Explosive Learning Solutions
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Thursday, 20 June 2013
ELS at VSC today - Resettlement Event!
ELS are at VSC today!
British Forces Resettlement Service Event
Come on down and see what we can offer you as you consider your move into the civilian employment market!
We can also hold your security clearances, a very valuable asset which is often over looked by personnel leaving the Armed Forces.
Friday, 14 June 2013
FACILITATION COURSE 10 - 12 June 2013 by Lucy Saunders
So
there I was nearly at the end of my terminal leave and edging rapidly closer to
my Discharge date and I heard about the APMG International's Facilitation Course
via the company Explosive Learning Solutions on Twitter - There were some last
minute places going on the course and was I interested? My first thought was - 3 day course, decent
price and another qualification to add to the CV...I was sold!
Then
a few days later whilst I was tootling down the M1 to Oxford I started to
actually think about what I was going to be doing? What was a Facilitator? What exactly was I going to be learning? I thought about what Facilitation meant to
me...To facilitate meant to enable something, to aid where possible and support
something to happen. Mmmmm, I worked in
a customer facing role, I did that all the time right?!?!
Monday
morning came and I arrived at ELS HQ. The building is modern with great
facilities and is ideally located at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus just
off the A34. I settled into the classroom
of 6 students and we started our introductions.
I was pleased to find that there was a good mix of ex-Military and
Civilian personnel on the course and also on the ELS team. I felt instantly relaxed and knew the outcome
of the 3 days would be extremely positive.
As
it turned out this was the first EVER Facilitators Course to be run...in the
entire world!! I was excited...So, I
wondered, what was it all about? After a
post introduction cuppa we then got down to our learning and over the next 2
and a half days we covered a vast amount of information from the text books we
were provided. There was an excellent
mix of presentations, discussions and exercises with regular breaks for
refreshments. A fantastic lunch was also
provided daily. Without giving too much
away of the course material it is all about the thinking behind being a
facilitator, the different models, tools and techniques that a facilitator can
employ when assisting a CEO/MD/Manager with a Meeting, Event or Workshop. The emphasis on the course is all about
Process or 'Green Thinking' and getting to the bottom of that 'wicked problem'. The course also covered a lot of other things
that can be applied in other forms of life, be it professional or personal,
such as identifying Conflict and the Management of Conflict, Personality
Profiling and how to be a good Active Listener.
It was all interesting stuff!
Before I knew it Wednesday afternoon was upon us and it was exam time - 50 multiple choice questions to be answered in 40 minutes....Exam done and after an agonising wait whilst our instructor marked the papers we were called back into the classroom and all informed that we had passed. We were 6 newly qualified Facilitators armed with a fundamental knowledge of facilitation, we were all ecstatic.
For
me this course was so intense and so very different to any other course I have
ever been on in my life, there was so much information to take on board and the
civilian terminology made it all the more difficult BUT I had passed, I had
done it! I had passed the most challenging
qualification I had embarked on during my whole life and it made me feel so
proud of myself, not only that but it gave me an increased level of belief in
myself and gave me a renewed level of optimism that now anything was really
possible. I had met some great people
and worked with a great company, I would thoroughly recommend Explosive
Learning Solutions to anyone whether you are a Service Leaver embarking on a
new career or whether you are just looking to do some professional development.
I'm
already looking forward to booking my next course!!
Our
next Facilitation Course is running the 2nd – 4th September!
Before I knew it Wednesday afternoon was upon us and it was exam time - 50 multiple choice questions to be answered in 40 minutes....Exam done and after an agonising wait whilst our instructor marked the papers we were called back into the classroom and all informed that we had passed. We were 6 newly qualified Facilitators armed with a fundamental knowledge of facilitation, we were all ecstatic.
Guest
Blogger
Lucy
Saunders
For Lucy's personal blog: wp.me/p3pMeQ-1X
Our
next Facilitation Course is running the 2nd – 4th September!
Monday, 3 June 2013
LinkedIn Contacts by Mary Thomas
I was excited to be given the new LinkedIn Contacts functionality at the end of last week. I talked about this in my last post on LinkedIn Changes. You can sign up for the functionality at http://contacts.linkedin.com./ I love the new functionality – though I can see room for improvement – which no doubt will happen as LinkedIn gets feedback.
When you sign up for the module, you can link to your email system – though it will work without this. I am using Google apps for my email (with an Outlook front end), so it was a simple case of linking through Gmail. This brought into LinkedIn any notes that I made against a contact in my email system and imported the latest email messages I have exchanged with a contact.
Now when I click on a contact, I can see an additional box.
CIicking on Contacts > Connections from the Main Menu,allows me to click on Today on the left hand side.
