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

The current life of project managers

We have found three very interesting posts on two of the blogs we follow most closely, and we thought them so valuable that we decided to share them with you!

From Arras People:

Current Recruitment Activity in Project Management. Mixed news and fortunes surround recruitment activity in project management at the moment, there are winners and losers across all sectors. Specifically within project management, the volume of requirements is down year on year by 50%, and we have also seen some pressure on day rates and salary levels over the last six months. Read full article here

From Project Shrink:

How To Promote Yourself As A Project Manager. Read full article here

You Are Using Project Leadership Almost Every Day. Read full article here

Beating boredom at work

Here at Maven we always make sure that staff are not bored with what their doing – we believe in constant challenge and innovation! So it was not a surprise to us to learn from this month’s issue of Professional Manager Magazine that bored, disengaged and disenchanted employees can cause serious consequences to the organisation.

Organisations that don’t offer opportunities for control by their workers are putting themselves at risk of their staff feeling, well, bored and tired.

Contrary to popular belief, boredom is NOT the result of having nothing to do – it stems from a situation where none of the possible things a person can realistically do appeals to them. Research suggests that the most boredom-inducing parts of a job are those that are repetitive and routine or that under utilise the skills or abilities of an individual.

How can an organisation beat boredom, then?

Some simple steps can go a long way. Giving employees control and autonomy over their work will help them feel more responsible for it, more trusted by the organisation and, therefore, more appreciated – and it’s a well-known fact that people like to make their superiors proud, so they’ll work with more excitement and be less prone to not caring about what their doing. Avoiding or minimising ‘scripted’ repetitive work also helps – allowing creativity to flow will help keep your staff motivated! Long, pointless meetings can also be exhausting – keep your get-togethers to a necessary minimum, stick to the planned agenda, work on pragmatic briefings and make sure everyone understands what you expect from them. Allowing better work conditions also works a treat: background music and the ability to schedule one’s priorities have been ranked high by employees in search of a nicer office life.

Maven Trainers talk about PRINCE2®:2009 (Part 6/6)

This is the end of our third week of successfully delivering PRINCE2®:2009 training courses.

While we were getting ready and preparing our trainers to provide our delegates with Maven Training’s usual top-notch delivery, we were out and about the Maven Training Centre asking some of them to give us their views and opinions on it – this has become the “Maven Training Vox Populi on PRINCE2:2009”.

The last one of the series of six sessions “What is the best thing about the newPRINCE2®?” is available for you NOW!



Watch the first five videos here:
Why has PRINCE2® Changed?
What has changed on PRINCE2®?
What are the differences to the new PRINCE2® manual?
What do the differences on new PRINCE2® mean to delegates?
What do the differences on new PRINCE2® mean to organisations?

Maven Trainers talk about PRINCE2®:2009 (Part 5/6)

We are approaching the end of our third week of successfully delivering PRINCE2®:2009 training courses.

While we were getting ready and preparing our trainers to provide our delegates with Maven Training’s usual top-notch delivery, we were out and about the Maven Training Centre asking some of them to give us their views and opinions on it – this has become the “Maven Training Vox Populi on PRINCE2:2009”.

From the series of six sessions, the fifth one, “What do the differences on new PRINCE2® mean to organisations?” is available for you NOW!



Watch the first four videos here:
Why has PRINCE2® Changed?
What has changed on PRINCE2®?
What are the differences to the new PRINCE2® manual?
What do the differences on new PRINCE2® mean to delegates?

The last one will be published here tomorrow.

Maven Trainers talk about PRINCE2®:2009 (Part 4/6)

We are now half-way through our third week of successfully delivering PRINCE2®:2009 training courses.

While we were getting ready and preparing our trainers to provide our delegates with Maven Training’s usual top-notch delivery, we were out and about the Maven Training Centre asking some of them to give us their views and opinions on it – this has become the “Maven Training Vox Populi on PRINCE2:2009”.

From the series of six sessions, the fourth one, “What do the differences on new PRINCE2® mean to delegates?” is available for you NOW!



Watch the first three videos here:
- Why has PRINCE2® Changed?
- What has changed on PRINCE2®?
- What are the differences to the new PRINCE2® manual?

The next two ones will be published on this blog tomorrow and Friday.

Maven Trainers talk about PRINCE2®:2009 (Part 3/6)

We are now on our third week of successfully delivering PRINCE2®:2009 training courses.

While we were getting ready and preparing our trainers to provide our delegates with our usual top-notch delivery, we were out and about the Maven Training Centre asking some of them to give us their views and opinions on it – this has become the “Maven Training Vox Populi on PRINCE2:2009”.

A series of six sessions and the third one, “What are the differences to the new PRINCE2® manual?” is available for you NOW!



