About the Contributors
Blog Contributors
At Maven Training we work as a team, not just as a group of individuals. This ethos goes to the heart of our beliefs – encouraging and motivating staff to generate ideas and then support them through to delivery is the secret of our success. This is why The Maven Training Blog will be written by all Maven Training staff – our directors, our trainers, our marketing, our sales and admin team, our accounts… everyone is welcome to drop a contribution!
Maven Trainers
Maven Training’s trainers are an enthusiastic, energetic and knowledgeable group, who all have ‘real world’ experience that they are very happy to share during the course, and which helps bring the course material to life. Knowing the importance of checking the delegates’ understanding as they learn, they welcome questions throughout the course. Here you will find the profile of some of them.
Melanie Franklin
Susan Stevens
Graham Devine
Darren Ley
Tiffany Childs
Narinder Dhaliwal
Melanie Franklin
CEO Maven Training Limited
“I am very proud of the business we have built throughout these years and I never get enough of telling this story. If you want to share the Maven Training experience with us (and I strongly recommend you do!), give us a call – we will be delighted to hear from you.”
Melanie has extensive experience in the areas of project, programme and change management. She developed her skills during her successful career in the Financial Services sector undertaking such roles as national coordinator for reorganisation of IT systems, European Manager for quality and process improvement projects and Global Programme Director for emergency planning for a global bank.
In 2001, Melanie channelled this knowledge and experience into the training arena, establishing Maven Training Limited which has developed into one of the leading accredited project & programme management training companies in the UK, providing open public and in-house bespoke training for clients from a wide range of industry sectors and government departments.
In addition to her role as Chief Executive, she has a full training and consultancy schedule that keeps her at the forefront of development within the management development sphere. Melanie provides coaching and mentoring to a number of high profile clients.
Melanie’s qualifications include; BA (Hons) Economics; Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers; Associate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing; PRINCE2 Practitioner; MSP Practitioner; Accredited PRINCE2, MSP and Change management Trainer, and she is currently completing a post graduate diploma in change management from the University of Birkbeck.
Melanie is a published author in the Project and Programme Management field having been commissioned by the OGC to write “Think MSP”, the accompanying book on Managing Successful Programmes, and the Focus Series “Team Management Skills”, “Communication Skills” and “Leadership Skills for Project and Programme Managers”, which she co-authored with our Project Management Lead Course Developer and trainer Susan Tuttle and were launched by the OGC at the Best Practice Showcase in London in June 2008.
Susan Stevens
Lead Trainer
“Sharing experiences is the best way to learn”
Susan’s role as Lead Trainer for Maven Training means that she is involved in classroom training as well as on course development and monitoring and hiring new trainers. She is also a published author and wrote The Focus on Skills Series along with our CEO Melanie Franklin.
Susan develops courses for clients such as OgilvyOne, Hackney Council, the Financial Services Authority and the Security Industry Authority. “Although clients operate in different sectors, they can face very similar issues. For example many clients need help with leadership issues, working effectively in teams, and influencing stakeholders.”
One of the most interesting aspects of project management, Susan says, is the dynamic of having to influence people who do not report directly to you. “Getting people to make the work you need done a priority is challenging when they have other things to do. Our courses can help people understand what motivates individuals.”
Susan believes it’s essential for senior managers to understand what project management is. “They need to understand what the role of the project manager is otherwise they tend to have wild expectations about what’s possible. It’s also really important that they encourage people to tell them bad news – you can’t manage secrets.”
Susan is from California and travelled extensively as a child and young woman, finally settling in the UK. Her project management experience began when she worked on Y2K compliance projects at Wells Fargo, one of North America’s largest financial institutions. After that she moved to an Internet consulting firm based in San Francisco. When the internet bubble burst she took a Masters degree in Training and Development.
Despite working on projects for some years, Susan did not hear about PRINCE2 until she reached British shores. She didn’t find this a problem, however, and advises people trained in other methods not to be put off. “Variances in different project management methods are minor – all that really matters is consistency of approach,” she says
Susan says that training has always been her real love. “I really enjoy listening to the delegates, hearing their stories and sharing pearls of wisdom that I hear. It’s the shared experiences that really bring the methods to life and helps people understand how something could work for them.”
As well as her training activities Susan is working on developing courses in Change Management and Leadership. She is working with Graham Shreeve on delivering more APM Courses. In June 2008, Susan passed the APMG’s new Programme and Project Sponsorship examination with a very high score, enabling her to become a trainer for the new qualification. She is also planning to become an MSP trainer later in 2008.
Susan’s books – Leadership Skills for Programme & Project Managers, Communication Skills for Programme & Project Managers and Team Management Skills for Programme & Project Managers - are available online from the Maven Training Bookshop.
Graham Devine
Project Management Trainer / Lead Trainer PRINCE2
“The most important qualities a project manager needs are to be open and honest”
Graham Devine left school and headed straight for a job with British Airways. Securing a place on their prestigious ‘General Trainee’ scheme he spent 2 years being immersed in a huge range of operational areas of commercial aviation backed up by blocks of higher education. “I was looking for a wide and varied career in aviation but the airline shed thousands of jobs at the end of my programme, so I decided to move on.”
With an aptitude for computing he started working in the national Academic Computing Service of the Open University. As part of an internal IT Support team, he enjoyed the role because there were no formal regulations and he was free to “just get involved”. He soon realised the most important part of his job wasn’t actually the technical role – it was the ability to communicate.
This ability landed him a job at Hertz Leasing where he worked for fifteen years, weathering the company’s change of ownership no less than three times. He was responsible for making sure internal procedures were deployed when the organisation was bought by Ford Motor Co. “Everyone had different views on control – coming from a fairly small organisation to an international corporation was a steep cultural hill we had to climb.”
