Thoughts - Value of training
05:16
Posted by jason tratch
How do people view training? Often as a way to get out of the office, seen as a break and a good thing since they MAYBE will learn something and use it at work.
A challenge is how to find time to use it in the real world and enhance performance. Too often is too complicated once back at work, since you get overwhelmed by work!!!
It is rare to find Business/PM training that delivers immediate tools, templates and new ways of thinking that directly impact the company and job at hand (as soon as they get back into the office or field).
Business/PM training is extra difficult, since you have to train the individual (management skills, leadership skills) and also provide tools that improve the company and how it operates (management system). Training needs to find a balance with the two that directly results in value at that time (since this also greatly changes over time).
Sometimes I think to advance Project Management and get rid of CHAOS we need to focus on not training Project Managers. As the profession matures, we need to ensure the rest of the team is trained, not only the leaders. We need to ensure the entire team understands project management, since they all are integral and the world has changed to focus on collaboration and innovation.
If you want to win a soccer or football game, all players need to know the plays and understand the game!!!
There is an abundance of PM training but it tends to get into the details and technical aspects of the profession.
One may find much more value in workshops (please no more lecturing from the front of a class and reading off power point slides that align to a book).
We need to challenge the instructors, have active discussions, scenarios, real world examples and discuss more openly and transparent the truths, then understand it may not be perfect, but there are tools, templates and techniques that can be used to increase the probability of success when we come across similar things at work (or at home).
A challenge is how to find time to use it in the real world and enhance performance. Too often is too complicated once back at work, since you get overwhelmed by work!!!
It is rare to find Business/PM training that delivers immediate tools, templates and new ways of thinking that directly impact the company and job at hand (as soon as they get back into the office or field).
Business/PM training is extra difficult, since you have to train the individual (management skills, leadership skills) and also provide tools that improve the company and how it operates (management system). Training needs to find a balance with the two that directly results in value at that time (since this also greatly changes over time).
Sometimes I think to advance Project Management and get rid of CHAOS we need to focus on not training Project Managers. As the profession matures, we need to ensure the rest of the team is trained, not only the leaders. We need to ensure the entire team understands project management, since they all are integral and the world has changed to focus on collaboration and innovation.
If you want to win a soccer or football game, all players need to know the plays and understand the game!!!
There is an abundance of PM training but it tends to get into the details and technical aspects of the profession.
One may find much more value in workshops (please no more lecturing from the front of a class and reading off power point slides that align to a book).
We need to challenge the instructors, have active discussions, scenarios, real world examples and discuss more openly and transparent the truths, then understand it may not be perfect, but there are tools, templates and techniques that can be used to increase the probability of success when we come across similar things at work (or at home).
It is like using a new hammer or drill press, or software application or paint brush or vehicle. These tools enable the person to do more, they enable faster, more effective work. However, these tools will have training associated with them based on complexity to operate them.
When we do business, often we lack the training on how to do business. The PMI (www.pmi.org) has a wonderful framework which acts as a common platform that is proven and globally followed and incorporates decades of learnings and thus best practices. So why are not more people trained in this tool before they do project type work within their business. Often we depend on a person's formal education, which sometimes just covers theories and ability to problem solve (which is a good thing but must be combined with tangible tools and frameworks).
A good framework will provide a formalized, concrete, tangible set of tools/templates/techniques so all people doing the work have the same:
When we do business, often we lack the training on how to do business. The PMI (www.pmi.org) has a wonderful framework which acts as a common platform that is proven and globally followed and incorporates decades of learnings and thus best practices. So why are not more people trained in this tool before they do project type work within their business. Often we depend on a person's formal education, which sometimes just covers theories and ability to problem solve (which is a good thing but must be combined with tangible tools and frameworks).
A good framework will provide a formalized, concrete, tangible set of tools/templates/techniques so all people doing the work have the same:
- structured approach
- terminology and language
- set of tools (processes, checklists, templates, guidebook)
- expectations.
ALSO, the ideal framework must be rolling out across the world and across all industries. Thus when you deal with any contractor or peer, everyone speaks the same language. The world is more and more interconnected, org structure is flatter and flatter, and management systems will enable us to manage expectations.
This entry was posted on October 4, 2009 at 12:14 pm, and is filed under
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