Managing change and transformation brings many challenges for organisations. Human beings are renowned for initially disliking anything that appears different to the normal way of doing things. Even when change is positive, there can still be a great deal of resistance from people working in a business. Attending business transformation courses or change management courses can greatly assist senior leaders and managers with introducing and embedding change and transformation into their organisations.

There are certain actions which will help things to run more smoothly when going through a period of change or transformation. Here are our top tips to ensure that your change programmes merge seamlessly into your organisation:-

1. Commitment from the top

It is absolutely vital that change and transformation initiatives are seen to be endorsed from the top of the organisation. Senior leaders and other stakeholders need to be 100% on board with the programmes and they need to be proactively extolling the benefits of the transformation at every opportunity

2. Communicate the change

One of the key criticisms from employees about organisational change programmes is that there is often a lack of communication about what exactly it’s all about and how it will benefit them, their team and the organisation. In order to avoid the inevitable rumours and scaremongering, you must communicate effectively and regularly

Accreditation has become increasingly important as a way to prove a level of competence and expertise. It sets a benchmark for attracting the right calibre of people and, by developing existing employees to an accredited level, greatly improves an organisation’s ability to retain good people and improve performance. Having competent, high performing employees is also an attractive proposition for existing and potential customers.

Contrary to what some people believe, accreditation is not just about collecting bits of paper. It is so much more than that. It is an excellent way of developing people and proving capability. It sends out a clear message to customers that an organisation is serious about providing the best possible levels of service and product quality. Every business wants to be the best in their field and accreditation can help to achieve this. Still need more convincing? Read our top business benefits below for more about the benefits of accreditation:-

1. Reduces risk

People who are trained to an accredited standard have proved their standard of competence in a specific area. This means that they are far more likely to deliver a good standard of performance and not make costly mistakes. Better performance leads to greater productivity and improved profits.

2. Increases customer confidence

Customers have greater confidence in organisations which have been accredited against external quality standards. The more quality badges an organisation achieves, the more likely they are to be viewed as a reliable and trustworthy company. Employing and developing an accredited workforce is the ultimate demonstration of a sincere commitment to delivering quality products and services.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Less is definitely more when it comes to presenting and with a few simple tips and techniques you can make people sit up and take notice of your PowerPoint presentations. Boosting your IT skills by attending some IT training will also ensure that your presentations look sleek and professional.

When developing your PowerPoint presentation, consider content over volume.  It really pays to think about the key messages that you want to convey to your audience. Once you have done this it is advisable to spend some time getting to know the key features of the application. The most important of these is the Slide Master, which sets the formatting standard for all the slides and this is the first thing to look at before entering any content.

Remember that you don’t have to create your slides in the order of the final presentation.  In fact, it often helps to get the slides that highlight the key points of your message set up first. Once these are in place you will probably find it easier to produce an introduction and summary.  Use the Slide Sorter to change the order of the slides once you have all your content.

Follow our top 10 tips below to help you create powerful presentations:-

Whether an organisation’s training is delivered in-house by their own training staff or through managed training services, L&D is crucial to the success of any business. In order to deliver it effectively it requires a significant investment in both time and resources. For many organisations delivering training in-house can take the focus away from their core business priorities as they attempt to identify, manage and deliver all the required L&D activities.

Whilst in-house training may be ideal for short one-off immediate training needs, outsourced training services can have significant advantages for an organisation and offer a more planned and cost effective approach to training. When it comes to results from training, in-house will give good outcomes if the delivery is effective. However, outsourcing provides the added expertise and resources which means that your people can then focus on their core objectives.

Some organisations argue that delivering in-house means that the people delivering the training know the organisation ‘inside out’. Of course, this is true or at least should be! However, good managed training providers get to understand their clients’ businesses intimately and the added benefit is that they bring their expertise in the form of cutting edge performance improvement methods. As the sole purpose of development is to improve performance, it makes good commercial sense to have people who are experts at doing this, and whose businesses rely on their ability to improve performance and productivity.

Professional project managers ensure that risk management is part of their day to day operations and they also train their team by sending them on good project management courses. Embedding project risk management in this way ensures that they reap the full benefits of this approach. The following 5 rules will help to ensure that risk management becomes part of your everyday project management practices:-

Rule 1: Recognise Risks

You cannot address the potential risks in your project until you have identified them. Team members, experts or other people who have a track record with a similar type of project, are good resources to call upon to help you to identify risks. You also need to look at the project plan, resource plan and other associated documents to see if they highlight any possible risk areas.

Rule 2: Communicate & Clarify

Ensuring that everyone involved in a project is communicating at every step of the way is an important factor in risk management. Sometimes you find that risks have been identified somewhere down the line but haven’t been communicated effectively to the project manager. Once you have identified and communicated the risk you then need to clarify who has responsibility for managing the risk. Someone must take ownership of it in order to manage it effectively.

Rule 3: Weigh Up Threats & Opportunities

Unresolved risks can be detrimental to your project outcome so ensuring you have identified the potential threats and have taken some remedial action is essential. However, not all risks should be viewed as negative as there may be positive opportunities to come from them. These can be uncertain events, which cause you to change tactics and can actually help you achieve better project outcomes.

Mike brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from spending the past 14 years developing Project and Programme Managers to accredited status within the APM and PMI across all market sectors.

Mike began his career in accountancy before moving into the IT sector where he has held various roles including systems analysis, training, project management and team management.

Mike’s vast knowledge of project management approaches such as PRINCE2, RUP and Agile and his years of industry experience, make him an accomplished trainer.

Love it or loathe it, social media is becoming increasingly important to businesses as they look to engage with their customers and clients in new and exciting ways. Engage with them in the right way and it can do wonders for your business; do it wrong, and your business can quickly develop a negative reputation.

Having the right social media training is vital to ensure you are connecting with your target market effectively. To ensure you’re on the right track, here are our top ways to engage with social media:

Be Patient

If you’re just embarking on your social media campaign, you can easily become frustrated if few people are following your business. Remember that it takes time to build up a strong social media presence. Unless something you post goes viral, you’re unlikely to develop a big following overnight.

Don’t sit and wait for people to post on your wall – people are busy and will ignore your page if you have no or little activity. Your social media pages must offer something to your target market. Tell the world about your business in regular, interesting ways and you’ll start to generate interest.

Use Hashtags…

Hashtags are an incredibly powerful way of generating interest around your business. Hashtags are keywords preceded by a ‘#’ that are used to group Tweets around a topic. For example, if you are a telecoms company, using the hashtag ‘#mobile’ could be a useful way of associating your company with mobile telephones. Creating your own hashtag specific to your business can be a great way to draw in Twitter users.

…but use them wisely!

Be specific in your use of hashtags. Don’t fall into the temptation of using loads of irrelevant hashtags in the hope your Tweets end up in more conversations – this simply appears spammy and will distance you from the people you want to be attracting. The key to ‘followers’ is in the name – give them interesting and relevant content which makes them want to follow you. As a rule, use two to three hashtags maximum per tweet.

Timing is key

Most of us enjoy some sort of routine. Post to your social networks regularly and people will start to look forward to what you have to say. Also consider when your target market is most likely to login to their social networks: most people read updates through a central feed, and older posts end up at the bottom. Post during lunch hours and evenings to ensure you’re always near the top.

Don’t just broadcast…listen!

The clue to social media is in the name – be social! In order to engage with your target market your conversations must be two-way. Listen to your followers, join their conversations and ask questions to encourage responses. It’s also good to share other people’s content – the original poster will likely be flattered and encouraged to visit your own pages. All this will make your social media presences dynamic.

Providing and managing the training function takes up a great deal of time and utilises a lot of internal resources. It is an essential function but not usually a core one and so if organisations are not adequately set up for the development, management and delivery of training, it can become a distraction from the core business.

Managed training providers develop, manage and deliver training every day. It is their core business and they are experts at it. They have usually got years of experience, high levels of subject knowledge and exceptionally good facilitation and delivery skills. In short, they are usually very accomplished at it.

With tighter budgets and more pressure to demonstrate a good ROI, smart organisations are realising the benefits of managed training services. There are many benefits to taking the decision to outsource but here are our top 3 reasons for doing it:-

1. Better use of resources

An internal training function within an organisation requires people of various levels of skills and talent. Training is a variable activity requiring many different skills according to the complex needs of an organisation. It can be difficult to get the right set of skills for the changing needs of the company from such a fixed resource. Outsourcing training to an external managed training services provider means you have access to a greater range and level of skills and expertise for the training you need, when you need it

As all great leaders know, developing leadership skills is a continuous leadership training process and requires a commitment to be the best that you can be. Here are the 5 essential skills which make a truly great leader:-

1. Vision

The ability to think strategically and simultaneously consider the operational implications of decisions is crucial for leadership roles. Leaders need to be visionaries but they also need to be realists and know how they are going to go about achieving their goals

2. Emotional Intelligence

Having a high EQ (Emotional Intelligence) is the mark of a great leader. These days it is not enough to have a high IQ and be intelligent, you also have to be able to empathise with others and manage yourself effectively. Most leadership training courses will include elements of EQ within their content

3. Communication Skills

Communication is at the heart of great leadership and the ability to communicate verbally in presentations, meetings and on a 1-1 basis is essential. In our digital age written communication skills have become even more important, so the art of persuading using the written word is an enviable skill to possess

Effective bespoke business training is crucial to the achievement of business objectives and, therefore, a great deal of consideration needs to be given to designing and developing appropriate training and development interventions which will really make a positive difference to the company.

