1. Luis, during these more than 900 hours of training per year, what is the greatest challenge in the planning of a training initiative?

With a training plan that is so complete and planned in detail, the greatest challenge is to ensure that the planned training integrates all the fundamental points, at the same time responding to the timeline required for training and, above all, meeting the expectations of the participants who integrate them.

2. How are the real needs of PrimeIT and Primers analysed?

In order to make the training plan as oriented as possible for PrimeIT’s employees, a three-part analysis is made. The first, and the most fundamental, is the survey of training needs with each Primer, in which each one can detail the areas in which they feel the need for improvement, suggest courses to Prime Academy and give suggestions about courses already held. The second analysis is carried out taking into account the number of projects in each area of knowledge. The more projects we have in a particular area, the greater the need to respond to training needs that may exist for the respective Primers in that area, or even a duplication of courses so that more people can participate in training on the same topic. The third and final analysis takes into account the market changes and technologies that are emerging or that are more notorious, which allows us to anticipate a possible need for training on specific topics, which may not be visible today.

3. Once the themes have been found, how is the training plan structured?

We try to have as harmonious a training plan as possible, distributing the training initiatives over the various months of the year and taking into account the areas of skills that are intended to be approached, skills that are technical, behavioural and linguistic. In this way, in the same month, we were able to have a training of technical skills, another of behavioural skills and another of language skills, allowing the Primers to evolve in a balanced way, in these 3 areas.

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4. With the pandemic, PrimeIT moved to a fully online approach to training. How has the feedback from Primers been?

Although we attach great importance to face-to-face training, with the pandemic we decided to make our training 100% online, betting on the Live Training model. This model allows us to simulate what a face-to-face training would be, with each participant connected to the virtual room, where they can see the trainer in real-time and interact with him/her and the rest of the class. This has been a very well received approach by all Primers, not only for health issues, but also for the ease of accessing the training from home, where they are working remotely.

5. Are there any extra challenges in 100% online training?

There are always several challenges when it comes to online training, especially in technical and behavioural skills training. Technical skills trainings, involving the use of computers, often require additional effort to solve some obstacles, which in person would be much easier to solve. Behavioural skills trainings, which traditionally include group exercises and room dynamics, also present a greater challenge to achieve them in virtual rooms. In addition to these examples, there are also the challenges caused by poor internet connection or difficulty in accessing the platforms used for virtual rooms.

6. What does Prime Academy have in store for us for 2021?

Prime Academy’s focus for 2021 is to continue to improve its training offer and the quality of its training, continuing the work that has been done year after year. We thus continue to count on our Primers, who through their feedback, help us to achieve our goals and therefore also help us to meet their expectations.