This shows me which of my contacts have a new position or a birthday today and allows me to send them a message directly from within LinkedIn. A default message does come up but you can personalise it as you wish. Just be careful, at the moment, if you send a message, the box doesn’t go away so you could accidentally send the message twice! The message isn’t yet displayed as part of the information about the contact either which is also an error in my opinion.
Clicking on the calendar button on the right, will show me my calendar from my email system. Remember my email and calendar is part of Google apps so actually this is showing me my calendar from Google.
Looking at the list of contacts directly below ‘Today’, I can sort my contacts by recent conversation, newly added, alphabetical, location or interestingly ‘lost contact’. LinkedIn gives you a list of when it thinks you last contacted certain people. A great way of deciding whether to send a message to get back in touch or to remove from your connections list.
Just a note – you can no longer send a message to a group of contacts – probably because too many people were using this for blanket spamming.
The functionality will be available in mobile devices too – though at the moment it is not available in the UK app stores.
I do have concerns about security and the lack of backup of the notes and so will be careful what I store within LinkedIn, but in general, I can see that I will make use of this new functionality to form better relationships with my LinkedIn contacts – and of course that is what LinkedIn is all about.
Have you got this new functionality yet? What do you think?
Guest Blogger
Mary Thomas
mary@concisetraining.net
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
PMP - The Impact on Project Management Field
Project
managers on PMP courses find that the PMP Certification and training involved
has created an essential and required certification which helps their career
growth in the field of managing projects.
With
the PMP Certification and training it is possible to create a professional Project
Manager that is able to deliver a project in a cost effective way and within
the time given.
Completion
of the PMP course with the certification allows the candidate to enter as
professional project managers into the industry.
The
eligibility criteria of a PMP Certification –
To
attain the PMP certification there is a PMP course; which includes
participation in the PMP training meetings and to pass the PMP certification
exam.
Those
that hold a High School Diploma or another equivalent degree that is
acknowledged word wide will need to have had a minimum of 60 months experience
in task management which has been achieved to a professional standard. They
would also need 7,500 hours in directing and leading various administration
assignments and projects and 35 contact hours is also required as essential
learning. This criteria is required in able to undergo the PMP training and the
PMP Certification written test.
PMP
Certification occurs after the PMP training due to this being a target for
development, recruitment and training for project management staff so that the
company is able to evaluate and access the standard of performance.
What
the PMP Certification can do –
The
PMP course provides a certification that they are able to put on their CV
showing the importance of the qualification which will be acknowledged by the
processor of a professional task of administration.
It
will supply the candidate involved within the PMP certification method and
complete the PMP course and training with specific skill that will help and
encourage a desired career in the project management platform.
PMP
– Project Management
The
PMP certification is a respected and well known worldwide credential, which can
be obtained with revision and knowledge of the PMP course and training.
Globally there are a huge number of project management institutions opening and
this is offering loads of golden opportunities. PMP certifications not only
support the candidate getting into a project administration platform but also
help raise the worth of their curriculum vitae.
PMP training has given the holders of the certification a furthermore boost
of them being able to do other work such as optimizing capital, calculating
unquestionable budgets which they need to execute project designs.
The
arrival of the PMP certification has caused a rise for the PMP course in the
field of the project management program. Due to the certification a Project
Manager can be cost effective and deliver a project within a time limit.
A
PMP Certification shows that the holder is well experienced in handling
projects efficiently and effectively and acquires the professional knowledge to
please the needs of stake holders and customers.
HR and the Army by Lucy Saunders
I have worked in the Military as what they call a HR Administrator for approx. 10 years and I have recently taken the plunge and left a very well paid, stable job in the Army. I have gone over to the Dark Side, joined the ranks of Civvy Street! This sounds crazy given our current economic climate but believe me there are very good reasons….
Anyhow, the reason for this blog is to publicise my recent findings. I always kind of thought that my Military HR/Admin experience wouldn’t really stand me in good stead on ‘the outside’, this was then confirmed when I read on lots of Groups on Linked In etc that the kind of work we did in the Army was no use to man nor beast once you left.
So, scared out of my wits with this information I have embarked on my Work Placement with a NHS Medical Staffing Dept with some reticence. However, I am now 3 days into my Placement and I am by far no means saying I know everything about civilian HR because I don’t BUT what I do know is I have oodles of transferable skills, a vast and in depth knowledge about lots of different areas of HR and also that things aren’t that different away from the Army! *Lets out big sigh of relief!*
I have also in this 3 day period re-proved to myself that I am a hard worker, I’m adaptable, I’m robust, I’m intelligent and possibly most importantly to me – I am a nice person who people enjoy being around.
All I can say is…….Roll on the next five and a half weeks!!
Guest Blog
Lucy Saunders (@Career_Woman)
For Lucy's personal blog: wp.me/p3pMeQ-1X
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