Since its inception, the IPA has been at the forefront of research, debate, evaluation, consultancy, training and education to support the ongoing development of the Irish public sector. In each of these areas the IPA has an extensive track record of delivering services to a wide variety of organisations in the Irish Public Service, but we have a strong reputation and demand for our services internationally also.

IPA programmes are not only of interest to those working in the wider public service, however; its comprehensive range of programmes attracts students from both the public and the private sector. IPA programmes are also open to individuals looking to update their knowledge and develop their skills. The IPA has Ireland’s only dedicated public management research and publishing resource. The Institute publishes books and periodicals, including the journal Administration, in the areas of public management and governance. In addition, the IPA provides a variety of consultancy and advisory services, for which there is a strong demand both nationally and internationally.

Training and Education Programmes at the IPA The provision of high-quality, part-time training and education programmes is at the heart of the IPA’s mission. Attracting students from across the wider public sector, from the private sector, and from the voluntary sector, the IPA’s certificates, diplomas and degrees are designed to fit into the busy lifestyles of adult learners and to meet their professional needs. As they can be taken in a way that suits a student’s particular circumstances, they are an ideal choice for those who want to return to education while keeping their various personal and professional commitments.

The IPA is a recognised college of University College Dublin (UCD) and offers a number of programmes accredited by professional bodies such as CIPD, CIPFA and the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland. The IPA offers training and education programmes in the following areas:

• Business Studies
• Civil Service and State Agency Studies
• Criminal Justice
• Financial Management
• Governance and Risk Management
• Human Resource Management
• Information Technology
• Internal Audit
• Law
• Leadership
• Local Government Studies
• Management Development
• Mediation
• Health Economics and Health Policy
• Healthcare Management
• Personal Development
• Project and Change Management
• Public Procurement
• Public Management

View courses run by the IPA >>

Courses are run throughout Ireland including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Athlone, Mayo, Sligo, Wexford, Ennis, Clare, Tralee, Kerry, Carlow, Cavan, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Donegal, Louth and Wexford. Professional Development have a team of 25 trainers supported by a customer service team.

View Professional Development – Courses and Details on Findacourse.ie »

Courses range from standard Diploma’s to post graduate level 8 courses. Classes are held once a week off Dame street, Dublin 2 in the evenings and Saturdays. Awards are internationally and nationally recognised and offer a great boost to your CV and career. For further information view CMI – Communications and Management Institute on Findacourse.ie

CMI courses currently available include; Management Graduate Diploma, International Business Higher Diploma HR Management Advanced Diploma, Event Management Advanced Diploma & Diploma Project Management Advanced Diploma, Project Management Certification – CAPM/PMP Marketing, PR, Advertising & Sales Diploma, Law & Legal Studies Advanced Diploma Sales Management Advanced Diploma. Management Advanced Certificate – Level 5 FETAC Business Studies – Level 5 FETAC Information Technology Certificate – Level 5 FETAC Criminology & Forensic Psychology Diploma Corporate training in Management, Sales & Communications also provided. Night classes, night courses, FAS, FETAC, HETAC, Evening classses, Evening courses from Dublin city centre.

Course content for this course usually includes the following key areas;

•    Understand different learning styles
•    Understand the functions and processes of learning and training
•    Evaluate different approaches to training
•    Appreciate the importance of training on an individual, social and economic level
•    Work effectively with a range of learner groups
•    Design, deliver and evaluate training programmes
•    Develop and implement appropriate assessment methods

Participants usually learn how to use technological tools and visual aids to promote learning and will most often complete presentations during the course using slides and overheads. Various learning styles are explored as well as techniques on the best ways of training adults. Course attendants are also shown the history and psychology of training and education often drawing from works of theorists such as Maslow and Piaget. An important aspect of these courses is showing how to create effective training programmes which will be avery useful if pursuing work as a trainer. Other areas of study include; study techniques, good practice, group dynamics, two-way communication, training needs analysis and motivation theories.

Train the trainer courses empower students to manage their own development while also preparing them to take on the challenges of organising training in the workplace. Progression opportunities include work and study in Human Resources, Project Management and Psychology.

Resources

Griffin College, Dublin

Atlantic College, Galway

CMIT, Distance Learning

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Search for Train the Trainer courses in Ireland on Findacourse.ie

Secretarial Diploma

Get yourself noticed with a Pitman Training Secretarial Diploma

Secretaries are central to any business; they are the essential staff who make day-to-day activities happen and whose professional efficiency enables executives and managers to work effectively.