The real purpose behind training and development within organisations is to help people to assist the company in achieving its business objectives. Tailored training which is specifically designed to meet an organisation’s needs is absolutely vital, as is demonstrating a good ROI.

In order to justify the training budget spend to the board, you must be able to show how the investment in training impacts on real business results. Here are some important points to consider if you want to deliver bespoke training that will help demonstrate ROI and drive business success:-

Understand organisational strategy

Really get to grips with where the organisation is heading over the next year, 3 years and 5 years. Establish the key drivers and business objectives and think about what training and development solutions will be required to help the organisation move forward in the right direction

Conduct a Training Needs Analysis (TNA)

Fully understanding where the organisation is heading will help you to define the gap between current people performance levels and required future people performance levels. Conducting a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) will give you an insight into these areas and help you to start prioritising training needs

Effective project managers make a significant contribution to the success of an organisation and bring with them a whole host of essential and transferable skills, which are an asset to any organisation. These skills have usually been acquired from years of experience and from attending some of the best professional and accredited project management courses.

A good project management team can help with the innovation and development of new products and services, the implementation of new IT systems, the launch and embedding of new initiatives and the management of relocation projects, as well as many other functions.

In today’s ever changing business environment, the advantages of having an effective project management team are that they:-

Improve the quality of products and services

Customers expect continually high standards of quality from products and services. Project management teams plan budgets, allocate resources and organise testing methods to ensure that products and services meet and exceed these quality standards.

Enhance communication

Lack of communication is probably one of the most common complaints amongst people within organisations. Bad communication can lead to misunderstandings and negatively impact on the performance of a company. A project manager can be a bridge between key stakeholders, employees and customers, thereby improving communication across the organisation.

So what levels have you got in P6:

EPS Level

This is the top level of your programme.  The very top level EPS node defines your programme and you can then subdivide this into Sub EPS nodes if required on very large programmes.  You can have up to 10 levels of EPS structure but don’t get carried away you will probably only need one or two otherwise there will be nothing left to put at WBS and activity level.

Project Level

Underneath your EPS levels you need to define projects, this is where the actual work takes place.  You can only have level of project you cannot have projects within projects.  Each project has its own properties where you can set things such as dates, duration types, % complete type, activity numbering, project calendar and project codes.

We can all use a helping hand now and then. Here are ten hints and tips for using Excel:

• Want to format cells quickly? Press Ctrl + 1.
• Avoid using merged cells as these can create problems with sorting and filters. Instead, go to ‘Format Cells’ and use ‘Centre Across Selection’.
• Too many worksheets? Right click on the navigation arrows to get a popup list of all sheets.
• Use Ctrl + End to go to the last active cell in your worksheet. Very useful for copying data between sheets.
• There are several ways to finish typing data and formulas: press Enter to move down 1 row, or press Tab to move 1 column right. Or you can click on the tick next to the formula bar.
• Quickly copy formulas down by double clicking the bottom right hand corner of the cell containing the formula to copy.

Having worked in and around L&D for over 10 years, Danny has worked at Director level with both professional services companies, financial services and engineering businesses helping to develop and deliver a range of managed services that span administration through to full outsourcing.

With a MBA from Henley Management College, Danny has an impressive background with companies such as Prudential, Abbey National, Sussex Enterprise/Business Link and Paragon Education and Skills.

Danny works closely with both HR and L&D teams through a consultative approach, to deliver a bespoke managed training service that involves strategy review through to benefits analysis of implementation.

Danny comments:
“In times where businesses are looking to focus on core strengths to maintain their position or grow their business, they are also opening up to the benefits of learning managed services.  Through outsourcing training administration, businesses look to garner expertise and buying power to provide improved value in their Learning and Development functions.  Using a reliable, knowledgeable and proven managed training services provider, enables a wealth of efficiencies and measurable business improvements to foster competitive advantage”.

Outsourcing the administration and sourcing of your L&D function provides HR/L&D departments with increased efficiency at a reduced cost. Working with a single, reliable, knowledgeable and proven training management company to deliver your managed training services, is a cost effective and time saving way to ensure your staff have the skills and training necessary to take your business forward.

But how do you choose the right Managed Services provider for your business? Below we’ve outlined our top tips to consider when making your decision:

• Does the provider have the ability to work against a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and provide you with as much, or as little, training and administrative support as agreed with your supplier? The best providers will be able to source L&D which is tailored to the needs of your business, not just provide ‘off the shelf’ training. In addition they act as the service centre adhering and performing to agreed SLA’s such as delegate management and course advice.

• Discovery is at the heart of learning and development. Accordingly, consider how innovative the outsourced training services provider is. If they are not prepared to embrace new ideas and methodologies themselves, how are they going to enable your organisation to progress? Those that are innovative will inject their positive energy and knowledge into your business.

• How much experience does the provider have in working across different industries? If you’re in telecoms and your shortlisted provider has only ever worked in the food industry, are they really going to be able to help you? The best providers have diverse experience and know several industries inside-out.  They will be able to draw upon their knowledge of different sectors and bring the best of each to your business. Moreover, having this wider experience could mean that they bring something entirely new to your industry.

• Just as a school is only as good as its teachers, a managed services provider is only as good as its supply network of trainers and L&D professionals. Consider the breadth, expertise and professionalism of their preferred supplier network to ensure that you will get the best trainers for your employees.

As accomplished providers of Primavera training courses and other project management training, we asked our expert trainers for their Primavera Top Tips. We hope that you will find these tips really useful and that they will help you to get the most from this great piece of software.

Progress Spotlight

If you want to search for activities that should have started or finished during a specific time period then use the Progress Spotlight to highlight these activities. To use the progress spotlight, either choose View, Progress Spotlight or click on the spotlight icon.

Using Steps

Steps are a great way of breaking an activity down into sub tasks which can then be used for updating progress on an activity and measuring physical progress. You can add weighting to a step to define the proportion of value earned on that step. To add steps to an activity, select the steps tab in the schedule gantt layout.

Applying Filters

You can apply and combine existing filters to narrow down the activities selected. Any combination of default, global and layout filters can be used. For example you could combine critical and milestone filters to view crucial start and finish milestone activities in the layout.

Dissolving an Activity

Instead of just deleting an activity, use the dissolve facility.  Dissolving an activity maintains the project logic by removing the dissolved activity and joining it’s predecessor and successor activities with a finish to start relationship. Select the activity you want to get rid of and then choose Edit, Dissolve.

Scheduling

When you are ready to schedule your Plan, use the F9 shortcut key as a quick way of launching the schedule option.

Increasingly used in learning and development, performance management and to support change, coaching is helping businesses to experience many benefits.  From improved leadership effectiveness, clearer working relationships and easing the impact of change, to increased staff efficiency, morale and retention, coaching has a number of plus points.

We have broken down the benefits into three key areas – the personal impact of coaching, how coaching helps you develop yourself and how coaching helps you develop at work:

The personal impact of coaching:

• Coaching is personal and tailored to the individual
• It provides a safe environment where people are not being judged or assessed and can share their ideas, thoughts, concerns, aims, challenges, etc.
• It will help you gain personal insight about what you do, why you do it and whether it’s beneficial
• Coaching ensures the individual is personally involved in any solutions developed

How coaching helps you develop yourself:

• Coaching can help you learn new skills and develop the skills you already have
• Coaching can help you clarify your thinking and recognise your strengths and development opportunities
• Coaching can address the underlying cause of an issue rather than the symptoms
• Coaching usually creates sustained long-term behavioural change and transformation because the person being coached is more committed to the solution

We’ve been talking a lot recently about change and transformation, but what exactly do we mean by Change and Transformation?

Following our attendance at Learning & Skills, Principal Consultant with Thales Training & Consultancy, Dale Kirk, shared his thoughts during his key seminar ‘The Role of L&D in Supporting Change and Transformation Programmes’.

During the presentation, Dale covered his top tips of how to support your organisation through change and transition, as well as top tips relating to system changes within an organisation.

