How to Make a Business Case for Training Your Project Team or Completing your RICS APC (Assessment of Professional Competence)

Sorry to break it to you but when you ask your line manager if you can go on an accredited training course or complete your APC, they will be thinking “What's in it for us?”. Despite a skills shortage, the construction industry is under increasing pressure to deliver results, so you must spell out exactly what you will learn, do differently, and why this is going to be good for you, your project and your line manager.

If you can show that you will do your job better, solve project issues, and deliver better results, you are much more likely to have your request for a training course approved. Before you ask for the time and money to attend a training course or training programme you need to make a good business case.

Define the problems and opportunities

You do lots of important things at work.  Some of them are going to be more interesting to your line manager and your employer than others. The parts of your job that have the potential to earn or save money, add value for your project or make the best of the project team more productive are likely to be of most interest to your line manager. In addition, if your organisation is undergoing restructuring, or investing in a new direction, skills that will help you play a bigger part in these new strategies will be valued. When you are making your case for training, focus on these activities and make it clear how a change in your behaviour resulting from new skills will enhance your ability to deliver on these most important aspects of your role. 

Staying ahead of industry standards has never been more important. Make sure you’re on top of all the latest technical courses and learning from our NEC training courses, JCT training courses, commercial management contracts, construction law courses, CDM courses, BIM courses and procurement courses.

Focus on the outcomes and results

Training needn't be about fixing your weaknesses.  It's equally (or possibly more) important to develop your strengths.  If you're already the top performer or seasoned practitioner, it would be really valuable for your company if you were even better or perhaps chartered.  

When you make your case for training, it's important to think realistically about how the organisation will benefit from your new skills.  

Quantify the benefits and compare this to the cost of your training 

Have a go at estimating the benefit of applying your new skills in terms of:

• Cost savings
• Money earned for the company
• Support your organisation's strategic aims
• Quality improvements
• Time saved

	Job Function	Skill Required	What is your performance like now?	Post-training performance goal	Value to business
QS Example	Agree contract variations with clients and subcontractors	Negotiation Skills	Have had to agree reductions on a final account 15% of project value which cost £100k	Negotiate half as much as currently	If post-training goals are met discounts will be reduced by £50k – this training will save business £45k
PM Example	Improve productivity of direct reports	Ability to motivate people	Have 8 direct reports good overall performance	Improve the performance of all team members by 10%	If post-training goal are met, my team will complete 32 more tasks each week

 

Now it's time to find the right NEC, JCT, commercial management, project management, BIM, CDM or leadership training course for you and your team.

Support your teams and departments for larger training programmes

If you are a line manager and need to put together a business case for training your team or department, we’ve put together a model business case to help you present your case so you’ll get approval from your managers. Complete the template, to get your case across quickly and easily to make sure you can support your team’s training needs.

This business case provides justification for undertaking a training programme for your project or department. It evaluates the benefit, cost and risk of alternative options and provides a rationale for the preferred solution.