The varied role of the secretary will require excellent IT and organisational skills together with strong interpersonal and communication skills. An effective secretary must be flexible yet organised, structured and possess a composed manner to be able to work under pressure, managing and prioritising work loads.

The Pitman Training Secretarial Diploma covers a wide range of the skills required by effective secretaries – from keyboard and typing speed development; to total mastery of the most common business software; to business communication techniques.

Learning these secretarial skills is easy with Pitman Training. Our tried and trusted methods are the best available. You will work at your own pace in our comfortable premises, helped by experienced tutors as required. You choose your own hours and keep the reference materials when the course is over. On completion, you will receive a Pitman Training Diploma that is recognised nationally and internationally by employers.

Believe in yourself and invest in your future!

Core Subjects

Computer Keyboard Skills

Learn how to touch type accurately, using the correct keyboard technique. This may help to reduce the risk of RSI (repetitive strain injury).

Keyboard Speed Development

Develop your typing speed to improve productivity using graded copying exercises and timed dictations. A number of stages are available, taking you up to a speed of 70 wpm.

Effective Business Communication

Learn how to communicate effectively in business by letter, email, telephone and presentation. This will cover correct use of grammar, punctuation, principles of letter writing and CV writing.

or

Business Document Production

Develop skills and understanding of routine and complex business documents and the conventions used in their production and presentation.

Audio Transcription

Learn audio typing techniques to produce business documents to a high degree of accuracy and skill.

Microsoft Word

Learn word processing skills to a good business standard. This will enable you to create professional looking documents, produce tables, insert pictures and much more.

Microsoft Excel

Learn spreadsheet skills to a good business standard. This course will enable you to create a spreadsheet, enter data, formulas and functions; create charts and more.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Gain competency in creating slide presentations. Areas covered include formatting, inserting tables, pictures, sound and hyperlinks; applying transition and timing effects.

Microsoft Outlook

Learn how to share, manage and schedule information electronically. Covers the use of email, electronic calendar, scheduling meetings and appointments; creating and assigning tasks and creating address lists.

Elective Subjects – choose TWO

(Recommended Courses)

Computer Skills

Introduction to Computers

Create, Manage & Integrate Files

Internet Skills

Microsoft Word Expert

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Publisher

Office 2007 Fast Modules 1 – 3

Modules 4 – 6

Basic Book-keeping

Personal Development

Go … Make a Difference!

Health & Safety Essentials

Further Enhancements

FETAC examinations as appropriate.

Guideline Learning Time

9 weeks full-time or 180 hours flexi study

(full-time is based on approx 20 hours a week)

Your Pitman Training Diploma will be issued upon successful completion of the core and elective subjects. A maximum of two ‘course completed’ subjects is accepted. Students should fully discuss all terms and conditions of diploma study with a course advisor.

“My experience at Pitman Training was very rewarding. I wanted to secure a better job and found the Secretarial Diploma offered all the training I needed to add to my postgraduate qualifications. I particularly liked that I could work at my own pace and there was always help available when I needed it. I gained a great deal of confidence and started a new job within a few months.”

Suzanne – Co Galway

Students should discuss all options with a course advisor.

Pitman Training Centre
Chamber Buildings
North St
Swords

Pitman Training Centre
3 Westland Square
Dublin City

Few of us can remember a time when there has ever been so much pressure to change organisational priorities so dramatically. The Finance function in most organisations has become the centre of operational decision making, in many cases having to drive through difficult challenges and unpopular outcomes.

From our own experience and that of the clients and executives with whom we work, it seems these organisational changes have prompted a re-definition of the accountant’s role. Not just in terms of tasks, but also in influence across the wider business.

At the same time, while executives across all functions are well aware of the challenges their organisations face, few have spent so much time staring into the byss in the way company accountants, financial controllers and professional advisors have been forced to do.

Daily as they manage scarce cash, review budgets, revise forecasts or prepare monthly reports of often poor results, there is little reprieve from the gloom. Few companies have escaped the need to make cuts in headcount and compensation and often the Finance function is perceived as the driver of these difficult decisions and those that involve curtailment of activities or expenditure.

As this survey reports, a significant number of Accountants currently feel under significant pressure and are working longer hours than in previous years. Perhaps it’s because of this and a need for change, that while a vast majority of Accountants expect to still be within the profession in five years time, an equal majority expect to change their employer within the next two years.

