IDM offers career development opportunities

The Institute of Development Management (IDM) offers short courses that cut across various disciplines for employers and their employees to grow in their professional careers through robust training opportunities to optimise output. The courses are held in a period ranging from one week to six weeks.

According to IDM Senior Consultant and Coordinator for Centre for Continuing Professional Development (CCPD), Elizabeth Nkala, each year they receive a lot of inquiries from people who want to fulfil personal development objectives. “We receive requests from individuals, organisations and government ministries for training. We realise that people are determined to acquire new skills or sharpen their competencies to make meaningful contribution to productivity levels in their areas of work,” she said.

Nkala said, through numerous programmes which are either generic or tailor-made to suit a clients’ needs, IDM capture contemporary human resource development needs at senior management, middle management and operational levels in both public and private sector enterprises.

The courses include, but are not limited to Transport Management, Management Training for Personal Assistants, Public Relations, Training of Trainers, Records & Information Management, Entrepreneurship Development, and Purchasing and Materials Management. “IDM is a dynamic institution which listens and responds to the needs of customers. With over four decades in existence, we pride ourselves in the legacy we have built in Botswana and beyond. Our mandate is to train, and we continue doing this to support our economic development. We are also excited to take Botswana to a knowledge based economy, which we believe as a training institution, gives us the opportunity to take an active part in its achievement,” said Nkala. 

 The courses

·         FINANCE FOR NON-FINANCE MANAGERS: At the end of the training, learners are able to demonstrate an understanding of the finance function; apply basic costing methods and techniques in their activities; prepare budget and execute budgetary control; read and analyse financial statements; appraise investment projects; apply basic costing methods and techniques in their activities; prepare budget and execute budgetary control among others.

·         CORPORATE STRATEGY:  For participants to be able to develop a critical understanding and appreciation of strategic planning as a fundamental tool to guide and direct the vision, mission, objectives and values of the organisation. They have to monitor the organisation’s external environment and internal capabilities closely enough to know when to institute strategic changes.

·         SUPERVISORY SKILLS AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT: To help supervisors acquire appropriate managerial and supervisory skills to effectively perform leadership and people-management functions.

·         LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT:  Designed for senior managers and executives to help them acquire appropriate knowledge, attitudes, skills and practices to effectively execute leadership and people-management functions.

·         PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS WRITING: To equip leaders with message positioning skills to effectively contribute to the growth and success of their organisations.

·         MANAGING CONSULTANCY SERVICES: To equip participants with the knowledge, techniques and skills to manage consultancy interventions and the consulting process in their organisations, including what the consultancy process entails.

·         ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING: This course is designed to equip participants with the appropriate skills and techniques for delivering successful oral presentations, given that senior managers get invited to make public presentations at various occasions.

·         CHANGE MANAGEMENT:  Change can happen from within an organisation or from outside. How much change can an organization endure, whether it is positive or negative? How do people in an organisation creatively deal and cope with change in order to yield desired outcomes. The course equips the participant with skills on how to win the hearts and minds of each individual affected by change within an organization in order to reduce their resistance and ensure that envisaged changes are implemented and sustained successfully.

·         OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT: The purpose of this course is to equip employers and employees with the necessary skills to identify hazards, assess the significance of hazards, and implement prescribed control strategies. Organisations ought to operate in line with the relevant national laws and international conventions.

*Ranku is the Marketing Officer, Institute of Development Management (IDM)