How to… maximise your training budgets

Our inspiration for today’s article was taken from the July issue of People Management magazine.

Charles Gould, managing director of workplace e-learning specialist Brightwave, outlined that cutting costs doesn't necessarily mean stopping staff development and encourages employers to be smarter with how they spend. He goes on saying that, during recessions, it can be tempting to treat training as dispensable expenditure. However, a recent CIPD survey found that the average annual spend per employee on training has already dropped from £300 to £220. But simply cutting training budgets can be dangerous – instead, take the opportunity to work smarter.

We have taken some of the best hints and tips and reproduced them here for you.

1 – Prioritise training needs
First, identify and focus on the mission-critical training requirements in your organisation. These may include business-generating training on new products and sales skills. Legal compliance also cannot be neglected. Your organisation will be focused on business-critical issues more than ever, so your training needs to be too.

2 – Don’t ‘sheep dip’
Stop and think about the real skill gaps. What does each person really need to do his or her job? Tailor your training to support real performance needs. If you don’t, you risk throwing away your training budget unnecessarily.

3 – Outsource expediently
Don’t ignore the skills of your in-house learning and development team. With the right coaching and tools, they can play a valuable part in co-ordinating external suppliers with internal business sponsors, and bring their knowledge of training and your people to bear during design.

4 – Encourage informal knowledge sharing
In the current age of social networking, encourage employees to share knowledge informally. This may be facilitated via a secure network within an intranet, or through a group set up on one of the more popular social networks, such as Facebook or LinkedIn. You might find that staff will be happy to access such informal learning at a time when they know they have to keep up in terms of knowledge and skills.

5 – Consider pre-induction training
Get people learning about your organisation and processes before they actually start, when they’ll be highly engaged and keen to make an impression. Pre-induction, or onboarding, reduces the training burden once new staff have joined, meaning they can hit the ground running.

6 – Maximise different training channels
Look at using existing training resources that could be delivered using different channels. For example, create e-learning to reach large numbers of staff. But then use the same materials – design images, stories and questions – to produce posters, brochures or PowerPoint slides. You don’t need to write and design a new course or campaign from scratch.

7 – Don’t ditch your classroom training
It can be tempting, but scrapping all classroom training when training budgets are cut may be a mistake. Instead, think “horses for courses” – transfer costly classroom-based training into a blended learning programme. For example, select key role-play or discussion points from a three-day classroom course to create a one-day course. The key knowledge learning and testing elements can then be transferred online to ensure no learning is lost.

8 – Get staff learning at home
Offer incentives, such as paying the home broadband bill for the training period in return for time invested in training at home. This minimises disruption during the working day and enables training to be centrally tracked and assessed to monitor its effectiveness.

Source: People Management magazine, page 33, 16 July 2009

Read original article here

Effective Project Delivery in Difficult Times

The Maven Training and Arras People FREE breakfast event, which will give you an overview of project management market trends in these difficult times, will happen again next Monday the 13th July.

Melanie Franklin , CEO of Maven Training, will be talking about personal and professional development and how you can get the balance right between accredited qualifications and skills-based development, as well as finding the right balance of organisational needs vs. individual needs.

John Thorpe, MD of Arras People will share his thoughts on current trends in the PM marketplace – recruitment and people strategies, and current benchmarking information.

Venue: Maven Training Centre Location and Map
Cost: FREE
Bookings: info@maventraining.co.uk

13th July 2009
08:00am - 10:30am
12:00am - 14:30pm

Limited availability, so BOOK NOW!

Effective Project Management Delivery in Tough Times

Due to popular demand, the Maven Training and Arras People FREE breakfast event, which will give you an overview of project management market trends in these difficult times, will happen on two dates: the 26th June (fully booked) and the 13th July.

On both events, Melanie Franklin , CEO of Maven Training, will be talking about personal and professional development and how you can get the balance right between accredited qualifications and skills-based development, as well as finding the right balance of organisational needs vs. individual needs, and John Thorpe, MD of Arras People will share his thoughts on current trends in the PM marketplace – recruitment and people strategies, and current benchmarking information.

Venue: Maven Training Centre Location and Map
Cost: FREE
Bookings: info@maventraining.co.uk

Date and times:

13th July 2009
08:00am - 10:30am
12:00am - 14:30pm

Limited availability, so BOOK NOW!