View the slides online or watch the seminar videos to find out Dale’s 4 key areas when it comes to the role of L&D in supporting change and transformation:

• The importance of transitioning your role from someone working in a function to that of a business partner working in the area of L&D
• The importance of continuing to develop your network of key stakeholders
• The behaviours and activities that are needed to support your organisation through change and transformation
• Recognising that we learn when things go well and when they don’t

New change and strategy management courses

Leading Organisations Through Change

Working in a Changing Environment

Social Media Strategy – Developing an Effective Strategy to Grow your Brand and Business

Having people tweet, post and connect with you also increases your brand awareness so that lots more people hear about your company and are interested in what you do. Using social media to build relationships, gauge market perceptions and share information is a great route to business success.

Sounds good doesn’t it? But you can only achieve these dizzy heights if you know how to manage social media. And manage it, you must. For out of control social media has the potential to do the exact opposite of what you intended it to do, remember the footballer we’re not allowed to talk about?

In order to ensure that your social media is working for, not against you, it is essential that:-

• Your organisation has a social media policy describing what your employees are/are not allowed to do/mention on social media
• There is a clear line of  responsibility within your organisation for monitoring the social media tweets, retweets and answering questions and set timeframes with which to attend to these things
• If your employees are using your organisation’s social media pages to tweet and post you have provided social media guidelines which cover tone of voice, types of things to tweet/post etc
• Negative feedback, comments, replies are handled immediately or as soon as possible. The best way to get bad publicity from social media is to ignore any type of criticism
• Your organisation is positioned as a ‘thought leader’ within your field. The more advice, comments, opinions and information you can give about your specialist field, the better

Adrian brings 20 years experience developing creative facilitative leadership, supporting operational improvement and organisational transformation, working with all sizes of business and professions.

A qualified Organisational Development / Learning and Development specialist with specific interests in: Business strategy, Creative complex problem solving, Systems and Lean Thinking, the Learning Organisation and a qualified Commercial Mediator his career spans the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. He has held leadership roles in the Royal Navy, a national not-for-profit training business; directed a UK government sponsored improvement task group; architected complex global transformations as the Head of OD and L&D for one of the UK’s top ten multi-disciplinary consultancies and run his own organisation development and improvement consultancy business.

He has extensive international experience, creating the business case for then designing and implementing a variety of project and process improvement, organisation development, learning and change interventions across the UK, US, Middle East, Asia, Australasia and Eastern Europe.

Adrian was one of the first TEAM members at the Movement for Innovation (M⁴I), a Ministerial Task force championing improvement across the UK for DETR / DTI, and subsequently directed the Respect for People programme working with a wide cross-section of companies to help them develop and articulate the business case for, implement and realise significant benefits from new approaches to release people’s capability for improvement and change and advising on policy development to the Office of Government Commerce, Health & Safety Executive and other public sector bodies.

L&D is a constantly changing sector and 2012 is unlikely to be any different. The overarching theme for the coming year will be – Doing things differently. The market has recognised that the standard ‘classroom learning’ format is a bit stale and now has a thirst for something different, they don’t necessarily know what that is, or what it looks like but there is definitely a desire for it. We will definitely see a growth in bespoke formats and methods of accessing L&D in the coming year.

More innovation

This buzzword will continue to dominate in 2012 in two ways. Firstly there will be increased demand for L&D providers to include more innovative ways of learning in their core programmes, either in the way they are delivered or the content included. Secondly the continued difficult economic conditions will mean that business expects more innovative behaviours from their employees to deliver greater commercial value, something which can be supported through L&D programmes.

Doing things quicker

With less budget and time available to businesses continuing to battle the economic climate a significant focus on ‘just in time’ modular and/or blended learning courses will be seen.

Taking responsibility

There will be a shift of responsibility on to the learner, a drive for more self directed learning through a range of media will be seen across the board.

Focus on holistic reporting and tracking

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are no longer just tracking and reporting systems, they are now capable of integrating collaborative tools providing access to knowledge and content. Other services have been devolved to line managers, such as self service systems for payroll, appraisals and recruitment.  With ever increasing output targets and a corresponding reduction in available time for face to face management meetings managers will have to be offered more training in order to make these tools and systems a success.

Social media as an L&D Tool

Social Media is a forum for information sharing and can be used to assist employee engagement and provide access to L&D information. Corporate IT policies have often blocked individual creativity in regard to blogging and social media, but as organisations begin to realise the benefits to be gained they are lifting these policies and making available best practice rules of engagement. Individuals are relishing the opportunity to enter Q&A forums, access information on benchmarking and generally be able to share information easily and quickly.

More targeted L&D spend

In 2011 we’ve witnessed a distinct rise in strategic spend rather than the traditional broad-brush development spend. This will continue in 2012 with organisations needing to expand the competencies of their senior leadership teams. The increasing number of cross-discipline roles creates a need for wider skillsets, increased knowledge and a diverse variety of behaviours. All of which must align with the organisation’s strategic objectives. To assist organisations with their change strategies competency frameworks are being refined to ensure that the skills required for the new cross discipline roles are correctly identified and appropriate L&D put in place.

Change in focus for entry level L&D

In light of changes in the funding of higher education many organisations are now re-considering the components and scope of their Graduate Programmes. They are also seeking to ensure that the transition between graduate programmes in to early career development initiatives and on to leadership schemes is smooth and structured.

We are proud to be part of Europe’s leading L&D conference, an event you won’t want to miss if you are an HR or L&D professional.

Visit us on stand 182 to say hello and find out more information about our extensive range of training courses, L&D support and consultancy services.

While you are there, why not take advantage of our free ground breaking learning & development seminar ‘The role of L&D Supporting Change and Transformation Programmes‘, taking place on Wednesday 25th January, 14.30-15.00 in Theatre 7 and Thursday 26th January, 14.00-14.30 in Theatre 2.

Delivered by two of our highly knowledgeable Principal Consultants, the seminar promises an insight into how L&D professionals can work with Senior Leadership teams to drive change and transformation in organisations.

Simply download your free e-ticket to register for Learning & Skills and to attend our free seminar.

This is a significant achievement as there are only around 50 accredited ESEPs in the world, with only five of which reside outside the US.

INCOSE is the leading organisation in the world for Systems Thinkers, Systems Engineers and Systems Engineering. In 2004 INCOSE launched a formal accreditation programme for Systems Engineers, with three categories of certification (Associate, Certified Professional and Expert, designated as ASEP, CSEP and ESEP respectively).  Whilst historically most INCOSE System Engineering Professionals (SEPs) have been based in the US, formal certification is increasingly becoming regarded as an important indicator of systems engineering excellence in the UK and Europe, and many government organisations around the world are starting to consider formal certification of key roles as part of their bid / proposal evaluations.

Ian regards formal accreditation of Systems Engineers as an important step towards ensuring that those in key engineering roles have an appropriate level of Systems Engineering competence in order to execute their role effectively.

To help you save time, we’ve put together some Top Tips for Primavera P6:

1. Drag to save time

Want to copy an object from one hierarchy to another? In Primavera P6 you can drag and drop between hierarchies to save a lot of time. Hover over the left band until the cursor has a white square. Now click and drag to between activities, projects, resources and more.

2. Finding projects

Want to find one specific project or EPS node in your Primavera P6 EPS structure? Instead of scrolling through to find it use Ctrl F and type in your project number to quickly jump to it.

3. Use your head

When adding headers and footers to your documents, Primavera automatically adds a double-space when you press ‘Enter’. This can result in a lot of lost space. To add a single space instead, hold down the Shift key when pressing enter. This can minimise the amount of space you need and your reports will look more professional.  

4. Forward planning

Want to plan a couple of years ahead? There’s no need to click through all the months to advance through the years. Click on the Month-Year header at the top of any calendar dialog box and you can advance by year. To switch back to normal view, click the Month-Year header again.

Across the top of your keyboard you’ll find a series of function buttons: F1 through to F12. But what do they all do? For most of us they appear to be a useless set of buttons on the keyboard and many will not dare to press them just in case they do something horrible to your computer. However, they do have their uses and some are even VERY useful when used in Excel.

These Excel Top Tips were written by Richard Harker, Business Systems Consultant and Microsoft Excel expert.  If you have any other questions about Microsoft Excel, why not tweet Richard with your query at http://twitter.com/#!/excelmate.

To book your Microsoft Excel Training Course email Sarah Harvey or call today on 0800 163 469.

How many times have you sat at your desk and counted cells while holding your finger or a pen against the screen and scrolling down the page? We’ve all been there…including myself, and we all know how painful it is especially as you always seem to be interrupted in the middle of counting and have to start all over again! Thankfully Excel has a number of functions to help you.

These Excel Top Tips were written by Richard Harker, Business Systems Consultant and Microsoft Excel expert.  If you have any other questions about Microsoft Excel, why not tweet Richard with your query at http://twitter.com/#!/excelmate.

To book your Microsoft Excel Training Course email Sarah Harvey or call today on 0800 163 469.

