the best choice.
As well as helping each team member feel like they know their way around earned value reports, training has a number of other benefits including:
- Avoiding delays in your EVMS certification
- Minimizing or avoiding corrective actions on your existing system
- Implementing effective project controls and performance measurement
- Empowering your organization for project performance.
It’s amazing to see the transformation in skills and confidence of the people who attend our courses. We can see the lightbulb moments, the recognition of how much difference the training makes and the boost that comes from “getting it”.
Software training
Are you moving to Primavera P6 soon, or introducing new tools like BI Publisher, Unifier or Deltek Cobra? Get ahead by working out how to ensure everyone on the team can effectively use the new software.
Software training should be an important part of deploying any new tool. Choose a provider that offers hands-on learning in a sandbox-style environment so users can practice their skills. The best courses include real-life case studies and examples so you can work through the software functions in a realistic way.
Video training provides a way to refresh yourself on the details if you don’t use the features every day. Simply go back into the online course and watch the relevant section before you do a task. Many of our clients find this a valuable addition to having written instructions in a manual or your own notes because they can see exactly what to click and how to get the result they want.
Build on what they know
Training can introduce employees to new skills, but it can also build on what they already know. If you have beginner and intermediate level team members, why not plan to boost their skills next year with an advanced earned value management course, or a scheduling best practice course? Why not send your top Primavera P6 experts on an Advanced Topics course and see how much more they can do with a new set of skills?
Your team has a direct impact on project success and their ability to do their job depends on their ability to put what they know into practice. Training can cover a wide range of topics and research shows that organizations that invest in staff development are likely to have better retention rates and employee morale too.
What types of training will you put into your plans for next year to help your team be the best they can be?