Graham remembers that although there were plenty of IT hurdles to overcome, it was of course the people who represented the greatest challenges. “For example,” he says, ”When setting up new security access procedures for users we had to explain to department heads that they had the responsibility for granting and removing access for their staff, not the IT department. We had to empower the users and this involved a lot of structured and unstructured communication, influence and negotiation.”
It is this ability to influence others that Graham believes is so important in project management. “You need to be flexible and appropriate,” he says. “Formal reporting is fine but you need to know your audience and have a good sense of time and purpose. If you’ve got a problem it’s not enough to fill in the form and hope it will get noticed. You need to get out of your seat and go and find answers – get help.”
Graham also thinks that self organisation and humility are key qualities of successful project managers. “It helps if you’re organised but you also need to be human with the people you work with. It’s no good relying on your job title; you need to be an open, honest and available person. If you don’t know how to resolve a problem, it’s important to let the right people know and to be able to take steps to get round it.”
Now working as a full time trainer for Maven, Graham has worked for other ATOs but believes the quality of Maven’s training materials, service offering and ‘team’ culture are superior.
He enjoys sharing his knowledge of PRINCE2 with candidates. “As a best practice framework, PRINCE2 is a great method to use regardless of which industry you are working in,” he says. “Although it may not be perfect, anything that the organisation can use consistently will have enormous benefit.”
Darren Ley
Project Management Trainer / Lead Trainer PRINCE2
Darren is a highly professional individual with extensive experience in the provision of Project Management training solutions, including delivery of PRINCE2 and APMP qualification courses. His client list has included a mix of well known public and private sector organisations such as Easynet, UKAEA, The Charity Commission, T-Mobile, Campbells Grocery Products, Smith & Nephew Pharmaceuticals and MBDA
The Training solutions he provides often include the use of accelerated learning techniques to create an interesting / fun environment in which to learn. This offers an alternative to traditional ‘chalk and talk’ methods, enhancing the learning experience leading to more effective results and consistently high pass rates on accredited courses.
Darren adopts a friendly ‘non prescriptive’ style of training wherever possible as he believes that a key source of learning comes from the interaction of the group members using their own work based scenarios and experience to add value to the training, while at the same time drawing on his own experience in research and development and the creation and running of a project support office for a major defence contractor.
Tiffany Childs
In-house trainer
With over 7 years experience in project management, Tiffany brings with her skills gained from implementation of numerous high profile projects in a broad range of industries, predominately health. During her career Tiffany has worked in service, project or policy management roles for three of the top 10 Australian private health insurers. After moving to the UK Tiffany strengthened her health and project management knowledge by undertaking key roles at the General Medical Council, the UK regulator of doctors. Through these roles Tiffany developed a sound understanding of the NHS and private health providers in the UK.
Tiffany is a compelling communicator and facilitator with experience that includes training and presenting to a wide range of audiences on technical and non technical subjects. Now working for Maven Training, Tiffany is combining her training and project management background, focussing her efforts on the delivery of PRINCE2 courses.
Narinder Dhaliwal
Associate Trainer
Narinder says the benefits of PRINCE2 go far beyond what it achieves for the organisations that implement it. “PRINCE2 can have a profound effect on the professional and personal lives of the people who use it,” she says, “because almost anything can be viewed as a project – from installing a new kitchen to planning a wedding, and PRINCE2 makes achieving a successful outcome so much easier.”
She remembers how, during her early career at DHL, her first project role was supremely challenging because there was no formal methodology in place to manage it. “Not using P2 in my first project meant we didn’t achieve all that we wanted to. While it doesn’t resolve all your problems, PRINCE2 definitely helps by providing focus. Although all projects will eventually get to their end result, you can get there the easy way or the hard way.”
Narinder has seen a huge rise in the demand for PRINCE2 qualified professionals. “There is an enormous demand for PRINCE2 and getting the qualification means it can go on your CV straight away.” She advises her delegates that using the method is what really matters, and they should focus on the benefits it will give them personally, not just on what it will do for the organisations they work for.
“Some people have a problem with motivation, especially if their organisation has sent them on the course without them having any particular desire of their own to do it,” Narinder says. In recent months she’s been working with a County Council going through major change and motivation is a big problem. ”When delegates realise that PRINCE2 will make a difference to them personally, they become much more animated about learning the method.”
Narinder sees many different kinds of people on the courses she runs. “Doing a PRINCE2 course is a great way of networking as delegates meet people from many different organisations and roles. I always encourage them to talk to each other as they never know when their paths will cross again.”
Many delegates worry about the examinations, especially if they have not done any training or exams in a long time. “People who haven’t done an exam in a long time can struggle,” she says. “They need to sit down, read and think through what the question is asking of them. They’ve got to think about what they are trying to learn. The more time and effort they put in the better they will be.”
“There are some skills which are essential if delegates want to succeed as project managers”, she believes. “They should be good at planning, be able to delegate and negotiate with other people. Communication is important. These are all things you can watch and learn if you are observant.”
The key skill is being able to plan your time and workload, Narinder says. “When things don’t go to plan you need to be able to take a step back and see what is going wrong. Good problem solving skills are important but if you can’t plan even more things will go wrong.”
Finally, Narinder advises delegates to remember that the project manager is not working in isolation. “Projects are about team work. People on the team will have essential skills that the project manager must engage so the team works effectively. The team must be fully involved in the project and they need to understand what the aim of the project is and how they will contribute to achieving that end.”
