473 Engineer courses in Penrith

CWSP training course description A hands-on training course concentrating solely on WiFi security with an emphasis on the delegates learning the necessary knowledge and skills to pass the CWSP exam. The course progresses from simple authentication, encryption and key management onto in depth coverage of 802.X and EAP along with many other security solutions such as access control, intrusion prevention and secure roaming. What will you learn Demonstrate the threats to WiFi networks. Secure WiFi networks. Configure: WPA2 RADIUS 802.1x EAP Pass the CWSP exam. CWSP training course details Who will benefit: Technical network staff. Technical security staff. Prerequisites: Certified Wireless Network Associate. Duration 5 days CWSP training course contents WLAN Security overview Standards, security basics, AAA, 802.11 security history. Hands on WLAN connectivity. Legacy 802.11 security Authentication: Open system, shared key. WEP. VPNs. MAC filters. SSID segmentation, SSID cloaking. Hands on Analysing 802.11 frame exchanges, viewing hidden SSIDs. Encryption Basics, AES, TKIP, CCMP, WPA, WPA2. Hands on Decrypting 802.11 data frames. 802.11 layer 2 authentication 802.1X: Supplicant, Authenticator, Authentication server. Credentials. Legacy authentication. EAP, Weak EAP protocols, Strong EAP protocols: EAP -PEAP, EAP-TTLS, EAP-TLS, EAP-FAST. Hands on Analysing 802.1X/EAP frames. 802.11 layer 2 dynamic key generation Robust Security Network. Hands on Authentication and key management. SOHO 802.11 security WPA/WPA2 personal, Preshared Keys, WiFi Protected Setup (WPS). Hands on PSK mapping. WLAN security infrastructure DS, Autonomous APs, WLAN controllers, split MAC, mesh, bridging, location based access control. Resilience. Wireless network management system. RADIUS/LDAP servers, PKI, RBAC. Hands on 802.1X/EAP configuration. RADIUS configuration. 802.11 Fast secure roaming History, RSNA, OKC, Fast BSS transition, 802.11k. Hands on Roaming. Wireless security risks Rogue devices, rogue prevention. Eavesdropping, DOS attacks. Public access and hotspots. Hands on Backtrack. WiFi security auditing Layer 1 audit, layer 2 audit, pen testing. WLAN security auditing tools. WiFi security monitoring Wireless Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems. Device classification, WIDS/WIPS analysis. Monitoring. 802.11w. Hands on Laptop spectrum analysers. VPNs, remote access, guest access Role of VPNs in 802.11, remote access, hotspots, captive portal. Wireless security policies General policy, functional policy, recommendations.

Advanced C++ training course description The course will give a broad overview of the C++ Programming language, focusing on modern C++, up to C++17. This course will cover the use of the Standard Library, including containers, iterator, function objects and algorithms. From the perspective of application development, a number of design patterns will be considered. What will you learn Write C++ programs using the more esoteric language features. Utilise OO techniques to design C++ programs. Use the standard C++ library. Exploit advanced C++ techniques Advanced C++ training course details Who will benefit: Programmers needing to write C++ code. Programmers needing to maintain C++ code. Prerequisites: C++ programming foundation. Duration 5 days Advanced C++ training course contents Study of a string class Create a string class as a means to investigate many issues, involving the use of operator overloading and including overloading new and delete. Creation of the class will also require consideration of 'const correctness'. Exception handling Consider the issues involved in exception handling including the concept of exception safety. Templates Review definition of template functions, including template parameter type deduction. Introduction to template metaprogramming. Newer features including template template parameters and variadic templates. Creation of template classes. Design patterns Introduction to Design Patterns and consideration of a number of patterns, such as, factory method, builder, singleton and adapter. The standard C++ library (STL) Standard Library features, such as, Containers, Iterator, Function Objects and Algorithms. Introduction to Lambda expressions. C++ and performance The writing of code throughout the course will be oriented towards performant code, including use of R Value references and 'move' semantics. Pointers The use of pointers will be considered throughout the course. Smart pointers will be considered to improve program safety and help avoid the use of 'raw' pointers. Threading This section will consider the creation of threads and synchronisation issues. A number of synchronisation primitives will be considered. Async and the use of Atomic will also be considered. New ANSI C++ features Summarising some of the newer features to be considered are: Auto, Lambdas expression, smart pointers, variadic templates and folds, R Value references and tuple together with structured binding.

