A critical component of any business is building and retaining the right team, knowledge pool, and experience to help maintain and grow any organisation. Finding the right skill sets can often take a lot of time and effort, but balancing at the same time employees’ happiness and that they remain enthusiastic and engaged. Though most conventional training offers a way of providing theoretical or textbook definitions of a subject, many often fail to show the practical application of what is being taught. Bringing the subject to life through experience and relevant examples, as well as providing a place for people to go once the training is over should they have questions or need further explanations and advice, are all major problems and barriers for module- or time-based training approaches.
Courses alone do not make analysts and project managers, but experienced professionals can help quickly enable, develop and support inexperienced staff. By understanding an organisation’s requirements, the most effective method, and the best way to engage with employees and create quality material, Petercw works collaboratively with organisations to deliver effective and long-lasting training that captivates and engages employees. Whether it is a tailored, interactive classroom-type training or a mentoring arrangement for members of the team, we can help.
Coaching or mentoring is often overlooked; however, by offering employees access to experienced professionals, many will be guided and supported, which in turn helps them to build their skills faster and also their confidence in any new tasks or projects they are assigned. Finding the right coach or mentor for an individual is crucial, and this is where Petercw can help. Working for many years with trained and experienced professionals, Petercw will be able to assess, identify and match the right mentor or coach specific to an individual’s needs.
Training is linked to the disciplines of learning and teaching and is the term often used when we develop ourselves or others to achieve a specific goal or acquire a particular skill, experience, or knowledge. Training can come in many forms, and the complexity and duration can vary depending on the subject and the level of information linked to the topic, theme or skill. In a professional context, there are a number of scenarios in which training is used, whether to upskill employees with the training needed to perform their roles, to understand better and adopt best practices and industry standards, as well as skills acquisition for growing or responding to the laws and changes within the business, industry or country. Any training offered or delivered will typically come down to two parts: the method and the delivery or way it is delivered.
There are many different training methods available; however, the key approaches are:
- Classroom-based – typically, training provided to small groups (from 2 to 30), in which training material is used, such as a presentation or printed material
- eLearning – will usually be online and interactive. Information is shared through a portal or website, and the user will be prompted to answer questions or interact with the content to ensure they have an understanding of what is being presented.
- One-to-one training will consist of the trainer and the person being trained in a specific skill or knowledge transfer. Typically, this type of training is more goal-focused rather than used for developing complex subjects or skills.
The options for delivery available are varied; however, the key methods include:
- Printed material – such as a book, booklet or sheets of paper that are used as reference material, and the trainer will often refer to the printed notes and use them as a guide as they enhance and provide more information and greater insight into the subject than what is printed.
- Electronic – electronic can be in a variety of formats, whether through a PDF, accessing an information portal, or an electronic document. Like with printed material, the trainer will use the electronic material as a reference point or guide as they provide more information and greater insight into the subject than what can be found within the electronic media.
- Team or group – is usually more interactive, in which presentation material is used, and the team or group is able to ask questions and interact with the trainer as the training progresses.
- Simulation – is typically more focused and will involve a specific situation or scenario. The training will be focused on the simulation or scenario, and both the group and trainer will work together in order to achieve the goal of the simulation and training.
- Roleplaying – some forms of training can benefit from real-world examples and interactive dialogues, especially when dealing with more soft skills and helping people enhance or develop their emotional or people skills. Roleplaying usually presents scenarios or gets members of the group to take on a particular role or situation in order to understand how to best handle or deal with specific scenarios.
Though there are many methods and ways to deliver training, many can be used in isolation or combined in order to make the training session more effective. Ultimately, it comes down to the subject and the audience and the best way to get people engaged and learning more about the topic, subject or theme quickly and easily.
Mentoring and coaching are two development-based approaches to help an individual build or enhance their skills or knowledge. Typically, both methods require a regular commitment between an experienced individual or individuals and the mentee or person being coached. Mentoring and coaching arrangements are usually put in place when an individual is seeking a particular skill set or knowledge, and it is typically a one-on-one approach. The mentee or person being coached can have more than one coach or mentor if seeking to develop a range of skills or seeking support and guidance.
A mentor is usually a person with considerable knowledge and experience within a particular field. In addition to extensive knowledge, they will be able to guide, provide advice and help their mentee build a network of people within their chosen career field or industry. Mentors can be from within an organisation as well as from the industry; however, mentoring typically takes place over a longer period than coaching.
In contrast, coaching is more goal-focused, in which someone with a particular skill, knowledge or experience will coach an individual in achieving the necessary goal. For example, suppose a person is looking to improve their communication skills. In that case, they might receive coaching from an experienced and effective communicator. Like mentoring, coaching is usually on a one-on-one basis, in which the trainer imparts knowledge and provides guidance and support.
Example 1 – you have a team of junior business analysts. They have all undergone training and are working on projects. However, they are still unsure of how to handle specific situations. A tailored class could be created to address those needs and ensure that the analysts get the right guidance and support they need going forward.
Example 2 – you have a project team where there have been problems in areas such as stakeholder management, engagement or even approach. A course could be developed to focus on those specific areas or goals to help the project team improve in the key problem areas.
Example 3 – you have a project team that only ever uses one methodology, and you want to understand how other methodologies could be utilised within your organisation. A course could be developed in which sample projects could be run through and explanations of how to utilise the different methods and approaches.
There are an infinite number of ways in which training and development could help your organisation. Why not get in touch and we can discuss how we can help.
A mentoring engagement will typically be set up on a person-to-person basis. You will likely start with the objectives/aims of the individual and what they are looking to get out of the engagement in order to identify a suitable mentor. A mentoring proposition will be put forward based on the frequency, methods, and associated costs in relation to the mentoring meetings, information relating to the mentor, and what benefit they could bring to the mentee.
Once the mentee’s objectives have been defined and the mentor has agreed, then the mentoring sessions will commence.
For example, you are a small organisation and recently promoted one of your employees into the role of a junior business analyst. The employee has been on training, but there are limited skills and experience within your organisation with regard to business analysis; the junior employee will likely have no one to seek out advice from. A mentor is identified, and it is agreed that the mentee will meet the mentor once a month. During those meetings, the mentee would be able to talk through their role, any challenges they are facing and any help that they might need. The mentor would be able to give impartial advice and suggestions for the junior business analyst to overcome any hurdles or problems that they are facing.
There is flexibility with regard to training. It depends on the training objectives. The training could range from virtual training (interactive video conference style arrangements) to classroom-based training. The method and means of training will depend on what training is required and what method would be most effective with you and your teams.
The costs for training would vary and would be dependent on the type of training, location and duration. For personalised training in which you would want the case studies to be based on your organisation, it might likely be the cost for actual training plus a setup fee.
For example, you are operating a graduate training scheme and would like ten analysts to undergo specialist training. The training is focussed specifically on stakeholder management, and the planned duration is one day. With the objectives set, you would like all of the case studies used to be based on individuals and scenarios within your organisation. In order to facilitate the setup of the training, it would likely take one day to customise and tailor the material. So the actual length of the training is two days, with an estimated cost per day ranging from £650+ per day, plus VAT.
Other considerations – The location is important; if you would like the training to be close to your office or locality, then there might be expenses to be agreed upon. If you would like the training to be carried out in a specialist environment (conference/ training centre), then those costs would also need to be factored in.
