Guest blog interview - Bob Bohannon, the CIBSE TM66 LIA trainer
"What you can measure you can manage, TM66 is now enabling all sorts of organisations to either promote their sustainability, to take their first steps, or to demand sustainable products from their suppliers."
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"Keeping up with developments in building and systems design and technology puts the professional in a better position to ensure systems are fit for purpose and compliant with relevant legislation."
Are you making the most of all the filters available to find the training you need?
When it comes to budget allocation, companies invest more in what they decide to be their main and most urgent priorities, with the less important or pressing receiving less.
Where does employees’ training and development stand in your priority list?
Why do you think that it’s important that building services professionals keep up with their professional development?
In the best engineered systems, each detail is considered and carefully planned out. Continued Professional Development allows engineers to remain open-minded - whether learning and researching a different discipline or taking the time to look at their own subject from a different perspective.
We cannot allow ourselves to be trapped by the limits of our existing knowledge!
You sound very passionate about the fire sprinkler systems, do you have a favourite part about it?
Showing how a well-designed sprinkler system contributes to a safer built environment and how the hydraulic requirements and calculations play a part in those systems.
If you could invest in research in your topic area, what would it be and why?
Building ventilation is crucial to the health of building occupants, including its role in tackling the impact of global warming, and more recently in the need to reduce the transmission of viruses and other pathogens that cause respiratory disease.
Research in the area of air supply and ductwork design is needed to prevent the raising of ventilation rates from causing a large increase in energy use and carbon emissions.
What do you enjoy most about being a CIBSE trainer?
Meeting other people that are interested in water supply systems and drainage systems. I like the challenge of keeping people interested, awake and educated for about 7 hrs while watching a PowerPoint presentation.
Throughout my career I have been involved in producing, directing and performing in many videos. So, I try to bring some excitement to my talks by including many visual surprises with animations, a range of transitions, many reveals and interactions with the students.
Why do you think that it’s important that building services professionals keep up with their professional development?
Building services change all the time and there are always new methods or technologies that we can employ to improve things. Keeping up to date is essential.
...how can you keep track of your employees’ development remotely?
Utilising corporate training offerings will enable you to monitor their development remotely and, thus, improve their work performance.
Do you encounter any challenges as a trainer?
I welcome questions from all delegates and the questions are often thrown open to other delegates, so we get different opinions.
Usually the delegates are from different backgrounds and skill sets and I find this a good mix for an interesting course.
Learning should be an exciting journey. However, sometimes it feels like a chore and people avoid spending time on it.
I didn’t want this to be the case with our CIBSE online learning modules, so together with the training team, we aimed to create an interactive journey for our users and avoid giving them any reason to yawn due to boredom.
"Now, more than ever, we need to make use of new approaches and technologies and that is unlikely to happen without keeping regularly up to date with developments."
For corporate training there is no extra travelling required by employees, for either face-to-face or remote training. You can choose your own date and time, and the content can be delivered in either format.
So, what are the differences between the two learning options?
What would you tell someone who is just about to start or consider working in building services?
Be curious. Ask questions. Think critically. Find out how and why things work. And don't fly to meetings to discuss reducing CO2 emissions!
Here are three simple tips to help you focus on your online learning and make the most of the experience.
As new CIBSE trainers, what are you most looking forward to?
We want to have the opportunity to support and solve the direct questions professionals might have to deal with during their day-to-day. We are also always open to learning from those around us about how we could improve the methodology and publication in the future.
Wondering what new training opportunities are coming up?
Of course, there were such learning opportunities available online before, but now their numbers and types have increased, leaving a lot of eager learners with too many similar or maybe confusing options to choose from. What’s the difference?
Let’s find the answer to this question by analysing two common e-learning opportunities, namely online learning and live training.
What do you enjoy most about being a CIBSE trainer?
You do get to meet lots of great people on the courses and they all have their own stories to tell, so a lot of shared knowledge comes to the table.
The attendees are on the course because they do want to know about Mechanical Services and lively questions and comments really enhance the experience for us all.
Do you encounter any challenges as a trainer?
I embrace questions and encourage students to ask, ask and ask again until they fully understand the concepts.
The failure to understand lies with the lecturer, not the student, to communicate clearly and to adapt and present clearly, so that the students fully understand.
With the ongoing COVID-19 situation our ‘normal’ lives might seem like they are on pause, and our opportunities for personal and professional development have disappeared, however, CIBSE, as a leading authority in building services engineering, is still prioritising its duty to support its members, and the wider building services community, during these uncertain times.
Could you please detail what you mean by “a simpler process for the employer or their representative”?
The concept of asking simple, plain-language questions of supply chains is a relatively new concept. Traditionally, a basic specification and conversation would be had between the design team and the employer to ascertain what sort of asset was required, then information would be fed back to the employer at various stages during the project.
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