Complete VB.Net training course description A hands on introduction to programming in Visual BASIC .Net. What will you learn Build Visual BASIC applications. Build simple components Debug Visual BASIC programs. Examine existing code and determine its function. Complete VB.Net training course details Who will benefit: Anyone wishing to program in Visual BASIC. Anyone wishing to build Windows based applications. Prerequisites: None although experience in another high level language would be useful. Duration 5 days Complete VB.Net training course contents Writing your first program Visual Studio, forms designer, running VB programs, the UI, properties, writing the code. Toolbox Controls Basic use, input controls, ActiveX controls. Menus and Dialog Boxes Menus, Dialog Box controls, event procedures. Visual Basic .NET variables and operators Variables, I/O, data types, constants, operators, Math Methods, precedence. Decision Structures and Loops and Timers Event-Driven programming, If…Then, Select Case, For…Next Loops, Timer Control. Debugging Visual Basic .NET Programs Break Mode, watch & command windows. Structured Error Handling Try...Catch, Finally, Err Object, retry periods. Modules and Procedures Standard modules, public variables, procedures. Arrays and Collections to Manage Data Fixed-Size & dynamic Arrays, ReDim Preserve, object collections, Controls Collection. Text Files and String Processing Text Box object, Text String methods, sorting. Automating Office Applications Application objects, automation in VB, the Object Browser, the Process Component. Deploying Visual Basic .NET Applications Planning a deployment, ways to deploy an application, deployment projects, options. Managing Windows Forms Forms, positioning, manipulation, adding controls, organizing controls, Startup Object. Adding Graphics and Animation Effects System.Drawing namespace, coordinates, SystemPaint Event, animation, transparency. Inheriting Forms and Creating Base Classes Inheriting forms, inheritance picker, base classes and inheritance, classes in projects. Working with Printers PrintDocument class, Text Box object, Print Preview and Page Setup Dialog Boxes. Database programming with ADO.NET Databases, ADO.NET, Data Adapters, Datasets, Bound & Navigation Controls. Displaying database records, formatting DataGrid cells, updating the database. Displaying HTML Documents Using IE IE Object, Internet Controls, IE Events. Web Forms for Interactive Web Applications ASP.NET, Web Forms vs. Windows Forms, HTML controls, web applications, event procedures for web forms controls.

Complete VBA programming training course description This course helps you extend the capabilities of the entire Office suite using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Even if you have no programming experience, you'll be automating routine computing processes quickly using the simple, yet powerful VBA programming language. We start at the beginning to get you acquainted with VBA so you can start recording macros right away. You'll then build upon that foundation to utilize the full capabilities of the language in Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. What will you learn Record, write and run macros. Work with VBA Editor. Use the huge library of built-in functions. Create simple dialog boxes and complex forms. Customize Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access. Program the Office 2016 ribbon. Complete VBA programming training course details Who will benefit: Anyone looking to extend the capabilities of the entire Office suite using VBA. Prerequisites: None. Duration 5 days Complete VBA programming training course contents Macros and getting started in VBA VBA syntax, variables, constants, and enumerations, array variables, finding objects, methods, and properties. Working with VBA 1 VBA syntax, variables, constants, and enumerations, array variables, finding objects, methods, and properties. Decisions, loops and functions Built-in functions, creating your own functions, making decisions in your code, using loops to repeat actions. Using message boxes, input boxes, and dialog boxes Getting user input with message boxes and input boxes, creating simple custom dialog boxes, creating complex forms. Creating effective code Building modular code and using classes, debugging your code and handling errors, building well-behaved code, exploring VBA's security features. Programming the Office applications The Word object model and key objects, working with widely used objects in Word, the Excel object model and key objects, working with widely used objects in Excel, the PowerPoint object, model and key objects, working with shapes and running slide shows, the Outlook object model and key objects, working with events in Outlook, the Access object model and key objects, manipulating the data in an Access database via VBA, accessing one application from another application, programming the Office 2016 ribbon.