Effective Project Management Delivery in tough times

Due to popular demand, the Maven Training and Arras People FREE breakfast event, which will give you an overview of project management market trends in these difficult times, will happen on two dates: the 26th June (fully booked) and the 13th July.

On both events, Melanie Franklin , CEO of Maven Training, will be talking about personal and professional development and how you can get the balance right between accredited qualifications and skills-based development, as well as finding the right balance of organisational needs vs. individual needs, and John Thorpe, MD of Arras People will share his thoughts on current trends in the PM marketplace – recruitment and people strategies, and current benchmarking information.

Venue: Maven Training Centre Location and Map
Cost: FREE
Bookings: info@maventraining.co.uk

Dates and times:

26th June 2009
08:00am - 10:30am
12:00am - 14:30pm

13th July 2009
08:00am - 10:30am
12:00am - 14:30pm

Limited availability, so BOOK NOW!

BCS Debates - Making Projects Work

Last month our CEO Melanie Franklin was a panellist of the BCS Debate, “Making IT Projects Work”, along with David Hicks, CEO, RADTAC and Paul Major, CEO, Program Framework.

The debate, chaired by Brian Runciman, Managing Editor of the BCS , concentrated on discussing problems and solutions revolving around IT Projects. The high level of the participants brought interesting answers and comments on Project Management itself – amongst the questions answered was “Are project failures a perception or sheer reality?”. They discussed the real chances of acquiring more information about failed projects, the difference between projects and programmes (and the definition of both frequently seeming a bit “hazy”), projects that work, projects that don’t and why, and the benefits of a dedicated project office. However, it was the panellists’ years of project and programme management experience that drove the conversation to the human side of project management – knowing how to deal with the people who work in a particular project is as important as having a structured approach to managing it. The focus was on the migration of “techies” to project management, PM “lingo” on the way of success, how to engage people – including management of board expectations.

WATCH THE DEBATE!

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

The Importance of Succession Training

By Craig Aldridge, Client Relations at Maven Training

Building on the back of the great experience we had at Project Challenge in Birmingham with our CEO Melanie Franklin’s Interpersonal Skills for Projects and Programmes speech we decided that recreating the performance in London would be a very good idea – hence we delivered an abridged version last Tuesday at the Barbican for the Public Service Events on Project Leadership 09. Needless to say it was a great success that all the attendees thoroughly enjoyed. However this was not the main talking point of the show turned out to be something else entirely.

Prior to Melanie’s presentation I was locked in conversation with two programme managers. They told me that their current offices ran efficiently, and the programme managers were excellent. They continued to explain that all these managers were properly trained and understood the nature of their role; however they were concerned. The main reason for their concern was these senior managers, while excellent at their jobs, had their eyes on gold watches. With their retirement coming up in the next couple of years the organisation still had no plan in place to appoint replacements.

The worry was that if somebody were to be appointed without the proper training and preparation, the consequences for the organisation would be dire; not catastrophic, but serious enough to set them back several months, even a year on their respective programmes. Throughout my conversations I brought up the topic of succession training. It became evident very quickly that this was something people had not thought about and immediately they grasped why it was crucial to their organisations.

Coincidently, directly following Melanie’s talk, there was a second session discussing this very topic. While the speaker may not have been as captivating as Mel, it was nonetheless still relevant. It highlighted transitional problems that people face when moving into a new role they are not prepared for, and the knock-on effect this has for the organisation.

The moral of the story is: “make sure that you have somebody who is ready and able to understand and fill the positions”. We understand organisations are wary of the big R, but the general consensus is, if you invest other staff lower down the chain of command, they will more than pay for themselves in the future.

Effective Project Management Delivery in tough times

Join Maven Training and Arras People for a FREE breakfast event that will give you an overview of project management market trends in these difficult times.

Melanie Franklin , CEO of Maven Training, will be talking about personal and professional development and how you can get the balance right between accredited qualifications and skills-based development, as well as finding the right balance of organisational needs vs. individual needs.

John Thorpe, MD of Arras People will share his thoughts on current trends in the PM marketplace – recruitment and people strategies, and current benchmarking information.

Venue: Maven Training Centre Location and Map
Cost: FREE
Bookings: info@maventraining.co.uk

Dates and times:

26th June 2009
08:00am - 10:30am
12:00am - 14:30pm

13th July 2009
08:00am - 10:30am
12:00am - 14:30pm

Limited availability, so BOOK NOW!

Bespoke Training – brand new section of our website!

By Melanie Franklin, CEO, Maven Training.

