If you are a manager or practice lead in a Microsoft Dynamics practice, you know that upskilling your team is crucial to your organisation's success. Expert pre-sales consultants close more deals, and a delivery team of elite, top-notch experts will consistently deliver on time and within budget. How do we train expert consultants so that they can become the best in their field? Crafting a tailored training program is the key to empowering your team and taking your organisation to the next level.
Why general training does not help the average consultants
You might be wondering why the official learning material available from Microsoft Learn is not a good choice for your consulting team. While official training content is essential to pass certification exams and for junior consultants, personnel with a few years of experience under their belts need more to upskill. Take the official training content for the MB-800 certification. Do you know you can get the Business Central Functional Consultant Associate certification without learning about the Manufacturing, the Warehouse and the Service module?
The same concept applies to the other certifications for Dynamics CRM and ERP; your consultants can learn the basics but nothing more. Likewise, other providers of self-paced online courses, like Coursera, only offer content for beginners.
Benefits of one-on-one training
I am a Microsoft Certified consultant, and I can confidently say that nothing beats on-the-ground experience to become a senior consultant. The most successful Microsoft partners all have one thing in common: they have a cross-training policy where consultants can learn from each other in different ways:
Support lead consultants on clients' projects: this will allow them to learn while gaining practical experience
Cross-train with colleagues from other departments, such as technical teams and project managers, and with other applications. For example, members of the CRM team can train F&O consultants about the capabilities of the Customer Engagement apps so they can cross-sell.
Work with a mentor so they can plan their professional development
If you are a consultant, you might have used one or even all of the above methods in the workplace, and you know how valuable it is to learn from another consultant with more experience. The learning experience is personalised, you learn faster, and the whole coaching and training journey does not feel like being at school.
Challenges with in-house one-on-one training
However beneficial, one-on-one training and coaching is challenging. First, you don't always have the time and the resources to let a junior consultant shadow a senior. Senior consultants assigned to projects have tight deadlines and busy schedules, and training a junior while working might add too much pressure to the schedule. Also, there are trust and quality risks in delegating tasks to a consultant without prior experience. For example, a consultant who wants to train on Business Central order promising can learn a lot during UAT when the client's team tests that feature, but the consultant will lack the ability to support the team. As such, a senior will have to spend even more time reviewing and training the colleague, leading to more time and an increased budget.
Another challenge in in-house training is that not all senior consultants are good trainers. Expert consultants are rarely good at training. Good coaches and trainers know how to transfer knowledge effectively, while senior consultants who possess that knowledge might be unable to share their expertise and coach other consultants.
The last challenge with in-house training and coaching is that your team might not be able to upskill consultants. For example, one of my last training clients was a Dynamics 365 CE team that needed to train consultants about Business Central because they were getting leads, but none of their consultants had any experience with Microsoft ERP.
What do you do if you want to empower your consulting team with new skills but you don't have the resources for in-house training? The best option is to use a trainer for one-on-one training on demand.
What is one-on-one tailored Microsoft Dynamics training?
One-on-one training on demand is like hiring a coach to deliver a bespoke training experience for you or your team. Such training can help junior and senior consultants fill any skill gaps and can be tailored to the consultant's specific needs. Such training is typically delivered in modules; companies can get one-on-one training for manufacturing or cash management for F&O or WMS for Business Central without going through the modules they already know.
On-demand training can also adapt to your consultants' skills and expertise; for example, you can get inventory management training for finance consultant beginners and advanced inventory for junior supply chain management consultants. You pick and choose what to learn and upskill your team without sacrificing client work. On-demand training is also based on real use cases and based on the most common business processes, making the learning experience very similar to real on-the-ground experience but faster.
My Dynamics CE clients with Business Central leads and no experience contacted me for bespoke training and asked me to train three of their team members. They first learned about Business Central via self-learning using the official Microsoft training material. Then, they booked two weeks with me for advanced training. One month later, they closed the first deal for a Business Central implementation.
Our approach: On-demand, one-on-one tailored training for Microsoft Partners
At D365 Training, we understand the importance of upskilling consulting teams. The Microsoft business applications ecosystem is complex, and your consultants must stay up-to-date with the latest features and industry needs. Our approach is to train consultants using business cases and adopt a bespoke approach that suits your and your team's learning profile. Whether you need a few hours to learn one module or a few days to upskill your team, we can help.
Book a free discovery call with one of our senior consultants to see how we can help.
Regards
Alfredo
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