Train Your Team: Which Path to Take? - The Edge from the National Association of Landscape Professionals

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Train Your Team: Which Path to Take?

With so many different training options offered by NALP, it can be hard to choose the best path for your team. Never fear, we’re here to break down the choices.

Landscape Technician Bootcamp (Instructor Manual)

Suggested for: Companies that Want to Deliver Training to The Crews Themselves

Created last year, the new Landscape Technician Bootcamp manual gives your trainers a pathway to offer classroom and hands-on training for your crews. The curriculum is based on the Landscape Industry Certified Exterior Technician exam and provides the materials needed to cover techniques and safety in 25 different competency areas around:

  • Hardscape Installation
  • Softscape Installation
  • Ornamental Maintenance
  • Turf Maintenance
  • Irrigation

The manual features 25 lesson plans with classroom/outdoor instructions and you can use it at schedule the instruction at your own pace.
 
An added bonus = the lessons help prepare your team to take the Landscape Industry Certified Exterior Technician exam.

For members, the Bootcamp manual is $495. If you purchase the Bootcamp Kit for $670, you will not only receive the Landscape Technician Bootcamp Manual but also the training manuals for Irrigation Technicians, Installation Technicians and Maintenance Technicians as companion study guides. Learn more here.  

Landscape Management Certificate Program

Suggested for: Individuals Who Want Online, Self-Paced Learning

Introduced earlier this year, the Landscape Management Certificate Program provides comprehensive training for landscape technicians on installation, irrigation and maintenance. These three modules can be taken separately or together.

This program is designed to ensure that team members have mastered the basic landscape knowledge needed to succeed. This program is an easy, flexible way for landscape technicians to advance their skills.

This program is designed for self-paced study, but you can also register multiple team members to learn together. Users can access the courses from anywhere with a computer and internet access. Quizzes ensure the participants understand the course material, and they can build confidence by earning a Certificate.

An added bonus: It also prepares team members for the Landscape Industry Certified Exterior Technician exam. While earning the Landscape Management Certificate is not the same as being Landscape Industry Certified, it does provide thorough measurable training for your team members.

Participants can earn up to 24 CEUs with the certificate program. These online certificate courses also satisfy the educational requirements for apprentices who are part of the Landscape Management Apprenticeship Program. A Spanish-language version of this program is coming this summer.

Landscape Industry Certified

Suggested for: Individuals Who Have Been Working in the Field for a Few Years

This is the gold standard when it comes to industry certification. While the Bootcamp manual and certificate program help prepare your team for the Landscape Industry Certified exams, Margo Rash, NALP’s director of professional services and programs, says certification is designed to ‘recognize and award’ landscape technicians who already have a comprehensive and authoritative ‘knowledge of’ and ‘skill in’ a particular specialty or specialty area.

The certification exams are the true test of their knowledge and skills as a landscape professional.

There are six different certification programs: business manager, exterior technician, interior technician, horticulture technician, lawn care manager and lawn care technician.

The certification process consists of enrolling, purchasing the study materials, studying at your own pace and taking the exam at your convenience.

If you are curious about the benefits of having a certified staff, check out what these other landscape companies have to say.

“Having our staff earn Landscape Industry Certification credentials is a way for us to stand out and prove that we are working hard to be the most highly trained and professional team as possible,” says Shayne Newman, LIC, president of YardScapes Landscape Professionals, based in New Milford, Connecticut.

Jill Odom

Jill Odom is the senior content manager for NALP.