Click here to download our favourite Microsoft Excel shotcuts. Print and stick this next to your computer for easy reference and you’ll be flying in no time.

To discover more about our Microsoft Excel courses or to book a place call Sarah Harvey today on 0800 028 3045.

Email Susan Howard or call 0800 028 3045 to find out more about the Primavera P6 and Primavera Risk Analysis training that we can provide for your organisation.

It can be especially useful in the recruitment stage, particularly when the pile of applications are stacked to the ceiling – accreditation is an instant way of knowing whether an applicant will be up to scratch and ready to hit the ground running in your business.

Below, we’ve put together the Top Five Benefits of Accreditation for your business:

1. Qualified means Quality

Fully accredited employees have those extra skills and knowledge essential to push your business forward.  Their higher level of competence will lead to improved performance and a hugely positive impact on your business.

2. On the same page

On paper, your new employee looks great – they’ve got loads of experience doing what you need them to do.  Except they’re experienced with completely different software and now have to spend time learning what’s second nature to your business.   Accreditation prevents this easily avoidable and costly scenario by helping you choose the right people – you know from the outset that your new employee is up to speed and will have that task done by lunchtime.

3. Engagement and self-fulfilment

With accreditation, giving a little to an employee means you’re likely to get a lot more from them in return.  Employees that have been invested in tend to feel more engaged, motivated and valued by their business.  In short, they’re more likely to want to go the extra mile for you.

In these tough economic times, businesses in all sectors are looking to increase productivity and reduce expenditure to improve their bottom line. Good performance management enables an organisation to hit, even exceed its targets, by creating an overarching strategy, aligning personal and departmental goals and increasing focus.  When performance management is poor, it can disengage staff, encourage negativity, waste effort and prove incredibly costly.

The following tips have been put together to outline the top five benefits that good performance management can have for your organisation.

1. Pulling together

Effective performance management can help ensure all your employees work together towards a single goal. With an overarching objective clearly defined, employees will better understand how their individual contribution helps in the wider picture. This can help boost individual, and thus company, productivity.

2. Keeping track

Management carries a lot of responsibility – you need to know that the practises you are implementing are having the right result. Over an extended period, performance management can help managers identify what is and isn’t working. In short, performance management can help provide stronger leadership.

Our team of Microsoft Project training experts will give you the right tools to take back to the office and immediately put into practice. Enjoy your learning experience at our attractively designed training centre. We provide a free beverages throughout the day a hot or cold lunch and our free parking means you don’t need to worry about car parking costs.

Microsoft Project Courses

• Microsoft Project Module 1&2 – Planning, Scheduling and Implementing
• Microsoft Project Module 3 – Advanced Scheduling and Customisation
• Microsoft Project Module 4 – Advanced Tracking and Analytics

More Project Mangement Tools

Primavera Overview Courses

Our Primavera Management Overview course is designed for those who need to gain an overview of how the Primavera tool is used and how to navigate through existing programmes on the system.

Our Primavera Risk Analysis - Overview course gives a detailed introduction to the schedule and risk management features of Primavera Risk Analysis.

Call Sarah Harvey today on 0800 028 3045 to book your place on our range of Microsoft Project and Primavera courses.

Thales Training & Consultancy integrated training services provider, today announces its appointment by First Central Insurance Management Ltd (FCIM), to supply bespoke training programmes to the company’s leadership teams. FCIM is the UK service provider for online car insurer, 1st Central.

Following a period of rapid growth and recruitment, the company was looking to formalise its leadership training programme to ensure that staff were able to learn and develop skills in areas of strategic importance to the organisation. The Thales Training & Consultancy programme will address two levels of management – supervisory and management level.

Thales Training & Consultancy has already begun delivering training for supervisory level managers at FCIM who are working towards the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) Level 3 Certification in Leadership. The ILM Level 3 programme is made up of different qualifications levels: the ‘certificate’ is the more in-depth version and is delivered through a mixture of classroom-based activity, one-to-one coaching and action learning sets.

For the middle managers, the ILM Level 5 Award in Management & Leadership programme will begin in September. It is hoped that by the end of 2011 around 25 FCIM employees will have completed their qualifications.

After reviewing a number of learning and development (L&D) suppliers FCIM chose Thales Training & Consultancy because of its strength of offering, as well as its bespoke approach to delivery. FCIM was also impressed with Thales Training & Consultancy’s training facilities at its offices in Crawley, close to its own headquarters in Haywards Heath.

Download our 5 Free Top Tips to Managing Stress.

Call Sarah Harvey today on 0800 028 3045 to discover more about  the courses and tailored training solutions we offer to help you manage stress in your organisation.

Following the success of our new online training courses, we have now added a selection of Microsoft Excel online courses to the range.   We are also keen to introduce additional topics to the porfolio of courses and to help us prioritise which areas to develop we would be very grateful if you could complete our short online survey.

In return for your time, we will email you our free Microsoft Excel top tips guide focused on the advanced VLOOKUP function.

To find out more or to book your place on our Microsoft Online Courses please contact Sarah Harvey on 0800 028 3045.

However, making simple changes to the working environment, increasing your awareness of possible risks and hazards and improving your knowledge about H&S legislation, means your company does not have to be included in one of the above statistics.

At Thales Training & Consultancy, we know the importance of Health & Safety. We also understand how crucial it is to provide a duty of care to your people, not to mention the importance of keeping the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) happy. Our essential Health and Safety accredited courses cover all the relevant legislation including NEBOSH, IOSH, CIEH and fire regulations. They are delivered by people who know what they are talking about and have first-hand experience of dealing with health and safety issues.

We partner with experts in the field including St John’s Ambulance, The British Red Cross Society, Sage Site and West Sussex Fire & Rescue to deliver the very best, most up-to-date and highly effective Health & Safety courses that are available today.

Integral to finding the right person for the right position is the interview process.  We generally only have a few meetings to be able to assess the applicant’s suitability for the role and make a decision on whether we think they are going to fit in and make a difference.

A well structured interview can be an effective way to learn about the candidate, whereas an interview that provides poor information will result in costly bad decisions.

The following top tips have been put together to provide you with the tools to help you plan and prepare for successful interviewing:

1. Who

The first major question to ask is who you are looking for. Spend some time putting together a job outline and specification for the right person and continually refer back to these criteria whilst assessing potential candidates.

2. Selection

Once you have advertised the position, the next step is to shortlist CV’s for interview. When faced with a mountain of CV’s, it is important to use screening tools to highlight the promising candidates for the interview process. Refer back to your original job outline and person specification when working through the CV’s.

3. Style of interview

With many interview options available, selecting the right style will depend on the position you are employing for, as well as what suits you. From formal interviews with structured and consistent questions to informal, relaxed interviews that enable you to really get to know the person. With larger volumes of applicants, you may need to hold an assessment style interview or sequential interviews with different team members assessing the applicants on different skills and areas.

4. Plan the interview

Good planning is the secret to a successful interview process.  Think about what you want to know from the applicants and put in place a selection of questions to enable you to glean the information you need. Use a selection of different question styles – from probing and open questions to situational and reflective. Closed questions may be needed to establish facts and clarify points. If possible, carry out a few trial practices of the interview in a role-play style so that you can be sure the questions you are asking are providing you with the right information.

5. Observe

Watch the body language of your interviewee and how they react to your questions. Your gut reaction is normally right and you should listen to it, but don’t jump straight to conclusions – people can be very nervous during interviews and don’t always come across as their true self straight away.

If you are new to Excel, or have problems using these key functions:

• AVERAGE
• MIN
• MAX
• MEDIAN
• MODE

or spend your time totalling values and dividing them by the number of cells in your data then this is for you!

These Excel Top Tips were written by Richard Harker, Business Systems Consultant and Microsoft Excel expert.  If you have any other questions about Microsoft Excel, why not tweet Richard with your query at http://twitter.com/#!/excelmate.

To book your Microsoft Excel Training Course call Sarah Harvey today on 0800 163 469.

13.00 – 14.00, Wednesday 28 September
Mandy Smithson, New Business Development Manager, Thales Training & Consultancy

Businesses require the Learning and Development function to deliver training solutions that meet the needs of employees whilst balancing the budget. As an L&D professional, delivering quality solutions with reduced budget can be a challenge.

This session will tackle a number of questions:

• Does outsourcing really deliver financial advantage to the organisation?
• How can commercial purchasing support the procurement function?
• How can an outsourced training provider ensure they integrate into the business as an effective business partner? 
• How can the use of ‘technology’ in outsourcing help support the learning organisation?

A report put together by the CBI last year entitled ‘Ready to Grow’ found that 48% of businesses believed that leadership and management skills were essential for success. However, the UK’s ‘Leadership Effectiveness Index Score’ is just 47%. This is not only below the global average of 55%, but well below leaders such as India who scored 72%.

