Our Management Training Workshops

By introducing our Management Training workshops to your staff we help ease the negative effect of change on both managerial and supervisory personnel. The change in job responsibilities, the change in personnel, job duties, and the rising challenge of developing subordinates are specific goals of our learning systems workshops. We are highly successful at helping Managers and Supervisors learn and adapt to the necessary skills and proper behaviors to be successful at work as well as in their personal lives.

For more information on our management training workshops please contact us.

As a part of our management training workshops, Managers and Supervisors will learn how to:

• Minimize the chance of miscommunication by understanding what people are really saying, and why
• Deal with difficult people, manage tense situations, and resolve conflict
• Make use of proven active listening skills to improve your ability to gain helpful information
• Be able to facilitate, guide, and close discussions in one-on-one or group settings
• Improve understanding and communication by giving and receiving good feedback
• Use ideas submitted by a member of the team without causing other members to be defensive
• Develop a comprehensive team building strategy that improves productivity of the whole team
• Emphasize the value of working toward common goals without devaluing individual accomplishment
• Define and set up a method to track staff activities
• Be able to manage time and work assignments effectively
• Conduct team meetings that capture and hold the audience’s attention
• Interview and hire the right person for the right job
• Save time and work more effectively through the use of a clear time management plan
• Understand and comply with proper hiring and managing requirements
• Communicate effectively with both superiors, peers and subordinates
• Become effective coaches for their work team
• Conduct accurate and difficult performance appraisals

 

Management Training:
The Role of Project Management Training Workshops in Project Management Development

For many years Project Managers learned their trade by experience, typically an Engineer would be promoted to the role of Project Manager and if they succeeded in delivering their first project they would be rewarded with larger more challenging projects (almost until they failed). Organizations, however, found this 'learning by experience' approach very expensive, because mistakes made early in a project (such as poor definition of scope or failure to understand risks) can have dramatic consequences during implementation. Since the 1990's project management has become more recognized as a profession, with widely recognized bodies of knowledge (APM, PMI & Prince 2 methodology) and associated training and certification. An understanding of these frameworks provides organizations and individuals with a structured process for the planning and execution of projects and organizations. Project Management Training has made it their business to provide class room training to teach these methods and support individuals often linked to certification. However organizations and individuals still find the ability to delivery projects successfully challenging.

The aim of this paper is to look beyond training and to the implementation of a learning culture within a world class project delivery organization.

Definitions

Training is defined by the CIPD as 'an instructor-led and content based intervention leading to a change in behavior'; it often involves time away from the work place in a classroom or equivalent. In many organizations this is the primary form of development for employees.

Learning is defined as 'a self directed, work based process leading to an increased adaptive capacity', it involves equipping individuals with the ability to 'learn to learn' and possess the capabilities that employers need to build and sustain a competitive advantage. In a learning culture, individuals actively seek to acquire the knowledge and skills required to deliver the organizations objectives. Most individuals learn best from experience and this learning can be triggered by a wide variety of learning interventions which are integrated within the normal workplace. Along with knowledge management, 'learning' most definitely holds its place in supporting the longer term development of Project Delivery competence.

Learning Interventions

Training Companies could develop a wide range of learning interventions, including:

Action Learning

The individuals identify a particular project problem, for which they take ownership and define the steps required to resolve it. Colleagues work in learning sets (or groups) to provide support and to challenge each other’s approach. This provides significant benefit in identifying and addressing specific weakness within the organization. It can free up inflexible thinking and generate radical solutions. However, clear sponsorship is needed from within the organizations and the solutions can be threatening if radical solutions emerge. Project Management Training Companies can offer support for the facilitation and formation of learning sets within an organization, providing advice and steering in order to ensure the group maintains momentum.

Blended Learning

It is becoming increasingly more recognized that individuals learn best in small chunks of two to three hours, (school lessons have always been 30-45 minutes). Blended learning, which usually includes e-learning, enables individuals to access information in smaller chunks. Training Companies is proactively evaluating the development and deployment of both generic and bespoke e-learning solutions.

Mentoring and Coaching

Coaching is a one-to-one method of enhancing performance and skills. Coaching is usually organized as a number of short one-to-one sessions over a period of several months, in which individuals are paired with an appropriate coach. Training Companies’ coaching model is a four step process including 1) Setting goals based on reality, 2) evaluating options for development, 3) committing to action and 4) reviewing outcomes. Project Management Training Companies have pilot one-to-one coaching programmes running within Transport for London. We need to evaluate the benefits of these programmes and potential market.

CPD - Continuing Professional Development

Continuing Professional Development supports the ongoing education of project managers ensuring individuals remain up to date. Within the project management community, the APM and other bodies arrange regular CPD events aimed at enhancing an individual's knowledge usually focused towards specific knowledge areas (such as Risk, Managing Project Teams etc). Training Companies arranges their own industry specific, regular PM seminars delivered by Guest Speakers and Training Companies’ own consultants. These events generally last for half a day and encourage individuals to share ideas and discuss issues within their own industry.

Within an organization PM forums can provide a powerful way of debating and discussing issues relevant to the PM community. This can range in duration from 1 hour ('break and learn' lunchtime sessions to half day events. Highly bespoke forums can form 'surgeries' providing a safe environment for Project Managers to discuss issues. 

Development (or assessment) Centers

In a development centre, individuals take part in a number of job simulations and tests observed by Consultant assessors who evaluate their performance against pre-defined criteria. The APM Practitioner Qualification is one form of assessment centre offered by Training Companies; however the feedback is based on the APM BOK and can be limited and indirect.

Some clients prefer bespoke development centers/job simulation events which focus on the key behaviors important to their own organization, often involving senior managers from within the organization as the observers and/or contributors. Training Companies can work with partners who have significant experience developing and delivering management development centers and these will have a pivotal role in any 'learning' solution.

Knowledge Management

Knowledge management systems encourage individuals to store, retrieve and make available information which supports the successful delivery of projects. Systems can range from template documents, lessons learned and discussion on key topics, access to key Project Management portals, websites and on-line forums. Project Management Training Companies does not currently support knowledge management systems but is investigating systems to support an alumni community which would have access to such a shared resource.

Conclusions

Class room based project management training is a significant improvement to 'learning on the job', providing individuals and organizations with a structured approach to project management. Looking to the future, successful project delivery will require individuals to take the learning out of the class room and apply it back in the day job. In this paper we have identified a number of learning interventions that support the shift from training to learning. Several of these will require significant development effort both in terms of approach and infrastructure. Project Management Training Companies need to seek a client partner to work on these assessing the feasibility of these approaches and define the scope of any Training Companies.

By: Paul Naybour: link

Subject: Management Training Workshops

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