The Truth About Training

So you think training is not important, complicated, and unnecessary? But have you ever thought where our organizations would be without effective training strategies? Training today is more than sitting through an eight-hour course, listening to an instructor tell you what is right and what is wrong. It now involves different interactive and technological techniques that engage the learner in being actively involved and comprehending methods that will help them perform their job duties at a faster rate. With a plan in place, instructional designers are able to develop a process that goes beyond teaching; they find new approaches that know more about what the learner’s needs are, what skills are possessed, ensuring that the environment is conducive for learning, constructing a variety of learning materials, and preparing an evaluation plan that will allow future learning to be improved.

As organizations continue to grow and changes in government regulations occur, ongoing training of employees help businesses met their ever changing goals. By offering periodic instructor-led courses, cross-training, shadowing and online training and development, employees are able to obtain new skills and acquire knowledge that will allow them to meet and keep up with the changing demands of their organization. 

Audio File

Welcome to Training & Development

      After completing many semesters of MS in Instruction Design and Technology, I can do longer say that I am a newcomer to the field. Ever since I started my Associate's degree in Journalism and Communication, I have always been fascinated with how instructors do what they do to keep students engaged in learning. Although I continued and successfully completed a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication, the desire to facilitate never wavered and I was able to earn a Master's in Adult Education.

      Throughout the years, I have always held some capacity in facilitating, whether it was mentoring new hires or developing a departmental guide. In an attempt to further my personal and professional development, I have embarked on this journey to not only expand my knowledge but to also foster a relationship with those in my field and use their experience as a guide in my own exploration.

      I am originally from Trinidad and Tobago, however, I currently reside in Little Rock Arkansas with my six-year-old daughter Ja'zara. I am currently employed at Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield as a Customer Service Representative for the Blue Advantage National Accounts. Outside of work, I occupy my time by participating in CrossFit activities, marathons, crafting wreaths and door hangers and also gift baskets for any occasion.

      I thank you for following me as I journey and share my thoughts for the duration of this course!!!

Analyzing Scope Creep

"Fighting for the chance to be heard amongst the experienced" 

As defined by Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer (2008), a scope creep is any individual, whether clients or team members, who suggests additional aspects of a project, in an attempt to create a better end result as the project progresses. Not having played an official role in project management or instructional design has left me at a great disadvantage, and many of my experiences have occurred during group projects or random volunteer work at my place of employment. For this post, I will be basing my experience on a group project I was assigned to last year for an instructional design course I previously took.

For this particular assignment, the class was divided into groups to build a lesson plan based on the A.D.D.I.E. Model, and although each individual was assigned to a specific process, each week there would be a project leader responsible for compiling all of the work submitted and organizing the assignment to be submitted. My group particularly, was made up of five individuals who all had different experience levels in the field, but unfortunately two of those individuals dropped out leaving a strain and double assignments for the rest of the group.

Even though we were give a specific model to follow, there was a constant power struggle between the experienced, who wanted to format the project based on what they believed was right and the inexperienced, who wanted to adhere to the requirements and build the project based on what was outlined in the course instructions. Through each phase of the project, a scope creep issue that continuously occurred was the experienced IDers attempt to add more to the project that was initially agreed on. In one instance, although a specific topic was chosen for the overall project, as the team developed each stage of the A.D.D.I.E process, there was one particular team member who wanted to either add additional material for discussion or include design elements that would extend the project beyond the five weeks we had to develop it.

While it was understood and respected that the experienced IDers opinions were valued, the overwhelming wealth of information was making the process painstakingly difficult for the inexperienced IDers. At first, every time an additional concept was suggested, everyone in the group would have constant arguments about the “correct” way of completing each phase of the project with little resolution. There came a point where the project was not being completed in a timely manner because there was a breakdown in communication and rather than consult with each other on submissions, additions were included without prior approval or consult with other team members. At the time the project occurred, I believe that each individual was concerned with what they submitted rather than focusing on the project as a whole unit.

Managing a project comes with a lot of responsibility, and if not handled correctly, team members can feel dejected and the project may not be successful. With the knowledge I have gained from this course, I have realized how important effective communication is when combating a scope creep. Stolovitch (n.d.), acknowledged that the scope creep can potentially veer a project off track, however suggests communicating with the scope creep that while their additional input is valid, the add-ons would not fit that particular phase of the project and show a change in scope will affect the overall timeline of the project. Communicating long distance is already challenging, but with Stolovitch’s advise, if all team members would have set aside adequate time for communicating outside of submission days, I believe these issue would have been minimized.  Looking back, to properly manage the scope creep, I should have a detailed outline of why the suggestions would have been detrimental to the project and hosted a chat or Skype meeting with each team member present. 