Complete C programming training course description A hands-on introduction to programming in the ANSI C programming language. The course initially moves at a fast pace in order to spend as much time as possible on the subject of pointers - the area which cause the most bugs in C programs. What will you learn Write ANSI C programs Use the C libraries Debug C programs Examine existing code and determine its function. Complete C programming training course details Who will benefit: Programmers wishing to learn C. Programmers wishing to learn C++ or Java. Prerequisites: None, although experience in another high level language would be useful. Duration 5 days Complete C programming training course contents Getting started The compilation process, comments, main(), statement blocks, printf(). C data types and operators char, int, float and double, qualifiers, arithmetic and assignment operators, precedence, Associativity. Basic I/O C libraries, stdin and stdout, getchar(), putchar(), printf() formatting. Flow control if else, dangling elses, else if, while and for loops. switch statements, the null statement, break, continue and gotos. Functions Function calls, arguments and return types, function declarations (prototypes), function definitions, scope of variables. The preprocessor Preprocessor actions, macros, #include. Libraries and their relationship with header files. Conditional compilation. More data types and operators Logical, bitwise and other operators, type conversion, casting, typedefs and access modifiers. Arrays Declaring and handling arrays, common gotchas, multidimensional arrays. Pointers What are pointers? Why they are so important, declaring and using pointers,The three uses of the *,pointer example - scanf, pointers as arguments. More pointers Golden rules of pointers and arrays, pointers to arrays, pointer arithmetic, arrays of pointers, multiple indirection. Character/string manipulation Arrays of characters, string definition, working with strings, String library. Program arguments argc and argv, example uses,char *argv[] versus char ** argv. Program structure and storage classes Globals (externals), multi source programs, the look of a C program. Structures Declaration, the . and - operators, unions and bitfields. Library functions File handling, fopen and fclose, reading from and writing to files, fseek().calloc() and malloc()

Securing Linux systems training course description This course teaches you everything you need to know to build a safe Linux environment. The first section handles cryptography and authentication with certificates, openssl, mod_ssl, DNSSEC and filesystem encryption. Then Host security and hardening is covered with intrusion detection, and also user management and authentication. Filesystem Access control is then covered. Finally network security is covered with network hardening, packet filtering and VPNs. What will you learn Secure Linux accounts. Secure Linux file systems. Secure Linux access through the network. Securing Linux systems training course details Who will benefit: Linux technical staff needing to secure their systems. Prerequisites: Linux system administration (LPIC-1) Duration 5 days Securing Linux systems training course contents Cryptography Certificates and Public Key Infrastructures X.509 certificates, lifecycle, fields and certificate extensions. Trust chains and PKI. openssl. Public and private keys. Certification authority. Manage server and client certificates. Revoke certificates and CAs. Encryption, signing and authentication SSL, TLS, protocol versions. Transport layer security threats, e.g. MITM. Apache HTTPD with mod_ssl for HTTPS service, including SNI and HSTS. HTTPD with mod_ssl to authenticate users using certificates. HTTPD with mod_ssl to provide OCSP stapling. Use OpenSSL for SSL/TLS client and server tests. Encrypted File Systems Block device and file system encryption. dm-crypt with LUKS to encrypt block devices. eCryptfs to encrypt file systems, including home directories and, PAM integration, plain dm-crypt and EncFS. DNS and cryptography DNSSEC and DANE. BIND as an authoritative name server serving DNSSEC secured zones. BIND as an recursive name server that performs DNSSEC validation, KSK, ZSK, Key Tag, Key generation, key storage, key management and key rollover, Maintenance and resigning of zones, Use DANE. TSIG. Host Security Host Hardening BIOS and boot loader (GRUB 2) security. Disable useless software and services, sysctl for security related kernel configuration, particularly ASLR, Exec-Shield and IP / ICMP configuration, Exec-Shield and IP / ICMP configuration, Limit resource usage. Work with chroot environments, Security advantages of virtualization. Host Intrusion Detection