This project involved several stages. In three months, a new SVP of Human Resources needed to propose a budget for the training global training department. Problem was there was no global department yet. No previous budget to build off of, no infrastructure in place. Add to this that he had not personally managed a training function and he knew he needed help.
I was hired first to work with the SVP and several of her training employees to help her understand the current state of training and thus their options. We did this at a professional conference in Florida and in a follow up meeting. I outlined the needs of an overall learning infrastructure (see image 1) and assisted them in directing their focus at the conference. This stage was critical in building the trust I needed the team to have in my knowledge and skill as the project hit the later stages.
The second phase was the initial segment of the needs assessment which doubled as a determination of the scope of work for the remainder of the project. I worked with the SVP to determine the key stakeholders and who would be available to assist with the work from needs assessment through final budget. The challenge was going to be to get four separate groups to work together in a short period of time. All giving up resources for the common good.
Image 2 shows the work that was completed to come to a global training strategy for SGC and the resulting budget requestion for 2006. I utilized the needs assessment to demonstrate that a global solution was not only a good idea, but necessary to acheive the goals both of the company and the individual groups. The plan called for a Director of Training to run an oversite group of semi-independent functional training groups.
The lack of resources made budgeting and strategic planning tricky but because of what I assured the team saw and played with at the conference and a cooperative IT group, we were able to plan a strategy that called for use of podcasts, wikis and the corporate portal to build momentum for learning while the appropriate LMS was found and tested for implementation.
Image 3 shows the infrastructure as it was presented to the corporate planning committee in a Powerpoint presentation. The SVP won approval for the budget and has training program that is moving forward with their LMS implementation having earn some early wins with podcasts and portal solutions. CLICK HERE TO CLOSE
