Takeaway: There’s
little doubt that today’s IT pros need ongoing training to keep up with
rapidly developing technologies. But how can IT managers make that
happen?
The growth of big data, cloud computing, and
other new IT initiatives are prompting IT to either redevelop old talent
or to find new blood. When you spend most of your time meeting project
schedules and delivering technology solutions to the organization, how
do you also ensure that your staff continues to grow with your
technology?
Here are 10 things every IT leader can do to ensure a robust and well-trained staff.
1: Include training in the IT strategic plan
Few IT strategic plans include training. What these plans should
address (along with the other elements of IT) is which technologies are
most likely to come onboard over the next five years and how well IT is
educated to deal with these technologies. The gaps in education should
be identified, and there should a strategic plan that determines whether
corporate IT direction will be to acquire the knowledge or to outsource
for it. Some would argue that these items should be in the operational
budget only, but I say no. Unless topmost management has visibility of
the IT skills gaps and how that could affect the business, IT is going
to lose its training argument on the budget cutting floor.
2: Budget for training
I am constantly amazed at how many IT managers fail to set aside
dollars for training. IT is changing so rapidly that there is no way
everyone can keep up from year to year. Training should be in every IT
operational budget every year — without exception.
3: Patch training into actual project objectives
You never want to invest in training that will be underutilized. This
makes it imperative to schedule training close to the start of projects
that will incorporate the skills learned. Trained graduates can then
put their newly developed skills to work right away. The payoff is a
maturation of training (through actual work) into viable skill sets for
future projects.
4: Use mentors
Classroom training needs to be applied in practice as soon as
possible. One way IT departments do this is by assigning a senior
on-staff mentor to each trainee. That way, the trainee has someone to go
to when he or she works on problems or has questions. Developing these
mentor-student teams also builds healthy relationships in IT.
5: Include training in annual personal objectives
Training is everybody’s business — the IT executive, who is
responsible for the skill sets in his area, the IT managers who run and
staff the projects, and staff members, who should be focused on what
they need to learn to improve what they do. IT departments with strong
training programs require staff members to sit down with supervisors and
write up annual training objectives (and how they will attain them).
6: Negotiate for free training from vendors
Training is expensive, and vendors want your business. One way to
optimize IT training dollars is to ink contracts with vendors that also
include free training. Many companies focus on just the introductory
training that is part of the implementation of the vendor’s solution.
Savvy IT managers negotiate with vendors for longer-term training
timeframes that take IT staff to intermediate and advanced knowledge
levels of the vendors’ solutions.
7: Include a payback option for company-paid training
There will always be some specialized IT training you will need to
buy when you invest into the individual skill sets of your staff. Most
likely, the same training is also in demand in other companies. A
complaint I frequently hear from IT managers is that they invest in a
highly specialized and expensive training certification for an
individual, only to see the individual obtain the cert and leave for
another company. It’s a free workplace, and you can’t control others’
individual career choices-but you can initiate a training
payback plan, where employees sign an agreement, before taking the
training, to reimburse the company for its training investment if they
leave less than one year after obtaining the training.
8: Don’t forget your older employees
Because there is such pressure to get new hires trained in IT so they
can be productive, there is a tendency in many IT departments to slack
off on training existing employees who already have proven their worth
and their loyalty. These employees are proven quantities. Why not give
them a shot at learning something new that not only enriches their
skills, but delivers great value?
9: Establish an in-house “university”
Many IT departments coordinate in-house training through their HR
departments. This is how it works: On your company Intranet, you develop
an online portal that allows each employee to manage his or her
training. Employees can enter training requests (which supervisors must
approve) and track the courses they have already taken. Very
sophisticated in-house training systems even allow employees to type in
the job they would like to go for and then return the requisites skills
needed for that job — along with which courses the employee must take to
acquire the needed expertise.
10: Develop training exchanges with end user departments
IT’ers are usually long on technical skills, but short on knowledge
of the end business. For end users, the opposite situation holds: They
know the end business, but are short on technology know-how. Everyone
stands to profit in a cooperative venture between IT and an end user
department, with the exchange being end business training for technology
training. Sometimes a few brown bag lunches with internal speakers and
some live Q&A are enough to get the job done. The exercise also
develops great relationships between end business users and IT.
"Remember Me When You Raise Your Hand For Dua"
Raheel Ahmed Khan
System Engineer
send2raheel@yahoo.com
send2raheel@engineer.com
sirraheel@gmail.com
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My Blog Spot
http://raheel-mydreamz.blogspot.com/
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