Essex Fire’s IT Training department was just too busy to cope with the huge task of teaching Microsoft Office skills to 250+ support staff working from control, training, workshop and service locations. Objective was chosen to carry out the skills training programme due to their excellent track record in IT training and a long standing relationship with Essex Fire.
Phase 1 – The Pilot
Objective conducted a pilot for the 30+ staff based locally in the training department. This Pilot was used for the design and proof of the concept phase before full implementation.
Flexibility was key to fit in with staff work patterns and commitments. Phase 1 comprised of the following steps:
· Awareness Training - ½ day training for groups of 6-10 in a seminar-style environment at Objective’s head office. Seminar notes and reference materials were provided and questions encouraged.
· Installation & Upgrade – this was undertaken in conjunction with the Awareness Training, which meant that staff could return from the awareness session and immediately practise their new found Microsoft Office skills.
· One-to-One Training – within 1-2 days of the awareness training Objective visited the session group spending around ½ - 1 hour training one-to-one at their desktop. This had the advantage of giving very personalised and relevant training to each individual with a view to maximising efficiency and offered the added advantage of identifying any immediate training needs, for example basic excel training or introducing pivot tables.
· Microsoft Outlook Set-up – relevant Outlook training, auto-archiving and shared calendars were set up during the one-to-one sessions.
· Support Line – Objective established an IT help line to support all staff during the learning process.
Phase 2 – Roll Out to Other Locations
Objective then delivered Phase 2 to over 200 staff based at the numerous Essex Fire service locations throughout Essex.
This Phase took around six months to complete. The key factor during the roll out was to be as flexible as possible; accommodating last minute changes in staff work requirements whilst ensuring every staff member received the training their job required. For example when some staff were unable to attend the awareness training sessions, more detailed one-to-one sessions were carried out.