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Project management concerns: ‘Scope creep’ [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., and Kramer, B. E. (2008). Tracking progress and maintaining control: Monitoring project performance and achieving desired results. In Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects (pp. 350). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources

 

One of the critical aspects that project managers face while completing the process of developing a project is the allocation of resources and estimating costs associated with the project. According to Stolovitch (n.d.), there are various factors that influence the overall budget of a project including: approvals, contingencies, necessary resources vs. add-ons, priorities, availability of funds, and time needed to complete the project.

Wrike Outcollaborate Blog
https://www.wrike.com/blog/

This blog hosts a wealth of articles geared towards everything project management. From discussions about dealing with difficult clients, providing several tips on how to address problematic clients, to creating successes out of failed projects, I found this blog as a useful tool to novice project managers. As a novice project manager myself, I was able to view opinions of how to effectively manage work spaces and reading insight on digital project management and how to successful fulfill  those roles and responsibilities in an online environment. The one thing that stood out on this site is that it provides several (free) books on everything project management that covers all aspects of the process. Wrike has also developed their own project management software for all sizes of business (categorized as business, enterprise, and professional), so that the software is tailored to each group regardless of size.

4PM
http://4pm.com/

4PM not only provides project management resources for a variety of disciplines, but also articles, exam preparation to become a Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM), and several videos on how to estimate project costs and duration. Boasting a list of well known clients, 4PM proved to be a one stop shop on everything project management. In addition to providing articles on estimating costs, those articles are supported by videos that gives further information than what the article presented. One interesting aspect of estimating that I discovered on this website is the process of providing a three point estimate rather than only providing one estimate of costs. According to the site, the benefits of providing a three point estimate include providing more accurate cost estimate, risk data that is not available with a singular estimate approach, and identifying risks associated with each tasks.

Reference:
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Creating a resource allocation plan [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Communicating Effectively

Receiving and disseminating information is part of our everyday lives, whether we know it or not, we are constantly engaged in some form of communication whether it is formal or informal. From listening to the morning newscast to listening to the radio on the way to work, the way the message is presented makes us either tune in or channel surf.

Email

When I first saw the email, it was standard bold text, but nothing stood out in the message to signify that it was of high importance. Jane acknowledges that Mark is busy, but when asking for an ETA on the missing report, she did not provide a deadline but instead left it up to Mark to “think” of a date and time to send the report.

Voicemail

Listening to the caller, I could tell by her tone that a task needed to be completed right away. As I continued to listen to the message I could hear the genuine concern and stress in her voice.

Face-to-face

As I watched the video for the face-to-face message, it was portrayed as a friendly reminder rather than a task that is needed to be done right away. For the content of the message, the actress was too lax in her delivery letting the receiver of the message think that they can still submit the e-mail on their own time.

Based on the context of the message, my contribution of the project is needed right way, the factors that influenced how I perceived this message would be based on tone, expressions used and the manner in which the message is written. Regardless of the medium use, the message must evoke authority while still being inviting to the recipient. A project manager cannot have a lax attitude of an important subject manager, yet they cannot be stern throughout the project as it can be a deterrent participants’ contributions to the project.

Surprisingly, the form of communication that best conveyed the true meaning and intent of the message was the voicemail. Before viewing the three modalities, I made the assumption that I would gravitate towards the face-to-face communication because that is my most preferred modality. However, as the voicemail began to play, the tone and pitches in the actor’s voice conveyed the urgency in which the task needs to be completed. Throughout the message, you can tell from the various stresses and pitches in the voice that if you did not forward the necessary documents, there will be dire consequences. 

After viewing this exercise, it drives home the point of how effective communication can either deter or encourage individuals to continuing participating in a project. Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer (2008), has stressed that for a project to be successful, one of the important keys for any project manager to have is effective communication. Knowing when, how and why communication is needed is necessary as it can be deciding factor on how well other participants respond to the cues you are providing during the project. If the face-to-face interaction was the only communication I had from this exercise, I would not have taken that assignment seriously as the manner of the actor was more relaxed and did not convey that the assignment was urgent. These exercises demonstrated that tone, writing style and attitude determine how the recipient perceives the message. As Stolovitch (n.d.) discussed, communication is not only words, we must seek to the best modality based on the content to ensure the intended message is received well.

