by Linda Collard
This post is about mistakes I have made when it comes to looking after my own workplace learning. I love a good mistake. You can learn a great deal from it. And, in this case, I hope you can learn from my mistakes too.
You see I value learning, love it even, and I’ve often felt I’ve not had enough opportunities for formal training (there’s been a lot of on-the-job learning though).
Now having the opportunity to work with a corporate training company on some of their marketing and events – and learn about the business of training – I have recently realised this was as much my fault as it was my employers. Actually, more my fault. Here’s why.
Not so long ago, I worked in marketing communications for a global company. The core business of the company was certainly not what I did for a living. And before that? I was in the public affairs team of a large Australian telco. Again, I was firmly in a support function.
All of us in marketing, human resources, IT, finance and so on will know what I mean. When you’re in a support function, you are often reminded of this fact. You do not make money for the company. You are a cost centre. I don’t have a chip on my shoulder about it. I know what I do makes a difference to the bottom line (albeit a tricky one to measure).
However, where I did sometimes feel a little hard done by was when it came to training. Every performance review I asked for training in areas where I felt I needed it. Every performance review I was told I was fine without it. Okay, that’s a small exaggeration … over a period of years I have had one boss who understood and encouraged me to find suitable outside courses. I did one such course.
Back to the story though. Each of the organisations I have worked for had a substantial training and learning culture. Each required their people to be up-to-date and armed with the latest and greatest knowledge. Each had reams of training courses available. But none was suitable for employees outside the core business, those of us in support functions.
Now that I’ve done a little reading about return on investment (ROI) for corporate training, I see I could have used these principles to pitch for my own training. And win it. After all, numbers have boardroom respect.
Here are some ideas and resources for securing your own training opportunities:
• Ask. I’m pretty sure some people don’t get training opportunities because they don’t ask for them. You may be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. But have the conversation armed with a plan … see next point.
• Training is not necessarily your right. So establish a business case for your corporate training: Why you need it, and what difference your new knowledge and skills can make in meeting business objectives. Identify your skills gap, the objective of the training, where you can receive such training and how the results can be measured. Some measurement ideas can be found here.
• Don’t be flattered. I admit it. When I used to say “I need training in team building and leadership” and got told “don’t be silly … you’re good at these things”, I was flattered enough to accept there would be no training for me. The truth is that these are skills that every one can always get better at, delivering better results in terms of productivity and retention - and I should not have had my head turned.
• A passionate HR or Learning and Development manager is your ally. Just because the skill you want to learn is not ‘core’ or on the list of training choices, doesn’t mean your HR manager cannot help you. They are almost certainly in their jobs because they believe learning can make a huge difference to people’s development, so ask for their help. They may be able to suggest certain training courses or even left-field ways for you to achieve your goals.
• If all else fails, try partnering. There’s nothing that says ‘I mean it’ like going ahead and taking your own course anyway. But instead of reverting to a fully self-funded model, why don’t you ask if your company will partially fund your training? Perhaps the company could pay for the travel and you the course, vice versa, or some other suitable arrangement. You get the training you need – and show how serious you are about your career – and obviously they benefit too. Perhaps next time they will pick up the full tab.
In my own case, I am nearly 100% sure taking the step to place a business case in front of my managers would have won me the right to my desired management and leadership training. Now that I work for myself, I’ll still need to do this … after all, a good business case with objectives and measurement aligned to overall goals is simply a requirement. Give it a try and let me know how you go.
Linda Collard is a Sydney-based marketer who runs her own consultancy. She has worked in Australia, the US and Hong Kong.
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