Today sees the launch of our newest online enterprise: the ”Bespoke Services” section of our website. This new division of our website is aimed at providing you with information about our, well, Bespoke Services – that is, what we do and how our expertise can be used to create tailored training events based on specific needs. This new section is a reflexion of the many, many meetings and requests we have received from our clients over the past few years and it was put together to provide clear, straightforward information about what we can do to help other businesses grow.

I am always interested in the requests for help that we receive from our clients, because it gives me a powerful insight into the issues of the moment, so that we can tailor our services to meet these needs. For example, at the moment, a very popular request is for help in establishing how teams or departments can adapt what they have learnt on an MSP™ course into a programme management approach that is developed by one area of the organisation, but shared across it as a whole. There is a definite feeling that creating an approach for programme management leads to more control across the projects that form the programme. This need for control is very popular at the moment. This is because there is real pressure on senior managers to understand the full costs of what they are authorising, and to know that any project they commit to is going to deliver on time. Sticking to budget and deadlines does not happen by magic, so they want to know that those involved know what they are doing, that they are following best practice and that risk across the team/department/organisation has been reduced because there is a systematic, consistent set of processes underpinning the work. I have seen a real upswing in the level of senior management interest in the way projects are managed, and more willingness to become involved in the decision making process. The number of master classes that we are delivering to senior management teams on project, programme and change management is certainly evidence of that. Also, the number of senior managers who are sending themselves on programme management training so that they know how to control the work within their departments is on the increase. Interestingly, they really appreciate attending open courses and mixing with delegates from other organisations, and there are lots of contact details swapped in the coffee breaks.

All of this activity is making me wonder whether sponsoring and managing individual projects is out of fashion and that the controls offered by programme management are fit with the need understand total spending plans across the organisation? What do you think? For more information, go to our ”Bespoke Services” pages to see how we can work with you to devise and implement your approach to programme and project management.

GETEX – Dubai 2009

By William Franklin, Client Relations Director at Maven Training.

"So, why do you want to take an MBA?" was our common response to the question from delegates of "Do you run MBAs?". After four days at the most significant educational and HR exhibition in the Middle East, we were able to gain an extraordinary insight into the psyche of their educational environment.

GETEX, the largest education fair in the Middle East & Asia, held in Dubai from the 15th to the 18th April 2009 in the International Convention Centre, was opened by H.H. Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mubarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research. During his review of the exhibitors, he stopped to discuss the services Maven Training was offering to Emiratis as well as to the Gulf region as a whole. As can be seen from the photographs, the conversation was both engaging and amusing.



Delegates attending the exhibition over the four days ranged from school children to experienced professionals but all were looking for one thing: how to develop their own educational base to improve career prospects, whether in the U.A.E or overseas. As Maven Training was the only provider of internationally accredited qualifications that would be gained through undertaking short courses of only 5 days, our stand attracted a lot of attention. In particular, the concepts of PRINCE2® and PMI® were well received as these offer delegates access to Best Practice international project management skills for application both in the Gulf as well as facilitating moves to Australia, the UK or Europe.

The most surprising outcome from the exhibition was the level of enquiry surrounding our internationally recognised 3-day Change Management course. Approximately 70% of the qualified conversations we had were from individuals or organisations looking to address the massive organisational changes being experienced in the Gulf at the moment. What they found attractive was that through a Best Practice approach to addressing change, they would be able to maintain stability, if not growth, in the current economic climate. Unusually, we were even able to obtain commitments to training on the day rather than the usual 4-8 week buying cycle usually associated with exhibitions.

On the subject of MBA's, when most delegates were asked to qualify what they would get from one, most could not. So, if any of you reading this are thinking about spending your time and money on such an in-depth qualification, make sure you understand what you will get out of it and how you will apply the learning when you re-enter the work place. Many delegates found comfort in discussing their outcomes and also saw the benefit of taking an international qualification alongside their MBA to further improve chances of career development.

Overall, GETEX 2009 was a successful event and we wish all those that came to visit us the best for the rest of 2009.

The Importance of Being a Weekender

By Melanie Franklin, CEO, Maven Training

I was working at our Training Centre last Friday when I met up with the delegates for our latest weekend course. It was really interesting hearing about what had made them voluntarily swap Saturday and Sunday with their friends and family for training, revision and exams – especially as those taking the Practitioner part of the course come back on the second weekend take the Practitioner exam.

