Custom Course Design and Development

All construction professionals should participate in opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge that improve efficiency and allow for growth and advancement. Employee development comes in various forms, and the source of content is a critical consideration when you are expanding the skills and knowledge of your employees. Custom course design and development allows your company to achieve your customer content needs and provides employees with professional, high quality course materials.

Customization comes in the form of:

• Course objectives based on your firms strategy, goals, and needs
• Terminology and acronyms used in the specific workforce
• Case studies and exercises that mirror actual workplace situations that employees encounter
• Forms and processes that are approved by your firm and are used as tools to solve problems and reach course goals.

The result is accelerated learning and implementation of new skills on the job. Employees become confident when they practice and wrestle with realistic tools and situations. Course graduates are aligned with the firm's strategy and are more equipped to focus on the behaviors that will enable implementation of your company strategy.

Process:

• Identify business need:
  
  FMI will conduct a formal Needs Assessment to identify any gaps in core competencies within your company. A combination of questionnaires, either written or administered electronically via email or your website, small focus groups and individual interviews will be used to build a comprehensive profile of the needs of the target group. The perceptions of individual needs combined with our industry experience will help FMI custom design appropriate course modules. To initiate this process, we often lead the senior management team through an intensive workshop to build consensus, clarify, and validate their perceptions of the group's needs.
  
  
• Design instructional plan:
  
  After compiling the results of the Needs Assessment, FMI will work with your company to articulate specific performance objectives that when achieved enable employees to reach individual and company goals. FMI will then design the learning environment using multiple methods of instruction in order to improve work performance. Some examples of instruction include:
  
  Lecturing: Opportunities to listen to an expert explain concepts and processes supported by stories.
  
  Lightning Rounds: Brief 3-5 minute entire group discussions designed to brainstorm, stimulate creative thought or briefly discuss learning points.
  
  Case Study: Interactive small group simulations used to facilitate contextual learning and relate key points to real-life.
  
  Development Log: A chance to take 3-5 minutes to write about and reflect on discussion items and consider what it means to the individual and their work.
  
  Feedback Zone: Opportunity for individuals to receive and provide feedback from one another and from the facilitator(s).
  
  Skills Development Exercise: Experiential activities designed to teach new skills and allow participants to practice using them.
  
  Night Maneuvers: Evening out-of-class learning activities done on your own or in small groups to reinforce classroom learning.
  
  
• Develop content:
  
  FMI experts know how to incorporate construction-industry specific material into a customized framework for each client. Custom programs enable knowledge sharing by capturing and documenting the knowledge that resides within the heads of senior employees. FMI packages knowledge in a way that can be learned and shared with employees who can improve their performance as a result of implementing specific methods. FMI will design a format using your company's logo and photos to personalize the experience.
  

• Review for quality:
  
  There are multiple levels of quality control once the content is written. Typically, FMI reviews each module to identify ways to improve the manner in which content is communicated before it is sent to an editor. Your company will then have an opportunity to make final revisions prior to delivering the pilot.
  
  
• Deliver pilot:
  
  The course modules are presented by experienced FMI consultants and trainers or by your internal subject matter experts. Using professional trainers allows your employees to stay concentrated on their work while our consultants focus on facilitating delivery in a superior manner. Using internal subject-matter experts allows the participants to learn from people who can go into technical details and provide war stories from their company.
  
  
• Revise and Improve:
  
  FMI interviews key representatives of your company and collects feedback from the participants to establish recommendations for the course. Revisions and improvements become incorporated into the design and materials to ensure that the experience efficiently and effectively enables participants to reach their performance goals.
  
  
• Reinforce and Implement:
  
  This critical phase in the development process can be integrated with your ongoing mentoring and coaching activity to build performance. Although our classroom courses are an effective learning format, the ultimate test of the course is the implementation of the concepts and techniques when people are back on the job. We will work with your team to develop follow-up tools and hands-on workshops to facilitate a smooth transition from the classroom to the workplace. This can include packaged workshops that your managers lead at a regular intervals after the FMI development programs to help the participants with practical applications. As we are creating the course content, we will develop activities, job aids, checklists, workshops, and other reinforcement tools to facilitate this process. FMI also creates and facilitates more formalized tools such as audiotapes, videotapes, CD/ROMs, and alternative delivery vehicles to support the ongoing learning process.