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Professional Development Opportunities

The Office of Operations provides select professional development and employee recognition opportunities. Professional development opportunities are offered to ensure that state employees have the skills they need to succeed in the administration of a responsive, relevant and bold state government. The team currently provides access to online training in Agile project management techniques, Contract Management, Lean process improvement, Change Management, and Human-Centered Design. The team also provides live training on performance management and process improvement initiatives to relevant staff. 


The Governor’s Professional Development Academy
The Governor’s Professional Development Academy focuses on professional development opportunities for state employees to ensure they have the skills to succeed in a responsive, relevant, and bold state government. The Academy offers training in Agile project management techniques, Contract Management, Lean process improvement, Change Management, and Human-Centered Design to the state workforce.
 

Human-Centered Design

 

In this course, learners will gain an overview and working knowledge of Human-Centered Design and how it will benefit them in their state government roles. This self-paced training is 20 seated hours. The course consists of text and audio-based lectures with hyperlinks to additional reading materials and Information embedded and linked videos relevant to the learning materials interactive exercises & quizzes throughout to help reinforce information acquisition.

Human-Centered Design students will:

  • Define Human-Centered Design (HCD)
  • Identify the importance of HCD in the workplace and recognize the positive effect it will have on the constituents you serve.
  • Compare and contrast HCD and Design Thinking
  • Evaluate and engage with all of the steps in the HCD process
  • Identify all steps in the HCD process and how they apply to a specific problem or issue.
  • Examine and develop personas
  • Identify and create an empathy map
  • Apply these practices to design the day-to-day aspects of the government to meet the needs of all the people of Colorado.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Course? All State of Colorado employees, especially those working on products and services that benefit the direct public.

Enroll Here by searching for "COE: Human-Centered Design". Find information about how to create a COTRAIN account here.

Cost: Free for State Employees

Agile

Agile Management Pathways:

This self-paced course is offered to State of Colorado employees online on COTRAIN, and is approximately 15 seated hours.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Course? All State of Colorado employees (entry-level to intermediate-level) and individual contributors who are new to Agile and aspire to perform in leadership positions.

Enroll Here by searching for "COE: Agile Management Pathways". Find information about how to create a COTRAIN account here.

Cost: Free for State Employees

This course is part of a series. Other courses in this series include:

  • Change Management
  • Lean
  • Contract Management

 

Contract Management

State of Colorado Contract Management:

 

This self-paced course is the perfect place to start for learners who are new to Contract Management. The course is entirely online via COTRAIN and is approximately 15 seated hours.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Course? Anyone who manages contracts, task orders, scopes of work, or any type of agreement that requires an awareness of the State's fiscal rules. Individual contributors who interface with and source vendors as well as leaders who manage direct reports who interface with and source vendors who are new to contract management.

Enroll Here by searching for "COE: State of Colorado Contract Management". Find information about how to create a COTRAIN account here.

Cost: Free for State of Colorado Employees

Other courses in this series include:

  • Agile
  • Lean 
  • Change Management
Contract Management

Change Management

Leading and Managing Change:

 

This self-paced course is the perfect place to start for learners who are new to Change Management. The course is entirely online via COTRAIN and is approximately 15 seated hours.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Course? Individual contributors who are ready to make the jump to leadership positions to first-time leaders.

Enroll Here by searching for "COE: Leading and Managing Change". Find information about how to create a COTRAIN account here.

Cost: Free for State of Colorado Employees

Other courses in this series include:

  • Agile
  • Lean
  • Contract Management

 

ChangeManagement

Lean

Lean Process Improvement and Excellence:

 

This self-paced course is the perfect place to start for learners who are new to Lean. The course is entirely online via COTRAIN and is approximately 15 seated hours.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Course? This course will be extremely helpful for anyone who wants to understand how they can do work more efficiently. Entry-level to intermediate-level individual contributors who are new to Lean and aspire to perform in leadership positions will also find this course very helpful. 

Enroll Here by searching for "COE: Lean Process Improvement and Excellence". Find information about how to create a COTRAIN account here.

Cost: Free for State of Colorado Employees

Other courses in this series include:

  • Agile
  • Change Management
  • Contract Management

 

Lean process improvement cycle

The Results-Driven Manager

 

This self-paced, online course is offered by John M. Bernard and provides a MasterClass in results-driven government. Results-driven management is based in Lean, and seeks to tap into existing talent within a state's workforce to deliver improvements and measurable results.

This work is provided across several self-paced modules, with opportunities for individuals to apply the concepts they're learning in the course to their day-to-day work.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Course? Anyone who leads a team of 5 or more.

For more information, visit the website here.

Join the waitlist here, and our team will contact you if/when scholarships for the course become available.

Cost: Limited Scholarships Available for State of Colorado Employees

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