How to manage the extra work related to training (pre-work, project, etc.)
And also, respect the commitments of your daily work? How do you ensure you get the right kind of help/support from your supervisors and team members? Most professionals who wish to develop their domain, functional, or leadership skills are busy professionals with their day-to-day work responsibilities and caring for others. How to find a balance between training needs and their other professional obligations. We asked the same question to some of our students from various industries and at different levels of management. Below are some ideas shared by them:
Prioritization is key
It was indeed a challenge to balance project work and day-to-day tasks; However, I was able to manage the workload with prioritization and good time management. During the project work, I received professional guidance from senior leaders and my manager as well. Some of the tasks needed to be prioritized and my manager enabled it. I couldn’t attend all of the calls due to conflicting priorities, but I made sure to attend most of them.
Manager support is essential
The main challenge for me was to balance the daily work and the expectations of the project. It was manageable and supported by my manager and the team. It was really a great challenge for me because during this year we worked on 2 projects and had to devote time to e-learning. My daily work has changed over time. Every other day I had to stay in the office for at least 2 more hours. Working on a project for long hours. My manager supported me, but I still had to produce results.
Family support
This was one of the most difficult parts of the Program. The work related to TECHNOFUNC was mainly carried out outside office hours due to the heavy workload related to my professional activities. I received great support from the home business functions who were involved in the 1st or 2nd learning projects. Working on assignments was a great pleasure despite long hours. I tried to organize my time and prioritize tasks differently in order to cope with training needs and day-to-day tasks. The preparation for the training, which also included pre-work, didn’t take me long but I think I didn’t spend more time learning. I definitely find it very useful but unfortunately involves a lot of time. My manager respects the time I spend on training and he tries not to bother me and does not pass on assignments. I appreciate that. Therefore, during the training weeks, I was able to focus only on training.
Regarding the 1st course I took at technofunc, it was treated as part of my daily duties and was therefore easily manageable in terms of time. If we talk about pre-work and the 2nd international project, I think it’s always a question of being well organized. There were various challenges we encountered (once running the projects) like variable schedules etc. forcing us to work harder and longer, but we saw a common goal and continued to support and motivate each other. Moreover, we were also aware that the training and the preparatory work would help us to be more effective at work later and that it would pay off in the future. My team and my manager have supported me along the way – I can delegate some of my daily work to my colleagues, my boss gave me more time for standard tasks when I needed it. I happily accepted the e-learning courses because I had more time to understand new topics, acquire new special words in that topic, and have the chance to chat with an expert before our training. In my opinion, before the last session, there was not enough time to complete the e-learning on time due to the necessary work on the project (I had to complete the e-learning at night at hotel) – maybe there was more time for e-learning before. For both of our projects, I usually worked weekends – it wasn’t easy in my day job but I feel positive about it because it was all for my development.
Enjoy weekends and evenings
In fact, they didn’t quite fill my daily work, but mainly my evenings and weekends. But all the effort was worth it. I can proudly say that I received excellent support from my direct manager and team members, as well as my sponsors, and whenever I needed help, they were there. My manager and my team members were really supportive and they were also very interested in TechnoFun’s. After each week we had a team meeting where I presented the covered areas to the whole team. It was hard. But I didn’t expect it to be easy and I know that extras are needed – we have to somehow make up for the money invested.
Apprenticeship Award
Last year was very busy and my time was fully utilized. I had to work very hard to manage both learning tasks and daily tasks. Sometimes I had to work after hours to finish everything, but I think that’s the price of learning. In terms of my manager’s support, I can say that it was understood that I had extra training duties and I was not given any special extra duties, which would have destroyed my plans. My manager was very helpful in terms of full project assignments.
Leverage industry network
Unfortunately, the project I participated in did not apply to my business. However, in the long term, I think it may be relevant and so I will be able to help with lessons learned. Most of the experience I gained while we were working on the project assignment. It was a real lesson in all aspects of project management. We needed to get information about the existing product, processes, appearance, data, marketing, etc. Since we are responsible for completely different things, without the support of other team members and people from various departments, the success of the project could not be achieved. To contact the persons concerned, we of course used our industrial network.
Learn from experience
Although the participants constantly discussed various solutions applied in our trades – even on the last day of our training, there is one that concerns me and that I would like to share with you. This is a solution (or rather a “good practice”) applied in the agencies we visited. After the branch tour was over, our attention was caught by a simple graphic taped to the branch door. It showed “peak hours” in branches according to customer segment (also taking into account cash transactions). We immediately discussed and challenged the idea and came to a common agreement that posting such information in the public display not only helps manage customer expectations (in terms of queues for example) but also the workload and possibly also the sizing in the agency. . And therefore its implementation in our local businesses is absolutely worth considering.
Best Practices
In our mission project, we needed to find the best practices from around the world in primary banking. Considering that most banks in Central and Eastern European countries did not have websites in English, we had great help from our colleagues who helped us with the necessary material. The network is very useful for sharing best practices between countries. Following the project, the team had the opportunity to compare and share best practices of collection approaches. Through the exchange of ideas between countries, collection processes will be improved in most of them.