2017 Training Year in Review
Looking back on what has been our busiest training year ever is definitely different than looking ahead as it stretches in front of you – much less intimidating! Cup of tea in hand, I am taking a few moments to share some highlights and reflections of the year.
This year saw the training team organize and deliver 31 courses – the most Engage Delaney has ever delivered in one year. This number represents a combination of D+A customized training courses, including Facilitating Engagement, Engagement Bootcamp, and Health Leaders’, and our iap2-licenced Planning, Techniques and Decision Maker courses.
Almost 650 people participated in these courses in 2017.
We get a lot of positive comments from our participants, but this year saw some feedback that really made us sit up and take stock. We realize what a big responsibility training is when a participant says, “You guys have changed what I want to do with the remainder of my career”, or “I’m not exaggerating when I say your training course in Toronto changed my life.” Comments like these remind us of two very important things – trust and quality.
Trust is the basis of positive and fruitful relationships in the training setting, just as it is in the engagement setting. That means, in part, creating the emotional, intellectual and physical spaces where participants feel safe and are confident their voices will be heard, respected and held in confidence, if requested.
Quality in the training setting means delivering a learning experience that justifies the expenditure of participants’ precious professional development dollars. It means sharing information and developing skills that can be applied the very next day, in order to reduce costs and risks, and create durable results. We strive to do our best each and every time – regardless of our workload, the travel schedule and time zone, or the crazy weather.
And Mother Nature did show her hand with the unusual weather in 2017. Our trainers conquered heavy snow, intense fog and freezing rain to make it to courses. To paraphrase the old saying associated with postal carriers, “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail, shall keep us from our scheduled courses.”
There was one occasion, however, when we lost the weather battle. Many areas of the country dealt with heavy rain and flooding this year and the National Capital Region was no exception. At the peak of the flooding emergency in May, we were hosting an iap2 Foundations program in Gatineau, which is on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. One of our participants actually took a canoe from her (sadly) flooded home in order to attend the Planning portion of the program.
Nature prevailed, though, as the Techniques course had to be rescheduled due to the closure of many federal buildings and the flooding of bridges and roads. This was a definite first for us.
For the logistics team, a big highlight from 2017 is that all of our shipped boxes of training materials made it to destinations from Victoria to Dawson Creek to Montreal – intact and on time! Thank you to UPS and Purolator!
A big shout out also to the City of Burlington – one of iap2 Canada’s Core Values Award Winners for Organization of the Year. We are pleased to have provided iap2 training to the City recently and over the years.
Another highlight – so funny – is that our new bobblehead pen (an addition, not a replacement to our participants’ fave Byron pen!) proved to be a show stopper! We have ordered more for 2018! Some people are saying it strangely resembles one of our trainers… hmmm who would that be? You might be able to guess by looking at some of the pictures from our fun training photo shoot in Vancouver this past June. Check out below.
If your 2018 New Year’s resolutions include updating your engagement skills, you will be happy with this Boxing Day special. Use the code NY2018 for a (total) 15% discount off any Delaney iap2 training booked before January 31.
The D+A training team wishes you all the best for the new year – for you, your families, and your engagement initiatives.