Watch the first two videos here:
- Why has PRINCE2® Changed?
- What has changed on PRINCE2®?

The next three ones will be published on this blog, one per day, throughout this week.

Maven Trainers talk about PRINCE2®:2009 (Part 2/6)

Today we welcome the start of our third week of successfully delivering PRINCE2®:2009 training courses.

While we were getting ready and preparing our trainers to provide our delegates with our usual top-notch delivery, we were out and about the Maven Training Centre asking some of them to give us their views and opinions on it – this has become the “Maven Training Vox Populi on PRINCE2:2009”.

A series of six sessions, the second one, “What has changed on PRINCE2®?” is available for you NOW!



Watch the first video, “Why has PRINCE2® Changed?”, here.

The next four ones will be published on this blog, one per day, throughout this week.

Maven Trainers talk about PRINCE2®:2009 (Part 1/6)

We’re today celebrating a couple of weeks of successfully delivering PRINCE2®:2009 training courses.

All the while, we were out and about the Maven Training Centre asking some of our fabulous trainers to give us their views and opinions on it – this has become the “Maven Training Vox Populi on PRINCE2:2009”.

A series of six sessions, the first one, “Why has PRINCE2® Changed?” is available for you NOW!



The next five ones will be published on this blog, one per day, next week. Watch this space!

Save the Children

Save the Children is looking for lots of more fabulous volunteers to give their time in its shops throughout the UK!



Save the Children are the world’s independent children’s charity, working flat out to raise funds that will make a dramatic change to the lives of children around the world – but they cannot do it without help!

They have a range of engaging roles, fully funded NVQ opportunities and shops that need your help.

Just four hours per week can make a huge difference – on average, a four hour shift can raise £33 per volunteer which could feed a family of five in Ethiopia for one month!

So what are you waiting for!? Visit the Save the Children website to find your nearest shop or email shops.volunteering@savethechildren.org.uk today for more info.

They look forward to seeing you soon!

Benefits Realisation, Programme Management, Project Offices and all that jazz…

My Michelle Rowland, Associate Trainer

At the last the APM Group’s 7th annual Best Practice Showcase I attended several ‘Birds of a Feather’ sessions. Most of these covered subjects with which I was already very familiar such as ‘Benefits Realisation Management’ and ‘What’s wrong with your Project Office’. I also went to a session on ‘Tailoring MSP to transform performance’. What I found most interesting was that for me there was ‘nothing new’. I had hoped to glean a snippet of information or insight as to how to apply these methods that I had not thought of before, but in fact came away with the feeling that I knew at least as much as the other ‘experts’ in the room. A comforting thought!

I went to two interesting sessions, one on Portfolio Management – again nothing new but the speaker Craig Kilford, the author of the OGC’s guidance on the subject, was very entertaining and is definitely worth going to see if you can. You can download the guidance for free at the moment as a PDF file, if you are interested. In future, the OGC are considering producing it as a full blown book which will be available to buy.

The second interesting session was on the similarity between MSP and the new PRINCE2 2009 – ‘PRINCE2 and MSP joined up’, as presented by two of the authors of both guides. They focused their energies on looking at the Principles and how they have a similar ethos and presented the following picture, which I thought might be of interest:

Purpose
On PRINCE2: Business Justification
On MSP: Leading Change; Envisioning; Communicating

Focus
On PRINCE2: Productions
On MSP: Benefits

Flexibility
On PRINCE2: Tailored to suit
On MSP: Delivering a coherent capability

Governance
On PRINCE2: Manage by stages; Manage by exception; Roles and responsibilities
On MSP: Remaining aligned with corporate strategy; Adding value

Top 50 IT Training Companies: Maven Training goes up!

For the second year in a row, Maven Training is ranked on the UK’s Top 50 IT Training Companies – and this year we’re even more chuffed to have increased our placing from 42 to 38!

The list is compiled by gathering information on the revenue of companies with IT training businesses (excluding sales of training delivered outside the UK and non-IT related business).

Our CEO, Melanie Franklin, states that the very core belief of Maven Training is what helped us go up on this year’s list. “Listening to clients (and potential clients) helps us give them what they want. I talk to delegates at training centres and at exhibitions, and I deliver training. I ask what problems they want solving”, she says.

Interesting blog find of the week (so far!)

We have just come across a very interesting Project Management blog, Fear No Project, which purpose, they state, is to “share thoughts and experiences on issues affecting project managers and the world of project management”. Two of their recent articles, we think, are of extreme relevance – that’s why we’re sharing them with you here!


Role of Project Managers in Change Management
July 10, 2009 — Bruce McGraw

Because change is an organisational constant affecting everyone, we assume everyone knows about Change Management. However, change management requires more than the natural flow of change in an organisation. Change Management (emphasis on the management) begins with a desired behavioural outcome and works methodically toward that goal by re-shaping an organization’s culture or way of doing business...