Our Director of Product, Rob McWilliam says…

“Too many organisations fail to realise the benefits of investment in leadership training, because they haven’t put in place clear and measurable objectives at the start of the programme. Investing in tomorrow’s leaders is essential if organisations are to thrive and retain talent. “

“When organisations look to identify and develop leaders, there are often three dilemmas to overcome:

1. Encouraging people to “Be the Leader you’ve always wanted to be” versus “Here’s a rigid set of our organisation’s values-based competencies for you to demonstrate and be measured against

Read the full article Handling A Toxic Boss.

If you want to learn more about how to change the managers in your organisation, call Karen Osborn now on 0800 028 3045.

With my next job I was introduced to Office 95 and ever increasing amounts of data analysis. Once again, I invested in a book. This time it was the Microsoft Excel manual – over 900 pages if I remember correctly, and as before I started at page 1 and worked my way through the entire book trying out as much as possible. As the data amounts increased and the type of analysis became more complex I wasn’t prepared to spend hours manipulating data before I could actually make a start on analysing it which pushed me to learn more functions and work out what each and every bit of the menu could do.

Defining the objective of the development can help to focus what the desired outcome of the learning needs to be.  This can inform the design and the delivery of the programme and certainly helps the provider to make links within and throughout the content that are meaningful to the participants.  Whilst this sounds obvious, absolute clarity on this is essential.

2. Involve the Senior Management Team at the outset

Whilst managers may perceive a development programme as something ‘happening’ to their Direct Reports, it is essential that the Senior Team are part of the process – fully briefed about the format, expectations and objectives of the programme and ready to field enquiries or new styles of behaviour/attitude from their team members.  Participants will have expectations of their managers during the process and it is vital that the SMT has the knowledge to help them.

3. Create some sort of Assessment criteria for inclusion on the programme

This can be a contentious subject – yes, avoid elitism – however, create development path aspirations and inspire individuals to be creative and innovative in their desire for progression.  This can give those unsuccessful this time around the opportunity to ‘hone’ their assessment skills for the next planned programme.  The message from the business is one of serious selection and investment if the process is clear and fair, thus adding value to development as a whole.

4. Clearly define the Roles and Responsibilities of the participant group

We have found that some managers are not operating at an expected level precisely because they are not absolutely clear what is within and not within their managerial remit.  Defining clearly what the roles and responsibilities are at the start of the programme can set the necessary boundaries for ownership, deployment and growth.

5. Ensure there is clarity around how the learning will be applied and measurement to ensure that it has

As part of the initial objective setting of the programme, it is important for each participant to have pre/in-programme/post discussions with their line manager to ensure there is the opportunity to deploy the news skills, knowledge and behaviour.  In Kirkpatrick terms, Thales Training & Consultancy  will be responsible for Level 1 and 2 of evaluation, and will work with the management team to determine how Levels 3 and 4 can be achieved.  360 degree assessment tools can be used ahead of, and on completion of programmes to measure progress along with other organisationally led measurements and processes.

Mike Kerrigan, Associate Trainer, Thales Training & Consultancy

That’s Clever…if only I could do that – Microsoft Top Tips, written by Richard Harker, Busines Systems Consultant and Microsoft Excel expert.  If you have any other questions about Microsoft Excel, why not tweet Richard with your query at http://twitter.com/#!/excelmate.

If only there was an easier way.. to create a series, written by Richard Harker, Busines Systems Consultant and Microsoft Excel expert.  If you have any other questions about Microsoft Excel, why not tweet Richard with your query at http://twitter.com/#!/excelmate.

Download Microsoft Top Tips – 20 Functions_part 3_VLOOKUP

Ways to find our more about what Excel can achieve for you

Call Sarah Harvey on 0800 028 3045 to find out about the range of popular Microsoft Excel courses we offer.

Plus you can ask Richard your Microsoft Excel questions on Twitter

To find out more about all our online training courses call Sarah Harvey on 0800 028 3045

If you are looking for quick way to analysing and presenting a large spreadsheet full of data then download our Free Guide If only was an easier way…to create Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables.

For more ways to improve your Microsoft Excel Skills from beginner to advanced level, call Sarah Harvey now on 0800 028 3045 to book your place on any of our Microsoft Excel courses.

If you are looking for quick way to make your spreadsheets print properly then download our Free Guide to Microsoft Excel -Conditional formatting 

For more ways to improve your Microsoft Excel Skills from beginner to advanced level, call Sarah Harvey now on 0800 028 3045 to book your place on any of our Microsoft Excel courses.

This presentation explores:

• Does outsourcing really deliver financial advantage to the organisation?
• How can commercial purchasing support the procurement function?
• How can outsourced training provider ensure they integrate into the business as an effective business partner? 
• How can the use of ‘technology’ in outsourcing help support the learning organisation?

Attend this free seminar presented by Rachel Kay, Business Development Director at WOLCE 2011 and discover how some organisations have discovered the commercial and operational advantages of outsourcing learning services. 

Come and see us at Stand E60, WOLCE 2011 

This time of year brings the announcements of the retirements of the older, experienced players.  I can think of 2 high-profile players from arguably the most famous club in the country who have ‘hung up their boots’ recently.  And yet, with the greatest of respect to them, will they be missed in the context of their team’s future performance?  My guess is probably not.  Their manager has been working for at least a couple of seasons to find and develop replacements, in preparation for this very time. In fact, he’s got a number of options to cover each leaver.

Written by Rob McWillam, Director, Products, Thales Training & Consultancy

If you are looking for quick way to make your spreadsheets print properly then download this Microsoft Excel Top Tips Guide

For more ways to improve your Microsoft Excel Skills from beginner to advanced level, call Sarah Harvey now on 0800 028 3045 to book your place on any of our Microsoft Excel courses.

Free Prince2 Guide Thales Training & Consultancy

To book or discuss all your PRINCE2® training needs contact Sarah Harvey now on 0800 028 3045.

• SQL Foundation Course Dates: 2-3 June Now £496+VAT
• VBA in Excel Part 1 Dates: 3-14 June Now £352+VAT
• Visio Module 1 Date: 3 Jun Now £140 VAT
• Visio Module 2 Dates: 21 Jun Now £152 VAT
• Primavera  Risk Analysis (Pertmaster) Overview Dates: 27-28 Jun Now £576+VAT

To book your place and to secure your discounted course rate, call Sarah Harvey now on 0800 028 3045.

• Time efficient– helping you with your time management by taking less time away from the office
• Cost effective – fewer days mean lower prices
• More focussed – less time means the day has to be focussed on key learning objectives
• More tailored – course content designed around more specific objectives
• Fast paced learning to kick start a learning process

At Thales Training & Consultancy we always value your feedback that’s why we have made some changes to some of our key management and people development courses .

Recruitment and Selection Interviewing  – we learned that you don’t always need to attend both days so why not choose the one most relevant for you?

• Successful Recruitment Tools and Techniques course covers the law, advertising and recruitment documents – everything you need to know to find and recruit the right people.
• The Selection interviewing course will help with the interview process and give you valuable practical experience.

Call Rachel Kay now on 0800 163 469 to book an appointment at HR in Housing Exhibition 2011.

Here are 10 free 10 Top Tips for Powerful Presentations Using Microsoft Powerpoint

• Make eye contact. Resist that temptation to constantly look at the screen. Resist staring at your notes non-stop. Audiences want to feel engaged. Even if there are 50 people in the audience – look at each area of the room to make sure everyone feels included.
• Use the letter B on the keypad to turn the screen black when you’re talking and don’t want the audience to be distracted by the screen. Simply press the B again when you’re ready for the audience to look at the PowerPoint.
• Pause often. It may sound obvious but running short of breath while presenting is one of the most common symptoms of nerves. The pause will allow you to take a breath, get your thoughts together and lead to improved vocal quality next time you speak. It will also allow the audience to absorb the information they are being given.
• If you want to skip ahead to a later slide during your presentation without going through all the slides in between simply enter the number of the slide and then press the return/enter key.
• Watch television, listen to the radio and attend other people’s presentations. Observe presenters you admire and model their behaviours. What is it that they do that makes them look confident? Copy it – it can work for you too!

Improve your management skills and save 11% at the same time, when you book a place on any May 2011 management course.   Places are limited so book now to benefit from this great offer.

Call Sarah Harvey now on 0800 028 3045 to book your place.

Event topics included how to effectively manage your project costs and schedule controls and a second session where our team of actors led an entertaining and fast paced 60 minutes on best practice for influencing stakeholder management. 

You can now download the presentation slides free.

Download Free Project Cost and Schedule Control Presentation

Call Sarah Harvey today on 0800 028 3045 to find out about more about all our free breakfast bites events and project management training.

Find out more about all our Engagement and other Management and People Development courses. Contact Sarah Harvey on 0800 028 3045.

