Achieve Project Success and Drive Sustained Organizational Change with Learning Tree Acceleration Workshops™

Herndon, VA., June 1, 2016
Learning Tree International, Inc. (OTCQX: LTRE), a leading provider of IT and management training to business and government organizations worldwide, has launched Acceleration Workshops, a new offering to help organizations realize improved project outcomes and drive continuous and positive process changes.

According to a Training Magazine study, U.S. training expenditures in 2015 increased 14.2 percent from 2014 to $70.6 billion. This growth is prompting leaders to provide learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom. Many companies and trainees find that new skills, frameworks, or project management methodologies cannot be fully leveraged in their working environment because their training isn’t always adapted to the problems their teams are facing in their initiatives. This disconnect can quickly impede process improvement, derail projects, and delay implementation of crucial frameworks such as ITIL. In these cases, Acceleration Workshops are an ideal solution, as teams can be guided toward practical implementation of what was learned during training, ensuring they achieve project goals.

“Learning Tree was a trendsetter in this movement when we started developing custom Acceleration Workshops nearly four years ago,” said Brian Green, Senior Vice President, Client Solutions. “Acceleration Workshops are enabling organizations – while on the job – to quickly apply best practices that help isolate and address management impediments within critical programs that are negatively impacting cost, schedule, performance or customer satisfaction.”

Learning Tree Acceleration Workshops™ will contribute to achieving the following outcomes:

Implement formalized management disciplines to initiate, plan, execute or recover client-specific projects
Delivery of high quality products meeting stakeholders’ expectations
Acceleration in the delivery of business initiatives, technology deployments, and customer-facing programs
On-the-job coaching of the required competencies to deliver improved project/program performance
Higher Return On Investment (ROI) per dollar spent on training

Led by one or more Learning Tree Expert Advisors, Acceleration Workshops provide intact project teams the skills to assess and implement the relevant project disciplines, processes, and artifacts required to effectively launch or recover major initiatives. Employees learn concepts that are immediately applicable to the real-world needs of the organization while the instructor provides guidance and leadership.

Acceleration Workshops address the imperative to implement consistent service management practices across their enterprise to reduce cost and improve customer satisfaction. By focusing on a combination of staff training, deliverables that can support the organization, and pragmatic implementation support, these innovative Acceleration Workshops can accomplish what the name implies – more rapidly enabling an organization to improve.

“Acceleration Workshops are an integral part of Learning Tree’s IT Workforce Optimization Solutions,” said Chief Executive Officer Richard Spires. “These workshops allow participants to learn new concepts and apply them in real-time on their projects, which accelerates the implementation of the technical and business processes that are required to improve IT project and service delivery.”

Case Study: Acceleration Workshops for Major Program Activation for Project Recovery

Background: A large healthcare provider was struggling with the complex and multi-faceted efforts of opening a major medical center. The ‘Activation’ phase runs parallel to construction and is a vital phase to ensure the successful launch of a healthcare facility – hiring people, implementing equipment and technology, and establishing all operational processes to provide effective patient care. These large, complex projects require the collective collaboration from all departments of the healthcare facility.

Solution: A custom series of Acceleration Workshops were developed to rapidly provide program leaders, project managers, and team members with the required support to immediately assess and implement the relevant project management disciplines, processes and artifacts required to both effectively launch, and in many cases assist in recovering, these major initiatives. Through these workshops, the client was able to:

Develop actual project artifacts
Receive on-the-job coaching to deliver improved performance
Establish formalized project governance
Improve line-of-sight across the program project portfolio for senior stakeholders

Case Study: Acceleration Workshops to Improve Value in Large IT Investments and Implement ITIL Best Practices

Background: An IT service provider within a large government agency was spending millions of dollars in IT per year, but only a fraction could be justified in terms of value received. The Chief Information Officer (CIO) was beginning to shoulder pressure from various stakeholders as to how so much money was being spent with no justifiable return. The CIO realized that immediate action was needed to stop the bleeding of costs and to start showing return on investments made, so Learning Tree was contacted to support the improvement that was required.

Solution: After reviewing the situation, a Learning Tree Expert Advisor worked with the IT service provider to conduct several Acceleration Workshopsimmediately followed by specialist consultancy delivered by the Learning Tree advisor as an expert consultant. The solution was supported by industry best practices, such as ITIL, being referenced throughout. The Acceleration Workshops delivered:

An IT Service Level Management (SLM) process with agreed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) across all customer offices that will be underpinned by an IT Enterprise Service Catalog.
End-to-end service mappings for each service.
A fully defined costing model that enabled fair and fully transparent cost recovery across all IT services.

About Learning Tree International, Inc.

Established in 1974, Learning Tree International is a leading provider of IT training and management training to business and government organizations worldwide. In addition, Learning Tree provides IT Workforce Optimization Solutions – a modern approach that improves the adoption of skills and accelerates the implementation of technical and business processes required to improve IT service delivery. These services include: needs assessments, skill gaps analyses, blended learning solutions, and Acceleration Workshops.

Over 2.4 million professionals have enhanced their skills through Learning Tree’s proprietary course library on topics including: web development, cyber security, project management, Agile, operating systems, networking, cloud computing, leadership, and more.

To learn more, call 1-888-THE-TREE (843-8733) or visit LearningTree.com

Press Contact:

Lauren Horn
Sage Communications (for Learning Tree)
703-207-0941
lhorn@aboutsage.com