The Linux Audit system, chkrootkit, rkhunter, including updates, Linux Malware Detect, Automate host scans using cron, AIDE, including rule management, OpenSCAP. User Management and Authentication NSS and PAM, Enforce password policies. Lock accounts automatically after failed login attempts, SSSD, Configure NSS and PAM for use with SSSD, SSSD authentication against Active Directory, IPA, LDAP, Kerberos and local domains, Kerberos and local domains, Kerberos tickets. FreeIPA Installation and Samba Integration FreeIPA, architecture and components. Install and manage a FreeIPA server and domain, Active Directory replication and Kerberos cross-realm trusts, sudo, autofs, SSH and SELinux integration in FreeIPA. Access Control Discretionary Access Control File ownership and permissions, SUID, SGID. Access control lists, extended attributes and attribute classes. Mandatory Access Control TE, RBAC, MAC, DAC. SELinux, AppArmor and Smack. etwork File Systems NFSv4 security issues and improvements, NFSv4 server and clients, NFSv4 authentication mechanisms (LIPKEY, SPKM, Kerberos), NFSv4 pseudo file system, NFSv4 ACLs. CIFS clients, CIFS Unix Extensions, CIFS security modes (NTLM, Kerberos), mapping and handling of CIFS ACLs and SIDs in a Linux system. Network Security Network Hardening FreeRADIUS, nmap, scan methods. Wireshark, filters and statistics. Rogue router advertisements and DHCP messages. Network Intrusion Detection ntop, Cacti, bandwidth usage monitoring, Snort, rule management, OpenVAS, NASL. Packet Filtering Firewall architectures, DMZ, netfilter, iptables and ip6tables, standard modules, tests and targets. IPv4 and IPv6 packet filtering. Connection tracking, NAT. IP sets and netfilter rules, nftables and nft. ebtables. conntrackd Virtual Private Networks OpenVPN server and clients for both bridged and routed VPN networks. IPsec server and clients for routed VPN networks using IPsec-Tools / racoon. L2TP.

Programming in HTML5 with CSS course description This course provides an introduction to HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. It is an entry point into both the Web application and Windows Store apps training paths. The course focuses on using HTML5 / CSS3 / JavaScript to implement programming logic, define and use variables, perform looping and branching, develop user interfaces, capture and validate user input, store data, and create well-structured application. What will you learn Create and style HTML5 pages. Use JavaScript. Style HTML5 pages by using CSS3. Use common HTML5 APLs in interactive Web applications. Create HTML5 Web pages that can adapt to different devices and form factors. Enhance the user experience by adding animations to the HTML5 page. Programming in HTML5 with CSS course details Who will benefit: Website developers. Prerequisites: HTML5 development fundamentals. Duration 5 days Programming in HTML5 with CSS course contents Overview of HTML and CSS Overview of HTML, Overview of CSS, Creating a Web Application by Using Visual Studio 2012. Hands on Exploring the Contoso Conference Application. Creating and Styling HTML5 Pages Creating an HTML5 Page, Styling an HTML5 Page. Hands on Creating and Styling HTML5 Pages. Introduction to JavaScript Overview of JavaScript Syntax, Programming the HTML DOM with JavaScript, Introduction to jQuery. Hands on Displaying Data and Handling Events by Using JavaScript. Creating Forms to Collect and Validate User Input Overview of Forms and Input Types, Validating User Input by Using HTML5 Attributes, Validating User Input by Using JavaScript. Hands on Creating a Form and Validating User Input. Communicating with a Remote Data Source Sending and Receiving Data by Using XMLHTTPRequest, Sending and Receiving Data by Using jQuery AJAX operations. Hands on Communicating with a Remote Data Source. Styling HTML5 by Using CSS3 Styling Text, Styling Block Elements, CSS3 Selectors, Enhancing Graphical Effects by Using CSS3. Hands on Styling Text and Block Elements using CSS3. Creating Objects and Methods by Using JavaScript Writing Well-Structured JavaScript, Creating Custom Objects, Extending Objects. Hands on Refining Code for Maintainability and Extensibility. Creating Interactive Pages using HTML5 APIs Interacting with Files, Incorporating Multimedia, Reacting to Browser Location and Context, Debugging and Profiling a Web Application. Hands on Creating Interactive Pages by Using HTML5 APIs. Adding Offline Support to Web Applications Reading and Writing Data Locally, Adding Offline Support by Using the Application Cache. Hands on Adding Offline Support to a Web Application. Implementing an Adaptive User Interface Supporting Multiple Form Factors, Creating an Adaptive User Interface. Hands on