• Level 2 Award in Team Leading
• Level 3 Award in First Line Management
• Level 4 Award in Leadership
• Level 5 Award in Management & Leadership

Contact Karen Osborn today on 0800 028 3045 to discuss your ILM Award Qualification Requirements.

Book your today place on our PRINCE2 courses or contact Sarah Harvey to find out more on 0800 163 469

Plus attend two free sessions 60 minutes of fast paced and energetic learning. The Project Management – Cost & Schedule Controls session offers key, practical techniques that you can use to keep control of the costs and schedules within your project leading to successful on time and on budget completion. Our Influencing – Stake Holder Management session will use tightly scripted dramatic scenes authentically rooted in organisational reality, which you will watch, discuss, then re-direct and/or participate in. Book Now

Investing in technology training will boost overall productivity thus increasing your profits as each member of staff help harnesses technology to improve their work process. For instance, the internet has made it possible for businesses to access vital information easily and fast. When your team is trained in how to use the internet for the business including taking advantage of online market research, social book-marking and search engine optimisation, the improved competence in internet use will ultimately help your business to grow. IT training can help your business become better organised and save on time that would otherwise have been used in the manual organisation, storage and retrieval of data. And it is not only large institutions such as banks, credit card companies, hospitals and airlines that are characterised by tremendous volumes of data that would benefit from technology training. Even small and medium sized businesses can save significantly on overheads by using IT to manage enterprise information.

Better information management usually translates almost immediately to better customer experience. With well-organised data that is in electronic form that can be easily categorised and analysed, your business can segment clients, products and employees based on common preferences and behaviour in order to develop and execute the strategy that is likely to benefit the business the most.

IT training will also provide the platform for your business to move from a local or regional one to an international one. IT enabled services such as e-commerce, e-mail and web conferencing allow you to reach anyone, anytime and anywhere they are on the planet as long as they have an internet connection. Customers can purchase products and services online and make payment credit and debit cards or through an online payment service.

Click Here to Download your On Course Guide.

Our best-selling Excel Business Intelligence and Dashboards Course is ideal if you want to deliver exceptional business intelligence and reports within your organisation. If you want to learn how to effectively use Office 2010 our new Office 2010 Conversion course is your quick route to success.

Our popular Microsoft Project Courses are your practical pathway to succeeding with Microsoft project. Two new courses in this suite of IT courses are Project Module 3 – Advanced Scheduling and Customistion and Project Module 4 – Tracking and Analysing Project Progress.

To book your course call Sarah Harvey today on 0800 028 3045.

The content of IT training courses varies, as widely as there are different types of software and hardware. The courses can cover anything from basic use of desktop applications to more technical topics in software engineering, system architecture and server administration.

When choosing a training provider through which to obtain IT training, businesses must go for credible training instructions that only hire certified instructors. That way, the quality of the training is not compromised. For instance, instructors in Microsoft Office applications should typically have a Microsoft Office User Specialist certification.

When a business enrols its staff in such training, the benefit derived is not only receiving training conducted by experts in the field. Rather, the business can also negotiate for a custom made training programme that caters for the unique training needs of its employees. A well structured IT training course can significantly shore up the overall efficiency of a business and will expose employees to the most productive ways of using technology to execute routine office tasks.

Ian believes that his INCOSE role will provide a unique opportunity to improve the TT&C Systems Engineering training offering.  “INCOSE is the major Systems Engineering professional body worldwide.  The PDD role will provide a unique opportunity to understand and help shape the strategic direction of both systems engineering competencies and professionalism in the UK.  As a result, TT&C will be better able to target the training we offer to our systems engineers as they develop their careers.”

Training, learning and development are key to this.

Undoubtedly, cutting the training budget could have an instant impact on the financial results. But there are some other effects that could be detrimental to the chances of success in the medium to longer term.

We are all acutely aware of payroll costs and current times bring sharp focus to the task of identifying who represents your talent. Simultaneously, your talent continues to give their current role in your organisation a meaning in the wider context of their career plans and aspirations. They’ll be assessing their experiences of working with you right now and looking and listening for signs that their development is important to you.

Come along and listen to Ian Presland, Systems Engineering Product Manager for Thales Training & Consultancy at the INCOSE UK Annual Systems Engineering Conference 2010 (ASEC10).

Day 1

Ian will deliver the tutorial Burden or Benefit: 10 Ways to a Better SEMP

Day 2

an will jointly deliver a plenary session with Andy Medwell, Purple Secure Systems Bringing Savile Row to your Systems Engineering Wardrobe: A New Approach to Automated Process Tailoring

Learn more about our products and services when you meet with a member of our team and we will be pleased to enter you into the free prize draw.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Register now for the T Lounge to make your course bookings easy. Plus get ahead with the latest training developments and download our brochures.

• Pay attention in the moment. Take time to study facial expressions.
• Observe facial expressions along with other visual clues such as posture
• If you’re not sure what a facial expression is saying ask – either the person themselves or others involved

2) Using Emotion

• Aim for a mood task match. Negative emotions help with analytical and detailed tasks, Positive moods help with creative tasks.

3) Understanding Emotion

• Apply what if planning to yours and others emotions – If I do it this way how will they feel? If I do it another way how will I feel?
• Consider what else are you feeling? We rarely feel just one emotion at a time

4) Managing emotion

• Use active long term strategies directed at the issue

Book your place now on Personal Effectiveness through Emotional Intelligence Course

• Strong Team Ethos
• Working Environment
• Staff involvement in objectives and business planning
• Embedding of company values
• Learning and development plan

About Investors in People

As the UK’s leading people management standard, Investors in People provides a simple and flexible framework helping thousands organisations of all sizes and sectors to improve their business performance.

Plus, you can learn from our experts in the Conference and Free Seminars Programme

Rob McWilliam, Coaching & Consultancy Services Manager, Thales Training & Consultancy will be facilitating the conference session Developing your Line Managers as Facilitators of L&D at 11.30am-12.30pm, Wednesday 29 September,presented by Judi Wilkinson, Senior Learning & Development Consultant, Zurich Academy Europe, Zurich Financial Services.

Use our On Course Guide at your desk or in meetings to source your business courses.

Attend your course at our state of the art training centre in Crawley, conveniently located near Gatwick and M23. or we can deliver your course at a venue of your choice and can tailor any of our courses to you precise training requirements – you choose.

Therefore, opportunity arises if you are armed with stats and with a thirst for quality and innovation. The Outsourcing Learning and Development Survey 2010 conducted o behalf of Thales by Loudhouse Research examines the industry position. It finds that despite the recession, businesses are continuing to invest in people development and evolving and innovative outsourcing strategies.

Thales Training & Consultancy, suggests that learning and development (L&D) is increasingly being recognised as a key driver for UK businesses’ recovery from the downturn. The report explores the important role that outsourcing of L&D plays, with an encouraging finding that 82% of businesses have opted to use a third party expert to deliver their workforce’s training needs as effectively as possible. However, the research also discovers a growing divide – or ‘two-tier state’ – in businesses’ ambitions when it comes to outsourcing L&D.

The ‘two-tier state’ is identified as more than two-thirds (68%) of businesses have opted for ‘low-level outsourcing’, only outsourcing the basic elements of their training delivery model; only 21% of businesses have adopted a ‘high-level outsourcing’ approach, outsourcing high-value functions such as learning management systems and training administration. Critically, there is a clear link between L&D investment and business success: those respondents that ranked their overall business performance as ‘considerably better’ than expected in the last 12 months also increased their investment in L&D by 6.2%.

Interviews were conducted with 200 L&D professionals in organisations of at least 1,000+ employees. The research explored the different aspects of outsourcing L&D and how it is being used to drive efficiency, talent management and business performance. Key findings include:

• Behaviour is only what we see and hear on the surface. Many things such as our beliefs, feelings and experiences drive our behaviour. If one person seems to be behaving “badly” consider what might be causing them to behave in that way. What is affecting your behaviour?
• Our visual communication has a big impact on how we are perceived. Use your non-verbal communication skills to help build rapport with the other person for example by carefully mirroring their body language.
• According to Bruce Tuckman every team evolves through different stages and each stage will bring different behaviours. If you’re trying to build relationships in your team consider what stage they are at. Are they forming, storming, norming or performing?
  Click for more tips on dealing with difficult people

The contract has been awarded to Thales Training & Consultancy, Thales UK’s train­ing services business, which will manage all of the Hyde Group’s training over the next three years, starting in April 2010.The agreement covers all the Hyde Group employees in the UK and will involve Thales providing a full training service, the procure­ment of all training, the implementation of a learning management system and the management of all training suppliers. Thales will also be responsible for the design and delivery of major components of the Hyde Group’s internal training programmes. The Hyde Group is one of the largest housing associations in England, currently employing more than 1,500 staff.

