Professional Development courses

Make your business more profitable and competitive.

You may have the technical skills within the team. Now it's time to look at the necessary skills to communicate these technicalities and collaborate on business decisions.

The field of ICT is constantly evolving and the skills required for success are changing as well. While technical skills are undoubtedly essential, it's becoming increasingly clear that soft skills and professional development training are equally critical for the success of your team of ICT specialists.

A study from MIT Sloan found that a controlled, 12-month trial of soft skills training in five different factories yielded a 250% ROI in just eight months. The factories underwent soft skills and professional development training on problem-solving and decision-making. Applying what they learned, staff boosted productivity, made complex tasks more efficient, and improved employee attendance.

Lumify Work New Zealand successfully delivers professional development training to diverse organisations through public courses and customised training for as many as 800+ people in a single organisation. Programmes can be designed to meet your needs, culture and learning objectives.

Professional development training in NZ will give your team practical business tools, skills and behaviours that will instantly impact your organisation!

• Communication: Improve your organisation's operations by developing your people's communication skills. The ability of your employees to interact with all stakeholders, both inside and outside your organisation, is critical to the success of your organisation.

• Consulting: Learn the skills to hold conversations across your organisation, working with a consultant’s hat on to deliver value and solve problems.

• Leadership: Reach your organisational goals by developing influential leaders.

• Negotiation: Develop and enhance your negotiation and influencing skills.

• Productivity: Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your organisation by improving your team’s productivity and organisational skills.

• Sales: Increase revenues by developing the sales skills of your staff. Whether in a traditional sales role or not, every person within your organisation is a salesperson. Give them the tools they need to succeed.

• Vendor Management: Ideal for professionals who need to achieve the best value from vendor and partner relationships.

What are Soft Skills Training and Professional Development?

According to Investopedia, soft skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that describe a person’s relationships with other people. In the workplace, soft skills complement hard skills, which refer to a person’s technical knowledge and skills. In Sociology, the term "soft skills" refers to a person’s emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) as opposed to intelligence quotient (IQ).

Soft skills training for employees focuses on developing or refining interpersonal skills. Courses on presentation, verbal communication, business writing, active listening and conflict resolution fall under Soft Skills training.

But what is the difference between a soft skill and a hard skill? Hard skills learned through formal schooling, training programs and mentorships. They are often easier to quantify with key performance indicators like correct answers in a test, turnaround times or the number of bugs detected. Examples include computer programming, writing, web development, and graphic design. Soft skills focus on attitudes, task management and the ability to work with others - these can make the workload lighter and collaboration smoother. You can still measure soft skills, albeit with some level of subjectivity, like customer or team ratings.

What are the benefits of soft skills training? By providing soft skills and professional development training, you're investing in your team members and improving your team's overall performance and productivity. The benefits of these investments will be evident in improved employee satisfaction, reduced turnover, and increased customer satisfaction.

On the other hand, Professional Development (PD) training is a consciously designed, systematic process that strengthens how staff obtain, retain and apply their knowledge, skills and attitudes. It includes introductory courses on topics outside one's department-specific expertise like Marketing, Sales, Recruitment, Negotiation and Bid Management.

Why is professional development training important? Gaining soft and professional skills help team members better understand their colleagues' perspectives, anticipate and address conflicts, and ensure that all stakeholders are aligned towards the same goals. They equip technical staff with the knowledge and skills to contribute to these areas, especially when working with other experts. They also provide new or potential leaders with the tools to successfully lead and manage their teams.

How do you start with soft skills and professional development training programs for your team? To identify the best training courses for professional development and the most strategic and suitable soft skills training to purchase for your organisation, start with a gap analysis. You can gather data by interviewing staff and leaders. You can also review customer feedback, often including insights to the team's strengths and weaknesses in communication, task management and problem-solving.

What are soft skills and professional development training like?

Most soft skills and professional development training are interactive. They are practical classes that provide participants with tools to apply on the job (and in other contexts) the next day.

They are suitable for all audiences - individual professionals or staff from large organisations and small to medium-sized businesses. Most courses have no prerequisites, although experience with basic end-user applications for day-to-day business is preferred. These end-user applications can include Microsoft Excel, email and chat and meeting tools.

They include theory presentations, practice exercises and even a performance requirement where you present output based on your learning. This output can consist of writing your KPIs or creating your action plan for coaching and mentoring.

You can book and sit instructor-led courses in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, or online. Classes last as short as three hours and as long as two business days. Based on your team's scheduling needs and to lessen the impact on operations, we can work with you to split some of the courses into a few half-day sessions.

Virtual or online instructor-led courses utilise secure video conferencing with interactive features such as live polling, screen sharing, whiteboards, live chat, and breakout sessions.

Bootcamp-style courses run for a few months, with participants studying course content at their own pace and meeting up regularly (once a week or once a month) with other students and their instructors to discuss points of clarification or review previously completed exercises.

Some courses include exams that you can pass to validate your skills with a certification. They are delivered through our partner organisations. This arrangement requires Lumify Work to provide your details to them for course and/or exam registration purposes.