Implementing an Adaptive User Interface. Creating Advanced Graphics Creating Interactive Graphics by Using Scalable Vector Graphics, Programmatically Drawing Graphics by Using a Canvas. Hands on Creating Advanced Graphics. Animating the User Interface Applying CSS Transitions, Transforming Elements, Applying CSS Key-frame Animations. Hands on Animating User Interface Elements. Web Sockets for Real-Time Communications Introduction to Web Sockets, Sending and Receiving Data by Using Web Sockets. Hands on Implementing Real-Time Communications by Using Web Sockets. Creating a Web Worker Process Introduction to Web Workers, Performing Asynchronous Processing by Using a Web Worker. Hands on Creating a Web Worker Process.

Java training course description A comprehensive introduction of the Java language and environment. It is important to note that the course will assume that the delegates are already familiar with the C language as this enables more advanced features of the Java language to be covered in the course. The course will also give an overview of areas related to programming in Java. What will you learn Describe the Java architecture. Write Java applets and applications. Debug Java programs. Examine existing code and determine its function. Use multimedia extensions, the awt, multithreading, exceptions within Java Java training course details Who will benefit: Those wishing to program in Java. Prerequisites: Complete C programming Duration 5 days Java training course contents Review of UNIX fundamentals What is Java? What Java is, history of Java, reasons for success. The Java Virtual Machine, Bytecodes, getting up and running with Java, Java resources. Simple Java applications. C features in Java Java data structures, Java flow control, differences from C, arrays, strings and packages. OO features in Java Java classes and objects, inheritance, overloading, packages. Differences from C++. Java applets Applications vs. applets, HTML, the applet tag, applet methods, life cycle, testing and debugging. Multimedia applets Images, sounds, fonts, colours and animation. Java products The JDK in detail, other development environments. Javabeans and JDBC overviews. Abstract Window Toolkit JFC and Swing versus AWT. Event handling (JDK 1.1), GUIs, panels, buttons, lists, scrollbars, text areas, frames… Exception handling and multithreading Handling exceptions. Starting, pausing, stopping threads, producers, consumers, monitoring. More standard classes Java file I/O, Streams, The system class. The networking model, java.net classes. Security and Java Types of attack, the security manager, craplets, securing the network. Integrating legacy code with Java

Perl training course description A hands on introduction to programming in Perl. What will you learn Write Perl programs. Use Perl modules. Debug Perl programs. Examine existing code and determine its function. Perl training course details Who will benefit: Anyone wishing to learn Perl. Prerequisites: None although experience in another high level language would be useful. Duration 5 days Perl training course contents Introduction to Perl What is Perl? When to use Perl, downloading Perl, installing Perl, documentation, perldoc, running Perl, the Perl environment. Perl under UNIX, Perl under Windows. "Hello world". Variables Scalars, data types, $_, strings and numbers, assignment, constants, strict, scope, STDIN. Operators Number operators, string operators, precedence and associativity, converting numbers and strings, shortcut operators. Flow control Blocks, if, else, elseif, unless, foreach, while, for do, until. Regular expressions What are regular expressions? Pattern matching, Perl as a filter, file editing. Strings Comparing strings, concatenating, substrings, chomp, chop, formatting, string manipulation. Subroutines Comparing strings, concatenating, substrings, chomp, chop, formatting, string manipulation. Arrays and hashes Working with arrays, element access, push(), pop(), shift(), unshift(), <STDIN> as an array, associative arrays, hashes of arrays, hash references, arrays of hashes, hashes of hashes. Files Simple file handling, open, close, <FILEHANDLE>, <>, file tests, directory access, directory handles, database access, packing and packing binary data. I/O STDIN, STDOUT and STDERR, Command line arguments,@ARGV. Perl debugging The built in debugger, running the debugger, debugger commands, graphical debuggers. Script syntax errors, single stepping, breakpoints, watches. Packages and modules CPAN, Finding modules, installing modules, using modules, scope. Report formatting Formats, defining a format, invoking a format, field holders. Process management System interaction, system(), exec(), signals. Security issues.

