Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2017 - 9

GUEST EDITOR
BY MICHELLE KOHN, CPTM

DRIVING BUSINESS
GROWTH THROUGH
INTERNAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

Working for a global organization
oftentimes
means
working
on
projects with people from around the
globe who have very different skill
sets and backgrounds. In this dispersed
environment, it is imperative that
learning and development (L&D)
be strategically aligned with business
goals to ensure consistency across
the organization.
At Arup - an independent firm of
designers, planners, engineers, consultants
and technical specialists, working across
every aspect of today's built environment
- we employ more than 13,000 people in
more than 35 countries.
Managing
large
multi-disciplinary
projects is one of the key skills that sets
us apart from many of our competitors.
After identifying this skill as essential
for select team members to have, our
L&D department created an internal

USING REAL-LIFE
EXAMPLES HAS
BROUGHT THE
PROGRAM TO LIFE.
certification program for project
managers, with the goal of ensuring that
no matter where the employee is located
(in a large or small office), they will
receive a consistent training experience.
But having a small L&D team meant we
lacked the ability to deliver this program
on an ongoing and consistent basis. Our
solution was to partner with senior staff

in the initial design and delivery of the
program. Here are a few areas that our
team focused on during development.
Stakeholder Analysis
We first interviewed senior staff in both
large and small offices to determine
what skills were necessary for someone
to be successful in this role. The L&D
team then designed an initial outline of
nine core courses and four optional ones
covering project management, finance,
legal, technical and people skills based
on those interviews. We then vetted this
list with a team of senior engineers from
across the region to ensure we would be
meeting their needs.
Subject Matter Experts
We then assigned subject matter experts
to each topic to work with a designer to
create the courses using a combination
of in-person and e-learning modules,
depending on the topic. We also created
a learning path for these modules,
allowing learners to take different
courses at different points in their career
so they can continue to learn and grow
as their career progresses. Courses are
delivered in-person by a senior engineer
in the office, and once a quarter we do
train-the-trainer classes in each office
to get facilitators comfortable with the
topic and presenting.
Certification
The final step to becoming internally
certified as a project manager is
an interview with a panel of senior
principals in their local office. A series of
scenario-based questions were created

for the senior team to ask, along with a
ranking matrix for them to use to score
the answers. This format ensures that
we are giving learners the opportunity
to demonstrate that they have the skills
required to apply the learning to realworld examples.
OUTCOMES
The certification program has been
extremely successful due to the
amount of buy-in from senior staff. By
having them involved in designing the
curriculum as well as facilitating, we
now have a direct loop to when things
in the business change and courses
need to be updated. Using real-life
examples has brought the program to
life and allows us to keep it specific to
our company and our culture. By having
senior leaders teach, they are able to
share their experiences with junior staff
and end up unofficially mentoring many
of the people who take their course. It's
been a great partnership between the
business and L&D to create a custom
program that addresses a critical
business need and has resulted in a
stronger more robust pool of project
managers, which is critical to helping
grow our business.
Michelle Kohn, CPTM, is the head of learning
and development for the Americas region at
Arup. She has experience driving all facets
of the talent process: leveraging succession
planning, identifying high potential talent
and talent mapping for key strategic
roles in global matrixed environments.
Email Michelle.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT 20 1 7 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2017

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_fall2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_summer2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_spring2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_winter2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20210102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20201112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20200102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20191112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20190102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20181112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20180102
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20171112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170506
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20170304
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20171112_se
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_20161112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016sales
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015outsourcing
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015leadership
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2015winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2014winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2013winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2012winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2011winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2010winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2009winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/trainingindustry/tiq_2008spring
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