September 2005 ISSUE
PD SPOTLIGHT
we are listening
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BY NANCY TOTH, MA
Manager of Professional Development
Did you receive an APEGGA survey in March? Well, 3,000 randomly selected professional members of APEGGA did. The survey was a needs assessment for professional development.
We asked you many questions about PD — mainly, what kind of soft skills training you want. Since one or two options for technical training are usually available at the Annual Conference, we asked for input in that category as well — although APEGGA’s mandate is primarily to offer soft skills training as many options for technical training are available elsewhere.
You named many, many subjects. Chief among the soft skills named were
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Financial
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General Management
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Business
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Development/Small Business/Entrepreneurship
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Communication
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Human Resources
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Project Management
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Leadership.
Also mentioned were report writing, negotiating, ethical and legal issues, creativity and environmental issues. Topics always surfacing as important have to do with teams and teamwork, coaching and empowering, all of which are subsets of leadership.
Under various headings, respondents identified their need for people skills, conflict resolution skills, understanding human behaviour and surviving workplace stress.
Over the last two years we have offered seminars on several aspects of leadership, basic financial skills for non-financial mangers, and general management skills, such as negotiating. Recent seminars given in the fall and at the Annual Conference in April have included sessions on creativity, with dozens of techniques for use in the workplace.
There have been frequent opportunities for learning about project management, ethical and legal matters, environmental issues and several approaches to stress management.
Fall PD Days in September will offer seminars in
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Developing and Growing Your Own Business
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Empowering and Coaching for High Performance
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Front-end Planning for Small and Medium-Sized Projects
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Optimizing Human Resources Management
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Mental Toughness.
Register immediately for the Sept. 12 sessions in Calgary and check the early bird deadlines for Edmonton seminars Oct 3.
November PD Day (Nov. 28 in Calgary and Dec. 1 in Edmonton) will offer seminars in
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Intermediate-Level Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers
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Technical Reports that Work
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Beyond the Basics: Making Communication Work Effectively in Business.
Other seminars remain to be confirmed.
This month and in November we are targeting seminars in your areas of interest.
Visit www.apega.ca and go to Professional Development. Join fellow members
in these learning opportunities.