Our Team Building Programmes are 'simply excellent' (quote from Unilever). They always deliver much greater energy' motivation and efficiently accelerates to a galvanised, integrated team for their Manager/Team Leader. They're great fun and very commercially orientated - the best of both key elements to a successful and long-lasting high performance team. A successful company is always made up of successful teams. Teams that can work autonomously with a clearly defined set of goals, roles, vision, responsibility and culture will always reach for and achieve far greater success than a team that works just as a group of individuals. Our team building solutions are individually built and geared towards teams at any level within an organisation, providing an independent and objective perspective to promote a common purpose such as the creation of a 'high performance team'. Out With The Old Traditionally, team building events have been restricted to certain levels of management where they head off site for a bit of archery, quad biking and paintballing or something along those lines. Then over some coffee and cocktails, business plans and more efficient ways to work are casually discussed. Whilst being out having fun instead of being at work may improve an individual person's mood, the effect will only be short-term, and will not go far in creating permanent and cohesive teams who are able to overcome challenges together and drive the business forward when back in the workplace. In With The New Today's business thinking is more strategic and certainly has to look for returns on the investment. That is why Dickson Training Ltd's team building programmes are bespoke and built to your requirements through research, understanding your business and, most importantly, what results and achievements you are looking to get out of the programme. Once "what success looks like" has been established, we create tasks and activities that will test your leadership, problem solving, communication and team work skills. When the tasks have been completed, the learning - both practical and theory - is debriefed to the group as well as how it will translate back in your business. Not only are our events great fun, but they provide participants with learning points they can act upon to improve or enhance the working practices/environment. Team Building That Gets Results We have a highly innovative team who design team builds to suit all budgets and time or space restrictions. Large or small, we will develop the perfect event to meet your commercial objectives, keeping in line with your values and company culture. More recently we have combined team galvanising events with ways to engage the participants with and support their local communities. This solution has proved extremely popular with our clients and we are continuing to develop more and more programmes doing exactly this. " Phil did everything in a very professional and focused manner, without losing sight of the overall aims or having 'fun'. When I moved to Airbus UK and subsequently European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS), I had no hesitation in recommending Phil and the team to deliver the required training and team events.  Without doubt Phil and his team are excellent providers of training, to suit even bespoke requirements, and I would not hesitate in recommending the team to any business in the future. " Glenn Brown, Systems & Expertise Manager, Airbus Personnel Service Augmented Skills – an Essay by Phil Dickson All of you, who are reading this, and all the people you meet and work with will have – ‘Augmented Skills’. So – if you are an IT Engineer or a Pharmacist; perhaps you are, or know, a Departmental Leader and you work with a Logistics Project Manager; these roles will demand core skills, whether they be technical know-how or qualifications in the discipline. But to be that bit better; more reliable; more effective & productive and therefore more valuable and, frankly, marketable – capitalizing on ‘Augment Skills’ comes into play. The I T Engineer who was a Chess Champion at Uni, which would indicate that they possess some key ‘Augmented skills’ including how they plan 3 steps ahead and are always prepared for the unexpected. The Pharmacist, who is a keen sportsperson in their private life, will likely be tenacious, team-orientated and disciplined – again these are superb qualities to have in this – or any – role. Your colleagues, as well as yourself, will have ‘Augmented Skills’ that will be an asset if only they are explored and applied to their