A popular reason is that delegates have contractor roles which mean that if they attend a course Monday to Friday they will have to give up five days of their daily rate, which is never an appealing prospect. Another reason is that employers will not release staff for training, but people still want to update their CVs and get qualifications that evidence their skills and experience. I think a lot of people feel vulnerable to redundancy at the moment, and up-to-date qualifications is essential when applying for new positions. Some delegates are taking the course in their own time, and the weekend course means they don't have to keep up their holiday allowance to get new qualifications.

These courses have proved so popular for PRINCE2® that we are now offering them for MSP™ and M_o_R® and the response has been overwhelming.

If any of the factors I have mentioned relate to you, have a look at our course schedule to book your ”Weekend Away with Maven Training” – it might not be as much fun as a city break or a trip to a spa, but the results are a lot longer lasting!


PRINCE2® Weekend courses
MSP™ Weekend courses
M_o_R® Weekend courses

The Project Management Market – a survey by Arras People

Our friends at Arras People – project management & project office recruitment specialists – have carried out their fourth annual survey of the UK project management market. Having interviewed 1,200 project managers, and building on the picture from previous surveys, this one shows how the current economic climate is affecting salaries, aspirations and professional issues.

Arras People estimate that there are nearly 80,000 people working as project managers in the UK alone, and it classifies it as “an occupation which has evolved from short-term ‘task force’-type activities to a fully fledged professional career based on the effective management of change”.

Recession bites: according to the survey, it is only beginning to get tough, with 47% of contractors saying that the number of available contracts decreased in 2008 and 60% expecting cuts and redundancies in their sector. The number of employees who expect their salaries to remain unchanged – or even fall – in 2009, increased from 35 to 60% from last year’s survey.

Accreditations and qualifications: previous Arras People surveys have noted a continuing trend towards accreditation through qualification and/ or membership of a professional body.

Programme Office – has it caught on? Over 60% of respondents reported that their organisation had a PMO, with 35% of them working within one.

Salaries: there are both high and low earners in most roles across genders, but there is a pecking order: programme managers earn more than change managers, who earn a little more than project managers, and they all earn more than project staff. Higher salaries are on the private sector, the lower band is in the public sector, but the middle band has the same weight on both. And there is a gender gap: more males are on the higher salary brackets and more female in the lower ones.

The overwhelming majority of interviewees (a resounding 84%) believe that they have “a significant contribution to make in turning the UK economy around”. We think they are absolutely right in following Sir Winston Churchill’s advice: “When going through hell, keep going!”

If you would like to check the full report, just clck here.

Project Management Careers Clinics

Our friends at Arras People are celebrating their seventh anniversary this April and, to commemorate, they’re offering a series of several free Project Management Careers Clinics on the 27th April. Normally offered throughout each and every weekday at a nominal cost, the PMC Clinics were first offered for free at the Project Challenge Spring Show 2009 last month in Birmingham, to widespread acclaim and praise from those who participated.

"In a month where we have a lot of good memories to look back on, we felt that offering the clinics free of charge for one day during our birthday month would be the best way of saying thanks to the people who have been instrumental to our development these last seven years," said Dan Strayer, Marketing Co-ordinator at Arras People. "And when you get down to it, the Project Management Careers Clinic is one of the most popular tools we have to show that we are here for our candidates as well. Any way you cut it, everybody is a winner this month with Arras People."

The clinics themselves are 30 minute, 1-2-1 telephone consultations with the project management recruitment consultant are ideal for any project professional looking for advice on their careers. These career consultations can be accessed by anyone looking for help and advice in these areas:
• Facing redundancy - gain advice on refreshing your CV, applications, advice on what to do next
• Just started looking for a new role - is your CV doing the best it can for you?
• Long-term unemployment - gain advice on your CV and how to find your next role
• Looking to get into project management? Gain advice on your CV and practical tips on breaking into PM.
• Looking to switch careers? Gain advice and practical tips on getting into a project management role.
• Frustrated with your job search? CV health check and advice on what recruitment consultants are really looking for.
• Need to understand the job market? Advice on current salary and day rates in the UK project management market.
• Need advice on project management training? Understand more about the accreditations and courses UK employers look for.
• Careers development advice - Need external benchmarking information to help prepare you for an internal performance review or salary review? Not sure which direction you should take your career?
The Project Management Careers Clinics have been a popular and useful service to over 600 project management professionals over the last three years. Sign up here.

BBG Annual Golf Event – Dubai UAE

By William Franklin, Client Relations Director at Maven Training.