Survey Highlights
1. Over 90% of Accountants feel they are under too much pressure at work. 84% are working long hours, with a fifth of respondents describing this as a being a constant factor of their jobs.
2. 78% of Accountants have had their workload increased in the last twelve months. Nearly 70% of respondents have taken on new non-financial responsibilities since the downturn.
3. Over 70% of Accountants expect to change jobs within the next two years. Over two thirds have recently considered a change.
4. 63% of Accountants have seen headcount reduction in their departments in the last twelve months.
5. 85% of Accountants say key stakeholders are taking more interest in the data they produce, but nearly 60% of respondents feel their organisations are not acting fast enough to it.

Summary
Whether driven by a natural professional evolution or the stark financial challenges that most organisations currently face, the role of the Accountant is certainly changing. Indeed for many, it changed some time ago, as the traditional front office/back office lines of demarcation have blurred and progressive organisations have built financial analysis into all key commercial decisions.

It is interesting to note here, that so many Accountants see developing strategic management abilities as a priority and also to see note the high number of additional functions, Accountants have been asked to undertake. It’s not surprising that in challenging economic times, the role of the Accountant has become more central. The pattern suggests that while today many CEO’s and MD’s are from accountancy backgrounds, many more in the future will be groomed from financial career channels for senior strategic leadership roles. Highly appropriate perhaps, given the extraordinary mistakes many organisations have made in the recent past and are now working hard to recover from.

Survey Data

A total of 1,471 qualified Accountants participated in the survey across all accountancy bodies, with a wide range of post qualification experience levels and from a mixture of Practice (4.1%), Financial Services (13.6%), Commerce & Industry
(74.1%) and Public Sector organisations (8.2%).

A total of 1,471 Accountants participated in the survey with the following distribution of professional qualification:
Chartered Accountants Ireland: 36.3%
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants: 19.9%
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants: 26%
Certified Public Accountants: 11.6%
Others: 6.2%

While in general we report their responses as a total, 71.4% of respondants were male with 28.6% female. The distribution of post-qualification experience amongst respondents is as follows:

Up to two years PQE 11%
Up to four years PQE 6.2%
Up to six years PQE 9.6%
Up to eight years PQE 11%
Up to ten years PQE 15.1%
Up to fifteen years PQE 21.2%
Up to twenty years PQE 16.3%
Up to twenty five years PQE 7.5%
Thirty years or more PQE 2.1%

Do you remember your first days learning to ride a bike? Were you nervous? Did that fear make you more focused? Was there someone holding on to your bike’s seat, guiding you and cheering you on?

When it comes to public speaking, do you find yourself nervous and maybe even fearful? Like that first experience on your bike, it can be a make a big difference to have someone hold on to that seat and help you learn.

1. Let Your Nerves Work for You

Nerves are not the enemy. Having much experience with public speaking I can tell you that I have never found a good speaker who was not nervous about their work. Notice that I wrote “a good speaker.” There are plenty of arrogant public speakers who are “never nervous” but they present without energy or enthusiasm.

What good are nerves for the public speaker? Your nerves keep your energy level high and your focus sharp. Speaking with high energy while focused on your presentation benefits your audience. They are getting a speaker who is truly present to the subject they are presenting instead of someone who is spewing out just another average speech. Before going onstage, accept your nerves as part of being human, take several slow deep breaths, smile big and step onto the stage with energy and enthusiasm.

2. Remember: Your Audience Wants You to Succeed.

In public speaking, your audience wants to you to be at your best. They do not want you to be boring as that means they will be bored. Your audience wants to see you having fun and being in touch with your subject. In the old days, people were told to imagine the audience in their underwear. That was just horrible advice. Your audience is on your side and you are in partnership with them. Remember, you are the expert and you are giving them a valuable presentation. They want to walk out of the event saying, “Great! I can really use what that speaker was talking about.”

3. Good Coaching and Training is Invaluable.

Coaching and training for public speaking are invaluable ways to get to the whoosh moments of public speaking. We who coach and train public speaking skills are always getting letters of thanks from our clients who successfully used simple techniques taught in public speaking workshops or private coaching. Seek out the experts who can take you to the next level. You will discover that it is an incredible experience to have a speaking coach who can point out areas where you need to improve and support you in your natural skills as a presenter.

Learn to focus your nervous energy to achieve excellence as a speaker.

