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By Barbee Davis, MA, PHR, PMP The training budgets in my organization have been seriously cut. Are there any clever ways I can get training for me and my team?
Answer: A. Decide why you want training to help yourself find a creative way to get it. In tight economic times, training budgets are often a casualty. To find creative ways to locate educational opportunities, it is important to consider why you want the training. If you simply want a free trip away from work to a glamorous location, you’re probably out of luck. However, possibilities to enrich your knowledge still exist. Current Project Skills – For vital skills to complete an upcoming project, build the training into the project budget. Even thought training dollars are tight, sometimes they can be justified to learn a new piece of equipment or software package, or to acquire a certification requirement the customer demands. Another option is to build team education into the vendor specification requirements when making procurement choices among third party products or services. Personal and Team Growth – Speakers for local conferences or members of user groups for Microsoft Project® and Java may be willing to speak at your event for little or no charge, especially if you can fit within their original travel plans. You can also contact your nearest PMI chapters to see if a fellow PMI member can share their knowledge and/or be a speaker. Check the websites of publishers who specialize in your industry, too. They frequently offer webcasts from writers releasing new books, and keep libraries of past topics that you can access for free. See if you can join with clients or third-party vendors to meet training class minimums and share the lower costs. If you can’t afford live, instructor-led training, would your organization pay for a few books to add to a team library? If not, find a group of knowledge-thirsty individuals to each contribute a few dollars and buy a book to pass around. Professional Development Units (PDUs) – To get PDUs and maintain your PMI credentials, look to local chapter meetings and professional development events. Would your organization pay for you to go if you held training for the team afterwards? Would they pay half? Even if you pay the cost yourself, it will probably be a more reasonable amount than you could find elsewhere. Consider the new PMI Publication Quizzes at PMI.org. You study PMI articles and take a quiz to earn category 3 PDUs for about US$15 each. Also, you can check project management-focused books and other materials out of the library and use them for self-directed learning PDU credit. Career Advancement – If you need to upgrade your skills for promotional opportunities, ask your human resources department if you have an employee tuition reimbursement plan. It may pay 100% of the training expenses, or the percentage you get back may be tied to your grade. If all else fails, barter a skill at which you excel for evening tutorials from a colleague or business associate. Regardless of where you acquire new skills, be sure to let your manager know. Spread your knowledge through lunch-and-learn sessions, offer to hold training classes for your team and other departments, and speak to management groups about new ideas that can help your organization. Share what you learn and you may be given other chances to train, even when budgets are tight.
Her new book, “97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know,” includes practical tips from experienced project managers around the world. Go to O’Reilly Media for a free webcast on September 30, 2009. Ms. Davis is available for speaking engagements and encourages your questions or comments. |
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Barbee Davis, MA, PHR, PMP, is a reviewer for the global PMI Registered Education Provider Review Team. She owns Davis Consulting and is a published author, speaker, writer of training materials and an innovator in presentation skill workshops for corporate trainers. She holds a Black Belt in MS Project and teaches at the university level. | Home BACK TO TOP
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