Page 31 - Annual Report 2016 - Cover & Divider Pages.indd

Learning and Training Opportunities
FGM’s ongoing commitment to staff training was active in FY2016.

First off, FGM continues to place licensure as a valuable piece of our careers. Offering online
access to Black Spectacles, a website that has proven to be extremely useful and intuitive for
A.R.E. candidates in their preparation for taking the A.R.E., as well as providing staff with the most
up-to-date review manuals and testing study booklets. The hope of FGM, in providing these
support materials, is to make it as easy as possible to pass the exam. As a result, through the course
of 2016, FGM again had a couple of intern architects pass the A.R.E. and become licensed
Architects. We want to congratulate Maggie Krieger and Michael Becker for conquering this
monumental task in 2016.

As John mentioned in the Presidents Report, training and staff development rank very high on our
priorities at FGM. Early in the year, there was a session held entitled “Crucial Conversations” where
many participated in a very hands on training, including role playing. Participants were placed in
difficult situations and had to work through it in a constructive way. We also provided a two-day
training session for staff members entitled “Counselor Salesperson” which is a process built around
a 4-step consultative selling approach that helps salespeople transition from simply making
transactions to solving real business problems. Participants discover having a different attitude, or
a Counselor Mindset, is the first step towards building long-term, win-win customer relationships.
This first session was held with a smaller group of staff to evaluate the usefulness of the program
and, based on feedback, it is a great program for FGM. Additional sessions will be offered in the
future. FGM will continue to look for additional training opportunities for our staff. I will reiterate
what John said earlier, please don’t hesitate to ask us for training opportunities you feel you need
to reach your highest potential.

FGM Professional Development Committee and the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) continued
its focus on professional development training. These will be discussed more in depth under
Committees later in the report.