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Business Training Courses – Personal Development Courses – Public Speaking Courses

The modern business world requires human resources training for employees to ensure a positive work environment. The reason that HR training is so valuable is because it helps managers improve their conflict managing skills, and their abilities to hire and keep good employees. There’s no reason that a business should lose productivity because of personal problems in the workplace. With HR training courses, managers can build the skills to solve little problems before they become big troubles.

Human resources training helps managers build certain skills to deal with personal problems among their employees. One skill that managers build through HR training is performing a good interview with a prospective employee. This is the first interaction that managers have with new employees, and it sets the tone for the workplace relationship. HR training courses provide managers with the knowledge of what is appropriate and what is not.

There are certain laws that prohibit managers from asking questions about an applicant’s religion, sexual orientation, number of children or marital status, for example. Without good human resources training, an interviewer might not even realize that they are in violation of Equal Employment Opportunity laws. Fundamental HR training courses provide managers with information about all the current laws, as well as basic appropriate behaviour. This is beneficial for both the employer and the potential employee, so both parties will get what they want out of the situation.

Another skill that managers learn through human resources training is the ability to work with others. Managers not only need the skills to hire good staff, but also to keep them working efficiently. HR training gives managers the skills to prepare to find good staff, clearly state the demands and expectations, and to keep them working efficiently without overworking them. Communication is one of the most fundamental skills learned in effective HR training courses. This includes oral and written communication with staff, as well as listening skills.

Another basic skill taught in human resources training is making the values and goals of the company clear to everyone, including new employees. Without the right HR training, many new managers might not know how to send a cohesive message to all the staff. If the staff doesn’t know what they’re working towards, managers will have a mess on their hands.

Another important HR training skill is giving positive feedback to employees when they’re achieving these goals. Quality HR training courses will always tell managers to encourage them and let them know that they are making progress. This fosters a positive work environment in which employees can thrive. It is necessary to have HR training in any modern business environment in order to get the best work and most positive attitudes from employees.

Successful people are not born; they are made. They are made from their own efforts: efforts directed toward becoming successful. They may choose to put a lot of effort into a specific area, but successful people tend to have success in several aspects of their lives. They pursue their goals, step by step, and complete those goals, regardless of the detours life might take them on. Successful people have also learned the skills needed to effectively communicate with all those they come into contact with. And believe it not, there are common communication traits that all successful people use in their daily interactions with others. Because they are common you can integrate them into your style of communications to become more effective and successful.

The first communication skill that every successful person has is the ability to listen. Listening is not about just nodding your head in understanding while the other person is talking. No, true listening requires that you maintain eye contact with the one you are listening to. Make sure your eyes are not looking side to side or over the other’s shoulder, but instead are focused on the eyes and face of the person you are talking with. The successful person does this with the intention of understanding exactly what the other person has to say. When you really listen to people, not only do you get to know them, but they might provide you with some information to help you farther along toward future success.

As the other person is speaking the successful person will, during the other person’s pauses, paraphrase what he has heard. Paraphrasing is repeating, to the one you’re communicating with, what you just heard them say, but in your own words. Paraphrasing clarifies that you understand what the other person means. This is engaging and interactive communication skill and every successful person uses it.

In addition to the ability to listen, successful people possess excellent non-verbal communications, or body language. As the successful person is communicating with another, their posture is relaxed. Their hands are free, maybe at his side, but seldom kept in their pockets. Their hands or arms are also not tightly wrapped around each other in a closed gesture, nor do they scratch their head, arms or face while they are either listening or talking. All those things make the other person nervous.

Successful people have a posture which is erect, but yet relaxed. They don’t stand stiffly, nor do slouch over while either standing or sitting. In a sitting position his legs can be crossed or comfortably side-by-side. The successful person never toe-taps or bounces their knee. They are calm and patient and his is the image they want to project.

The tone of voice of the successful person is always even. Also, successful people are very careful in the words they choose to express themselves; they take their time as they speak so as not to use wrong or inappropriate language. The successful person has a good command of language and knows how to use it effectively.

Successful people don’t assume they know everything and therefore are very inquisitive, even when communicating with others. This means they ask questions, truly interacting with others. They know that others possess knowledge too. Asking questions educates them, and successful people know the value of being educated. It helps them make better decisions and choices in their life and work.

There is one key factor about the successful person that comes out in all their behaviors and communications with others. The key factor is, successful people seek more success. This is the thinking of most successful people; they use the above strategies to learn more to build on their successes and achieve more.

By Peter Murphy