References:

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., and Kramer, B. E. (2008). Communicating and documenting project progress: Reporting on and meeting about project status. In Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects (pp. 303). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Learning from a Project "Post-mortem"

      By no means am I professional in this field, however, when presented with any opportunity to enhance and gain experience in the instructional design field, I eagerly participate. About two years ago I worked for a small business that managed HVAC systems across the country, and the need was realized for the creation of an inter-departmental training manual to act as a cross training employee resource during the off-peak seasons. Not only did I have to create step-by-step processes for my department, but I also had to compile the processes from all other departments and format it into one complete document. The primary objective of this project was to make a reference manual that employees can consult in the event a key player or manager of another was indisposed during weekend work hours.

     Prior to the manual being created, once a new hire was assigned to a specific department, they were trained in that area only without knowing the jobs and responsibilities of any other department; despite this company being classified as a small business. The major issue this posed was if an individual was scheduled to work on either the weekend or after normal business hours (typically after 5 p.m.), if a maintenance emergency occurred; such as an indisposed contractor in a sparsely populated area, the individual on duty did not know how to search computer systems for alternatives or the procedures for hiring and approving rates for a temporary contractor.

      Because the owners of the company recognized a need for cross-training, especially during off-peak seasons, the initial project would entail the creation of a manual by the Vendor Management Department, followed by mini training sessions over a period of six months.  Being one of the main contract writers in the Vendor Management Department, myself along with five other employees were tasked with gathering information from the various departments, consulting with department leads on the accuracy of content gathered, and ensuring that all information was up-to-date and relevant with any system updates. While this was a very informal project that did not follow any standard processes, I believe I was chosen for this task because of my experience with creating and editing contracts that the company currently uses.

Successes

Establishment of a time line

      From the onset, all stakeholders involved agreed that the manual had to be completed within a certain time frame and the approval and upload of the manual into the company’s server has to launch after three weeks of starting the project. The established time line helped everyone stay on task and complete individual portions according to schedule. Each person was held accountable for their portion of the project and the component they had to complete. Because the time line was adhered to, it prompted the company’s owners to approve the final draft of the manual and make plans for the establishment of an instructor led cross-training course.

Failures

Lack of Team Formation and Role Assignments

      One of the major components that lacked in this project was the formation of a team and a creation of a task list. My mission was solely to compile a document within a time frame, in addition to performing my daily tasks associated with my position. Even though I had a supervisor assigned to complete the manual with me, we always butt heads because superficial design struggles rather than focusing on the content. The lack of a team also fueled individual competition which only added to the constant butting of heads that occurred frequently. Another component that contributed to the partial failure of this project was the lack of assigned roles. With no definitive roles for the project, the term “too many chiefs” applied throughout the project. With no specified leader, everyone saw themselves as the boss, and ultimately wanted their way to be the final say. The lack of role assignments often caused overlapping roles and often times double work being done.

      Portny et. al (2008), outlined five life cycle phases of a project: conceive, define, start, perform, and close of planning a project and to be honest only two of those phases were completed. Given the knowledge I know now, I believe if I had access to these resources, the project would have been more organized and completed without minor issues. The only thing that contributed to this project’s success was a collective determination to complete the document by the given deadline. If I could do it over again, each cycle of planning a project would be followed thoroughly employing all of the strategies suggested.

Reference:
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S, J., Meredith, J, R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., and Kramer, B. E. (2008). Planning projects: Preparing, executing, and completing successful projects. In Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects (pp. 76). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Welcome!!!

      After completing many semesters of MS in Instruction Design and Technology, I can do longer say that I am a newcomer to the field. Ever since I started my Associate's degree in Journalism and Communication, I have always been fascinated with how instructors do what they do to keep students engaged in learning. Although I continued and successfully completed a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communication, the desire to facilitate never wavered and I was able to earn a Master's in Adult Education.

      Throughout the years, I have always held some capacity in facilitating, whether it was mentoring new hires or developing a departmental guide. In an attempt to further my personal and professional development, I have embarked on this journey to not only expand my knowledge but to also foster a relationship with those in my field and use their experience as a guide in my own exploration.

      I am originally from Trinidad and Tobago, however, I currently reside in Little Rock Arkansas with my six-year-old daughter Ja'zara. I am currently employed at Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield as a Customer Service Representative for the Blue Advantage National Accounts. Outside of work, I occupy my time by participating in CrossFit activities, marathons, crafting wreaths and door hangers and also gift baskets for any occasion.

      I thank you for following me as I journey and share my thoughts for the duration of this course!!!