Bob North, General Manager of Thales Training & Consultancy, says: “This contract was won against strong competition from some of the leading training services companies in the UK. With the trend in the UK for companies to outsource their training, this contract win positions Thales well for the future. We can now look forward with confidence to winning similar TMS contracts in this developing market as we move through 2010 into 2011.”

Alka Ladva, Learning & Development Manager for the Hyde Group says: “Thales will not only provide an excellent L&D service but assist in equipping our staff with skills to provide high-quality services to our residents.’

To find out more about our Managed Services contact Rachel Kay on 0800 028 3045.

Research launched on 7 June by Thales Training & Consultancy, highlights a growing dilemma facing UK businesses. With a new government and changing policies leading to further spending reductions as well potential job cuts, combined with the volatile economic environment, UK businesses are being put under increasing pressure to achieve more with less.

However, Businesses are more aware than ever that a skilled and motivated workforce is key to success, with 79% of businesses stating that employee engagement is among the top priorities at board level. However, nearly half (44%) also state that cost-cutting takes precedence over innovation in their learning and development (L&D) programme, demonstrating a worrying gulf between business priorities and corresponding investment plans.

Thales UK’s ‘Outsourcing Learning & Development’ research was undertaken in March 2010. Interviews were conducted with 200 L&D professionals in organisations of at least 1,000+ employees. The research explored the role of outsourcing L&D in relation to employee productivity and business performance, and key findings include:

L&D ahead of the game:almost half (48%) of companies have been outsourcing L&D for over a decade and it is the most likely function of a business to be outsourced, with 82% outsourcing a least part of their training function. By comparison, IT infrastructure is only outsourced by 49%, and customer service by 29%;

Outsourcing popular: the research also found 89% of respondents believed their L&D provision could be improved by further outsourcing ;

Cost crunch: cost is seen as the greatest barrier to outsourcing and 56% agree that controlling spend is the biggest challenge in managing L&D;

High flyers investing more heavily: the better the company performed in the past 18 months, the more likely they are to have increased investment in L&D. Those who performed ‘considerably better’ than expected in the past 12 months had increased investment by 6.2%; those who performed ‘a lot worse’ had decreased investment on average by 15%.

About Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity provides emotional and practical support for families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness; immediate help is available for families 24 hours a day.  They offer the whole family individually tailored high quality support for as long as they need it. Rainbow Trust helps family members cope with the present and prepare them for the future. Their vision is that one day all terminally ill children and their families will have access to a Rainbow carer.

To learn about engagement means identifying what drives someone to give that extra or ‘discretionary effort’. One of these drivers is that we need to be clear about the link between the extra effort we put in and the impact on the results of the wider organisation. Put another way, we’re more engaged when we know the answer to ‘Why is my job?’ rather than “What is my job?”

Managers with whom I work to increase engagement often comment that when they take the time to explain the context of employees’ roles to them rather than just the content, leading them through change and achieving increased performance has a much firmer foundation.

Article by: Rob McWilliam, Thales Training & Consultancy, Coaching and Consultancy Services Manager

For more information about how you and your people can become more engaged in the workplace, call Karen Osborn now on 0800 163 469.

Our highly interactive soapbox presentation will give you the ideas and tips you need to inspire the people in your organisation.

TrainingZone Live is a must-attended event, for training directors and training managers, looking for ways to improve your organisational performance through learning and development. This exciting two-day event will provide the latest in practical thinking delivered in a uniquely hands-on and highly interactive learning environment.

Register for Training Zone Live 2010

The Institute of IT Training has a mission to continuously raise levels of professionalism within the training industry and to establish benchmarks of excellence against which practitioners may be measured. The Institute’s Training Provider Accreditation Programme (TPAP) is a key component towards attaining this strategic aim.

Click to discover more about our Excel, Powerpoint and other IT courses or call us on 0800 163 469.

Discover more about Thales training & Consultancy and the learning experience we offer when you attend our free presentations including top tips on improving your presentations, engagement through KPIs, coaching and how to get your mind and body energised. Find out more

Discover more at HRD 2010 Stand 550.

Discover more about Thales training & Consultancy and the learning experience we offer when you attend our free presentations including top tips on improving your presentations, engagement through KPIs, coaching and how to get your mind and body energised. Find out more

Discover more at HRD 2010 Stand 550.

Take a tour around all our services on the stand using our fantastic new touch screens.
The touch screens give you a quick and easy way to learn more about us and our services – managed services, bespoke solutions, procurement services and public courses.

Plus our experts will be on hand to take you through the touch screen tour and answer all your questions.  Find out for yourself – Come along to stand 550 near the CIPD seminar stand.

Discover more at HRD 2010 Stand 550.

Discover more at HRD 2010 Stand 550.

We have brought together all our management & people development, information technology and project & risk management courses all into one invaluable reference book.

Benefits of The Book

• Full course outlines
• Small handy size
• Easy to read
• Details about all our other services
• Easy to use in meetings, appraisals and training assessments

Order your copy of The Book

Be one of the first to have a copy of The Book and order yours now.

Downloads

Complete copy of The Book

Management & People Development courses

Information Technology courses

Project & Risk Management courses

This three-day course is your opportunity to share your experiences and learn from your peers in other organisations.

The course delivered through group coaching using real business issues and business plans.

Sessions include Dragon’s Den exercise; developing your vision – the Twitter challenge; devising an implementation checklist

• Day 1 Exploring the leadership Role
• Day 2 Business Planning
• Day 3 Turning Strategy into Action

Full Developing a Success Business Strategy course outline

Book your place on Developing a Success Business Strategy.

Call Sarah Harvey on 0800 028 3045.

Read full Excel Business Intelligence and Dashboards course outline

All our Microsoft Excel Courses.

Book your place now.

Call Sarah Harvey on 0800 028 3045.

• Free taster sessions
• Experience our high quality training
• Book a slot with our executive coach to explore your
• major 2010 challenges
• Receive a pre launch copy of our new training book
• A free training voucher to the value of £200

Refreshments and free parking.

Free Training Taster Sessions

• Employee Engagement – Maximising Employee Commitment To Your Organisation
• Emotional Intelligence – Developing Greatly Enhanced Relationships
• Business Intelligence and Excel Dashboards… Get the Truth out of Your Data
• Addicted to Email?

Attend our latest masterclass and learn how a structured learning path can improve the development of the project management role.

Aims/Objectives

To illustrate the benefits and options of providing structured learning paths for people involved in projects.

Delegate Benefits

You will gain a better understanding of the benefits to providing structured learning for developing people in project roles.

Summary

• Learn how to tailor training to different roles in the project environment
• Discover how to effectively use modular training in a structured learning path
• Learn how you can blend accreditation with bespoke training
• Discover how to apply effective training needs analysis
• Case study examples of training programmes in large project environments

Developing people is firmly recognised as one of the key responsibilities of the line manager our dynamic Coaching Skills course will equip you with the techniques you need to get the best from your staff.

Book your place now. Contact Sarah Harvey on 01293 742046

Here’s what one happy delegate said  “My objective to link projects and share resources was met completely. Our trainer was very good and friendly.” Paula Buglass. PA, Thatcham

Who Should Attend?

If you are new to Microsoft Project this is a great course to learn how to get the most out of Microsoft Project.

Next Course Dates

8-9 December – Basingstoke

18-19 January – Crawley

All dates

Book your course today. Contact Sarah Harvey on 01293 742046

If you want fresh learning ideas then visit us at Stand 146 at the new Learning & Skills Exhibition on 27-28 January 2010 at Olympia 2 London. Co-located with the highly-respected Learning Technologies Exhibition this exciting new event will showcase the entire spectrum of methods, products and services available for workplace learning and employee development.

Drop by our Stand 146 and discover for yourself the diverse learning and development services we offer including managed training services, bespoke solutions, public courses and our training procurement service.  We’d love to meet with you.

Make your appointment to discuss your needs before the event. Contact Sarah Harvey on 01293 742046.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Register Free

Download your brochure now

Management & People Development

IT Applications and Technology

Project & Risk Management

To learn more and to book all your public courses call Sarah Harvey on 01293 742046.

Primavera Risk Analysis (Pertmaster) Schedule and Risk Analysis 2 day

This 2 day course will give you a hands on and detailed introduction to the schedule and risk management features of Primavera Risk Analysis (Pertmaster). If you are a new user of this invaluable software and familiar with risk management processes then this tool will help you manage risk within your projects.

Primavera Risk Analysis (Pertmaster) Overview 1 day

This popular and practical 1 day course will provide you with an invaluable overview of the risk scheduling and risk register features of Pertmaster.

Call Sarah Harvey now on 01293 742046

VBA in Excel Part 1 is a 2 day course that will guide you towards writing your own code, manipulating data on worksheets, coding user forms and automatically run coding when events occur.

Who Should Attend?

VBA in Excel Part 1 is designed for existing experienced users of Excel.  Users must be confident in creating and manipulating Excel spreadsheets and creating formulas.