Read full article.


Project manager – having difficult conversations
June 20, 2009 — Bruce McGraw

Whether it’s an underperforming developer, a lazy team member, some type of inappropriate behaviour, or a prima donna on the team that makes everyone angry, there are times in every project manager’s life when he or she must have a difficult conversation with employee team member. These conversations are always difficult because you will be saying something that the other person doesn’t want to hear. You will be asking the employee to change his or her behaviour which is not something people are often motivated to do...

Read full article.

Maven Training proud of Birmingham City Council

A long-term Maven Training client, Birmingham City Council has recently won the “Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy HR Magazine Excellence Awards”.

Prior to CEO Stephen Hughes’ arrival in 2006, only 56% of BCC employees felt motivated and less than ¼ thought the council was well-managed.

A remarkable turnaround in fortune put the council back on track – and now they lead the way in staff engagement. Their £1.2m ‘Best’ programme – an initiative that turned disengaged employees into empowered staff trusted to identify and remedy problems themselves – has created over 1800 ‘best leaders’ who have the authority to implement service improvements. These ‘best’ leaders trained and run workshops for 23000 staff through management meetings, social relationship websites and a Dragon’s Den-style event where staff could pitch ideas for a chance to win £1,000!

The results of the investment are outstanding: now 75% of staff who have taken part on ‘best’ workshops say they feel more engaged and motivated, 83% of general staff say they feel motivated (up from 56% in 2006), 90% say they’re proud to work at BCC (up from 50% in 2009) – and that’s not all: public satisfaction of BCC residents rose from 53% to 62%!

Well done, Birmingham City Council!!

PRINCE2 Launch – the video and interviews

Watch the action here!

Melanie Franklin, CEO, Maven Training, is interviewed by Sue Jermany of TSO.

Wanna be…a DREAM Project Manager?

Earlier this year Maven Training nominated Soma Bhattacharya, of the popular Stepping into Project Management blog as the unsung heroine of the world of women working in technology for the special celebrations of the Ada Lovelace Day

The tips below, on how to be the Dream Project Manager, were based on one of Soma’s posts – follow the tips and you won’t need good luck to succeed!

Always be on time. You want be noticed for your punctuality. Caught on traffic/public transport? If possible, ring the office and inform you will be “10 minutes late, Holloway Road is jam-packed”. Consideration, please.

Check emails and plan your day. Do this first thing, while everyone is still making tea and chit-chatting about today’s tabloid headlines – if you do this everyday, you don’t have to stress out at 5pm. Time management is an indispensable asset for Project Managers, and if you want to prove that you master this skill, wasting a lot of time at the water cooler one hundred times a day won’t take you very far…

Get your to-do list according to the priority of delivery. Because you can’t afford to miss a deadline, can you? Follow up with your team and co-workers; if your delivery is dependant on a third party, just to make sure they are aware of the deadline too. On time delivery is taking the lift for the Project Management office instead of the staircase. Everyone wants it on time.

Work efficiently and learn something new as often as possible. Everyone likes a perfectionist, and new skills gives you the edge and the fact that want to grow and spend your personal time and energy to acquire skills that you can use in your job environment.

Keep your desk organised. May sound parent-ish, but keeping a tidy work space helps you unclutter yourself psychologically – besides, it aids in keeping the pressure off (after all, you are not fumbling for that piece of paper you left at your desk three weeks ago). And, really, an organised behaviour is utterly paramount for being a project manager.

Protect your team. Well, no questions about this one. Responsibility is required, and blaming others for work not done when you haven’t followed up or bothered reviewing is not good behaviour. Trust can’t breed if you allow your team to take the hit every time – but do keep the rotten apple close to you (you can’t discard it, at least make sure it doesn’t spread to others).

Encourage others to grow. If your team grows, you grow automatically. Train them to handle more responsibility, be in control, acquire better work habits and discourage slackers from taking everything for granted.

Never call it a day while your team is still working. Don’t leave early if your teams on the deadline and working late hours. Being with your team is important, and if you can’t buy them pizza, at least being there is showing support and being together no matter what.

Based on Stepping into Project Management blog, by Soma Bhattacharya.

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!

PRINCE2 Twitter Hour Part 2 - the results

Full Q&A session can be found on How to Manage a Camel

PRINCE2 Twitter Hour – Part 2

Two weeks ago our friends at Arras People ran a PRINCE2:2009 Twitter Hour with Andy Murray, the lead author of the refreshed project management method. This morning, Friday 3rd July at 11am BST they’ll be running Part 2.

Take part!

You can connect directly with Andy Murray and also the Camel. You can also join the PRINCE2 community on Twitter .

For more information, read full article here.

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!