role and indeed, career. Everyone has their own 'Super-power' If they love gardening, they are probably strategic, patient and inclined to research; if they cook or bake, they are usually well organized and comfortable with multi-tasking. A big reader will tend to be considered and possess good critical thinking faculties, and an amateur mechanic or keen DIY person will often be practical, resourceful and very determined. I have observed that many new Parents discover they have ‘Augmented Skills’ they didn’t know they had... such as getting order out of chaos and displaying industrial amounts of patience and good grace when they really do not feel like it. They very often become far more compassionate and empathetic. Most people have their very own ‘Superpower’. Invite your team members to offer their ‘Augmented Skills’ to your work-place – and just watch as it elevates the motivation levels and improves results. It’ll be very rewarding for all concerned – and for meeting the Team’s objectives, to encourage the person who is a talented artist to be a sounding board on some of the marketing imagery and layouts; for the team member who is great at Maths or resolving crosswords to be asked for their input to solving a problem that is causing logistical or operational headaches. Never exploit a Team member’s unique special skills at their expense I would like to stress, however, that it must never be an area where a team member gets exploited by harvesting their unique special skills to coerce them into taking on greater responsibilities and tasks without providing them with the commensurate salary and status. To do so would be immoral and, ultimately, counter-productive as it would lead to resentment and disenfranchisement. This is about encouraging people’s capability and inviting their input to boost confidence and enhance the team’s capability. Often, we need to be more than what our Job Description says It is also important to highlight that whatever a person’s role or function is – they will definitely need to have additional capabilities to be effective. The best example of this is when we designed and delivered a range of ‘Advanced Customer Care skills’ training sessions for the Met Office a few years ago…we met so many remarkably super-bright Meteorologists, many of whom were having to make significant adjustments to answering questions from Customers that seemed to be illogical and often, obtuse. It wasn’t enough for these Meteorologists to be highly skilled at interpreting data and identifying patterns – they needed ‘Augmented skills’ to make that information accessible to members of the public (and Council workers and Air Traffic controllers and Shipping agents) and many other people, as to what that particular weather system was going to be like in their area and at what time. They have to know how to ‘de-jargonise’ the material and provide succinct, clear, and yet temperate, descriptions without ever appearing exasperated, impatient or judgmental in response to sometimes quite silly questions. For a highly trained scientist – that can be counter-intuitive. Being Philosophical... and a wee bit pretentious At the risk of being a little Philosophical (and probably a wee bit pretentious) – in my own role of Trainer – my core skills have to include – being a very good communicator, an active listener and have innovative and engaging ways to convert an idea, or a model, into practical application that my Delegates and Clients gain tangible benefits from. This is how it applies to me... I really enjoy composing short, light classical-style piano pieces. Now, to do this well, you need to be able to find a transition from one chord or melody to a different theme or key. It has to be worked out very carefully to have incremental transitions and pleasant-sounding developments as the piece unfolds. I think I have become better at this as I have honed my skills as a composer. But I have realized that these very same skills have ‘Augmented’ my ability to help a Manager, or a Team, move from a state of conflict; tension; disfunction; disenfranchisement; lack of confidence to a place that is more harmonious with far greater productivity. The very same process of careful listening, considering options, taking well-considered steps, having a creative, sometimes brave, move towards a resolution are at play in both Training and Piano Compositions! Scheduled Courses Unfortunately this course is not one that is currently scheduled as an open course, and is only available on an in-house basis. Please contact us for more information.