Extra Date

19 & 20 November 2009

Venue

Basingstoke

Book Now

Simply choose the Thales Package that’s right you – Package 1,2 or 3. Then decide what content you want to learn on your training days from our diverse range of management and people topics. Plus, reinforce what you learn with expert face to face,telephone and online coaching. It’s that easy.

Package prices start from just £495+VAT for training days, face to face, telephone and online coaching.

Call Karen Osborn now on 01293 563150 and find out how our new Thales Packages can work for you.

Our project and risk management development courses and experts, will guide and help you to grow your understanding and knowledge of the project management discipline at a pace that suits you.

Choose from 3 learning levels: Bronze Level for the beginner and Silver and Gold levels for more experienced individuals.

Learn more about the Thales Project Management Academy contact Karen Osborn on 01293 563150

So if you are planning your organisation’s training for 2010, you can be confident that our prices won’t change – guaranteed.

Make sure you are ready for 2010 call Karen Osborn on 01293 563150 to discuss your development plans.

To find out more about using WiFi in our restaurant ask a member of staff when attending your course or call 0800 163 469 for more information.

Find out about our new extensive range of project and risk management courses and the bespoke training solutions we deliver including:

• Newly launched Thales Project Management Academy
• Association for Project Management programmes
• Oracle Pertmaster and Oracle Primavera courses

You can attend project management courses at our training centres in Crawley and Basingstoke or we can design a bespoke project management package to suit your exact training requirements.

Download our new project and risk management brochure

Request a brochure to be mailed to you

Contact Karen Osborn on 01293 742046 to discuss in more detail your project management training requirements.

Places are going quickly on many courses including the popular Essentials Management Skills (formerly Principles of Management) and those in our  Microsoft Excel range. Plus, look out for the new courses we have added to our Project Management courses portfolio including Pertmaster, Primavera and Earned Value Management courses.

Book your delegate places for 2010 at our Crawley and Basingstoke Training Centres online now, or call Sarah Harvey on 0800 163 469.

A common phrase we’ve been hearing publicly during the last 12 months has been “we need to be ready for when things pick up…” It’s this need to be ready that is helping organisations to answer our question. Being ready will mean that key people stay with you (talent retention), your people and teams are ready (talent development) and there is a strategy that delivers this readiness (talent management).

Training, learning and development are key to this. “But you would say that, wouldn’t you!” I hear you exclaim.

OK, let’s talk… The ‘Starter for 10’ question above leads to a key sequence of other strategic questions including:

• What are our financial priorities from the short to longer terms?
• If we reduce training and developing our people, what could be the effects on our success as an organisation over time?
• What could be the effects on keeping our key people – our talent – if we stop spending on their development now?

The answers to these questions show some elements of the role of learning and development in the organisation’s strategy.

We’re all acutely aware of payroll costs and current times bring sharp focus to the task of identifying who represents your talent.

That’s why our project management experts are here to ensure you gain the knowledge and skills you need to become a leading project manager through our broad ranging and multi-disciplined project management courses including APM accredited courses.

New Project Management Courses

APM Practitioner Qualification
The APM Practitioner Qualification is for project managers, project coordinators and team leaders who have three to five years experience in managing non-complex projects. This is an intermediate qualification for project management practitioners who can demonstrate an ability to manage non-complex projects or run a key control function of a large-scale project. This qualification (IPMA Level C) is for any relatively experienced professional who is looking to demonstrate their ability.

Pertmaster Schedule and Risk Analysis (Primavera Risk Analysis)
Pertmaster Schedule and Risk Analysis, gives an in depth view of using Pertmaster for schedule and risk analysis.  It covers importing different types of project schedule, managing updating of project schedules, adding three point estimates manually and using quick risk and templated quick risk.  It also looks at building and managing a risk register and reporting techniques.

Earned Value Management – Senior Management Overview
Suitable for senior managers in businesses using Earned Value Management who need to understand programme EVM reports. This course will provide the overview of working with an EVM system and what benefits this will bring to the business and senior managers.

Strategic Leadership Skills

This course is a must attend course, especially in these times of continual and fast paced change, leaders need to adapt their style to ensure their strategy is evolving and future proof.

Who should attend? business owners, directors and senior managers

Benefits:

• This course will enable leaders to step back from their business to ensure their strategic vision is aligned with the ever-changing needs being driven by external factors.
• Leaders will be able to assess different strategies and decide which will be most beneficial for their business in changing times.

Presentation Skills for the Experienced Presenter

This is an ideal course if you want to give your presentations more impact.

Who should attend? regular presenters who have experience of basic presentation skills.

Benefits:

• Gain structure to your presentation to create powerful impact.
• Gain the ability to sell your message with clarity.
• Gain strategies to deal with difficult people.
• Build confidence through specific feedback on your strengths and areas for development.
• Take away your presentation on CD to review and perfect your performance.

Essential Management skills

Have you stepped into a management role without any training to enable you to make the step change from team member to team leader/manager? This 3-day course has evolved from the highly successful Principles of Management course to give you the tools you need to be a confident and well-regarded manager.

Who should attend? Anyone who wants to learn the necessary skills to become a well-respected manager

Benefits:

• Highly interactive and engaging.
• You will be introduced to a range of essential management skills – and given the chance to work with proven strategies and practice with the other delegates.
• Understand what great management is and start developing your strengths and weaknesses to enable you to succeed.
• Network with other managers in similar positions and share experiences – picking up great ideas along the way.
• Take away a robust action plan to start your journey in successful management.

On 30 September – 1 October, we are exhibiting at the premier L&D Conference and Exhibition.  Fundamental to our ethos at Thales Training & Consultancy is the importance of meeting face to face with other L&D professionals. That’s why being at the World of Learning 2009 is the perfect opportunity to meet with you, find out about any issues you’re confronting, and learn from you what makes your organisation tick.

We know meeting everyone at an exhibition can be difficult so if you would like to arrange a time to meet up please contact Karen Osborn on 01293 563150

Join us on stand F130 and find out about all our services including:

Bespoke Solutions

Find out how we can work in partnership with you to design, deliver and evaluate bespoke learning solutions to improve the performance of your people that will drive your organisation forward.

If the experts are correct and this is one of the fastest growing services within L&D – Where’s the Catch? Why isn’t everyone outsourcing?

As a training provider for over 12 years Thales Training & Consultancy has built up long-term relationships with its clients base providing solutions for both public schedule courses and bespoke development projects with project life cycles of between 3 and 12 months. It was from this platform the development of the Thales Training Managed Service solution evolved. Our clients were asking for more and more support on administration for long-term projects/rollouts and requesting us to procure training for subjects not covered on our public schedule. In 2007 Thales launched its fully integrated Training Managed Service (TMS) product aimed at supporting and providing learning services to organisations who wish to focus on their core services and outsource this non-core function.

Remaining In Control

For many organisations making the strategic decision to move to a fully outsourced model some of their early concerns are;

• Do we remain in total control of our Learning strategy?
• How do we know the training suppliers match our quality standards?
• Can I keep the suppliers I have always used?
• How will the TMS supplier adapt to our culture?
• How can we measure the success of the outsourcing model and guarantee savings to the board?
• Can we TUPE our staff to the managed service provider?
• Does this process still work if our organisation has a de-centralised training budget?

Any quality TMS provider will work with their customer to address these concerns by beginning the outsourcing process with a detailed scoping phase. Outsourcing is a business transaction and should be commercially beneficial to both parties, scoping out the requirements allows the supplier and organisation to establish their service level requirements. As a result of the scoping exercise the managed service provider is now able to provide the customer with;

If you are planning a meeting, seminar or perhaps event, then our recently redesigned training centre in Gatwick Road, Crawley offers you the ideal facility. And we are conveniently located just off junction 10 of the M23 with FREE parking for attendees.

The facilities

Our modern centre offers large and smaller meeting rooms or you may want to use our IT facilities with PCs for each participant and the trainer/facilitator.

Should you require a facilitator for your meeting, we can also support these requests through our facilitation service.

Our management rooms vary in size generally holding up to 14 people. We also have a large conference room that can hold up to 60 people auditorium style; ideal for conferences, seminars or management briefings.

Our IT rooms hold up to 8 participants, all of whom receive a PC on their desk as part of the package.

Room Hire Packages

Included in your room hire package:

• 2 course lunch, tea, coffee, cold drinks and pastries
• Projection and screen
• 1 flipchart and 1 pad
• House computer available for trainer/facilitator with internet access
• Free WI-FI access in the restaurant (and available in some classrooms)
• Free parking

The bright, new classrooms, break out areas and restaurant all provide a truly relaxed and inviting environment. With such a great surroundings, we believe people feel more engaged and ready to take on the challenge of learning something new.

If you would like to discover more about the different courses and learning opportunities we deliver, please call us 0800 163 469 or click on www.thales-trainingconsultancy.com