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.