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Impacts of COVID-19 on Workforce Development
In 2020, the switch to remote work had profound impacts on companies’ abilities to connect with their employees virtually. At FMP, our work shifted to meet the needs of our clients who were struggling to effectively deliver training to their staff. In February of this year, we surveyed 30 respondents to find out how the…
FMP’s 30th Anniversary: Interview with the Owners
This year, FMP Consulting (FMP) is celebrating its 30th anniversary! To celebrate, FMP’s owners, Erin Pitera, Sherean Miller, and Carolyn Kurowski, sat down for a virtual interview to reflect on FMP’s journey and discuss what has led to FMP’s success over the past 30 years. What do you love about the work FMP does? What…
Eight Strategies for Facilitating Effective Virtual Meetings
With the sudden shift to remote work last March, virtual meetings have become the new way of doing business. Idle chit chat on the way to a meeting, sitting side-by-side around a large conference room table, and physically whiteboarding during in-person brainstorming sessions have been replaced by countless hours in front of a computer screen….
The River at Thirty
As we celebrate FMP’s 30th Anniversary, we’re sharing a number of different blog posts that reflect on our work, culture, and history. In this special post, Tim Barnhart, the founder of FMP, shares his perspective on FMP, past and present. I live in the Shenandoah Valley, with its beautiful, meandering river. Several decades ago, I studied philosophy. When I began to pull my thoughts together about…
Collaboration Tools We Love
Working during the pandemic has brought significant changes to the workforce. Teams abruptly shifted from physical to digital workspaces. Many of us transitioned from working in the same office as our colleagues to working from home with team members scattered across the country. Although the need to collaborate remained, it has become infinitely more complicated. Gone, for now, are the days of stopping by a coworker’s desk to get their feedback…
What We Learned in 2020
At the end of a year, many organizations reflect on their work and their accomplishments. Some publish annual reports filled with tables, graphs, and stories describing their impact. They go into the new year excited to use new insights to do bigger and better things. But 2020 brought lessons that went deeper than the projects we worked on and our accomplishments. Amid the chaos, challenges, and grief…
Virtual Work is Here to Stay! Five Tips for Successfully Leading & Managing Virtual Teams
We are almost a full year into a global pandemic that has completely changed the way we do business. It has forced companies and leaders, sometimes with no prior virtual experience, to transition to 100% remote work. But after months of feeling unprepared and lots of trial and error, most organizations have figured it out….
Looking Back – FMP’s Summer Interns Reflect on Their Experiences
This past summer, FMP brought three interns onto our team. Jessica and Alexis worked as Human Capital Interns supporting client projects while Sophie worked as a Business Development Intern working internally on proposals and marketing. Last month, FMP’s Intern Program Coordinator, Louise Chan, wrote a blog that shared best practices and considerations for implementing a virtual internship program. Now,…
Wait! Don’t Cancel Your Internship – Just Make It Virtual!
When COVID-19 upended life in early 2020, many companies made the difficult decision to close down offices and cancel their summer internships. While this was a challenging time full of adjustments, canceling internships negatively impacted both sides of the relationship- first by depriving students of the opportunity to gain real-world experience and build valuable connections…
Looking Beyond Coffee Runs: Why it is Important for Companies to Create Engaging Internship Programs
As a college student in DC, internships are more of a point of conversation at my university than my school’s sports teams ever will be. Opportunities to gain hands-on experiences and make professional connections is a major part of what brings thousands of students to George Washington University, where I am currently a rising…