Maven Training was proud to sponsor the 14th Annual British Business Group golf day on 12th March 2009. Held at the internationally acclaimed Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, the scene was set for a combination of excellent golf skills, dramatic scenery and significant networking opportunities – although not necessarily in that order.

With over 140 golfers testing their wit against a challenging course, it encouraged frank exchanges of ideas on the global economic climate, business opportunities and development of new strategic concepts. During these challenging times, it was encouraging to see so many decision makers being frank about their skills and capabilities of dealing with the current trading cycle, willing to offer and receive advice.

From my discussions, I came away with the view that 2009 would remain challenging with the recurrence of growth occurring after the summer of 2010. Just having this common view enables business managers to plan to organisation change and product development and placement with more confidence.

When my questions turned to training needs, very few people took the view that training was not essential in these current times. The biggest concern they had was how to identify what training was relevant, how to justify paying for it (not surprisingly) and when it could be fitted into business as usual. To address these points, Maven Training will be delivering an introductory speak at the next BBG Breakfast meeting on 18th March at the Raffles Hotel and later in April or May at an evening debate. At these events, Maven Training will outline how it is able to assist BBG members in particular with these issues.

To summarise – the business community in Dubai should take heart that there is such a strong network of support and events such as these as invaluable in helping to gain perspective on how 2009 will play out.

Well done BBG!

Dubai a global leader? Not in this case!

By William Franklin, Client Relations Director of Maven Training Ltd.


With its gleaming spires reaching into the hot blue desert sky, each one promising prosperity, aspiration and possibly 5-star hotel service, it is hard to imagine that Dubai is behind the world in anything. However, that is exactly what is happening with regards to Dubai’s positioning on the world economic stage.

Having just returned from a week spent in Dubai on business development, I was amazed at how clearly the Dubai ‘business-scape’ was six months behind that of the UK. The business community is collectively holding its breath and business leaders wait to see when the financial cycle will turn and allow them to plan for future investment. During this time basic decisions are being postponed or even cancelled pending a wider strategic review with the most visible being the closure of many regional offices of international companies.

Despite this communal breath-holding of the business community, countless staff continue to drive into work each day as evidenced by the traffic jams on Sheikh Zayed Road being no less painful. And what is each of them thinking about while sitting in their car? Mostly – and one can only presume – are seeking clarity on their own skills set and whether it is sufficient to (a) keep their existing job, (b) find another job or (c) change career. It is these staff that business leaders need to proactively engage to help their business through these difficult times.

So where does this all fit into the comparison with the UK market? Well as the business development director for a leading training company specialising in project and programme management training, I have had direct experience of what the Dubai market is going through since August 2008. A form of national hysteria gripped the market, especially at the time of the collapse of Northern Rock and then Lehman Brothers, and everyone held their breath. But as we know you can’t hold your breath for ever, and sure enough by the end of December 2008, demand from organisations to upskill their remaining staff and develop their own methodologies returned stronger than at any time in the previous six months. With the crash forcing management teams to take decisive actions, reverting to basic principles became the preferred strategy whether it was geographic presence, core product line or simplified corporate structure.

Reverting to the sunny skies of Dubai, organisations should take heart from the experience of the UK market. Based on the timeframes in this blog, I would expect that rationale behaviour of the Dubai market to return in April or May this year. This means that internal HR Training teams only have another two months to put into place updated individual training plans aligned to the new corporate strategic goals as identified by the CEO. If you wait for the market to show tangible signs of recovery, you may actually miss out on another six months of skills development.

Is this too optimistic a view? If you are reading this in Dubai you may think so, however I would recommend canvassing opinion from your UK contacts to check this out yourself.

"No train, no gain"

This is the headline of a report published on today’s issue of ‘Metro’, on the London Education section (page 19). The article talks about Train to Gain – a government service that aims to improve companies’ skills sets. This scheme works by providing organisations with the services of a skills broker, whose job is to identify the training needs within the organisation, find training companies that offer these courses, and help with funding information. Maven Training is on the verge of becoming a part of this scheme – both by having a broker analyse our own training needs (we are meeting the broker at 1pm, exciting!), and also by being one of the training organisations on their list, which we already are: on one of our courses this week there is a delegate whose training has been sponsored by the organisation he works in, and funding was helped by Train to Gain. We’ll leave him to his course (he’s got to concentrate on the exams!), but expect an interview to talk about the benefits of this scheme very soon!