the prosource diaries - Julie
Early morning: I have mum responsibilities as well as making sure I am ready for work. I make sure my son has had his breakfast and has everything he needs for school, before he heads out with my husband for the school run. He starts early at the moment due to the pandemic.
08:00 – I almost always start at 8, but my routine for every day differs. I currently work across three different clients and my week is divided up between them based on their training needs. I specialise in Office 365 training, making sure that people can get the best out of the technology that is available to them. This morning I am working for a multi-national energy client. Since the pandemic, many trainers will be working remotely, but in this case the people attending the training sessions are in the Middle East, so it would be a remote session anyway. I use Microsoft Teams to lead training sessions, and take questions at the end. While I’m working for this client I am mindful of the different customer groups that I am working with. Depending on the session I am running, existing knowledge level of the technology can really vary, and some attendees will have English as a second language so I will need to be clear and easy to understand. I sometimes work with a translator as well so that information can be presented in Arabic.
10:30 - I respond to some questions I have received via email from previous training attendees, and quickly check email for my other clients to make sure there is nothing urgent I need to be aware of.
11:00 - I plan for an upcoming Teams training session… which, funnily enough, will be around the Planner app in Teams! Apps like this can be underutilised and can make a big difference in how efficiently a team can work together. I create some supporting content and tips for the people who will attend the training.
12:00 - I head to the kitchen to grab some food, then take a look on the Microsoft website. I check out new and upcoming features of the different Office 365 applications – these are rolled out frequently, so it’s important that I am up to date on what each product offers.
I then switch laptops, as this afternoon I am working for a different client. We are providing training in support of a large-scale rollout of Windows 10 and new laptops, desktops and other devices in an NHS Trust. When the customers receive their new devices, it’s useful for them to know what’s new for them to use – so we give them Outlook tips and tricks, details about OneNote and the other applications that are either new or different.
The technology may be the same as this morning’s client but as you might expect, the way it is being used in the NHS is often different. Sometimes features might be disabled or set up differently to fit in with the client’s way of working, or where privacy or confidentiality is important. I always try to make sure that the trainees get the information that is relevant to them and what they are doing.
15:45 – My son gets home at 4pm. While we are all working from home, I book my live training sessions to fit in with this, and work a compressed day so that I can train with no interruptions. Occasionally things do overrun or there are queries, but today I can wrap up, spend time with my son and enjoy the rest of my day!
