Developing yourself as a successful manager is a career long endeavour. With the multitude of options available to you in the professional development market, it is not always easy to find the right one for you. It is exciting and inspiring when you do come across that next great opportunity to expand your fulfilment and achievements at work.
For most us, signing up and investing our time and resources includes winning the approval of our boss.
You may have a defined training plan and budget allocation or simply find yourself enrolled in programs on ad hoc basis as new courses arrive in someone’s inbox. As the vast number of options for participating in courses and seminars grows now is the time for you to take control and building the career skills you want and need.
Below is a practical list of ways to engage support from your workplace and ignite your management growth and development through the programs you want.
By employing these strategies, you can demonstrate the importance of relevant and continuous expansion to your employer. Happy learning!
1. Show The Return On Investment
To increase the opportunity for approval for a development request, employees should develop a strategy that includes the value and ROI to the organisation. Facts and research should support key benefits and the purpose of the request. The data should support the company's goals and objectives. A factual and transparent proposal will build the support for approval. - Lori Harris, Harris Whitesell Consulting
2. Plan To Take Action Either Way
A company invests where they achieve results that matter to them. If you want to steer your own course, resolve to put a growth plan into action with or without their support. Present it as an opportunity for them to participate in the outcome, not just the cost. That approach will help you do more than recoup time or money; It will provide opportunities to leverage the growth for you and them. - Kathi Laughman, The Mackenzie Circle LLC
3. Offer To Share The Knowledge You Gain
Show the value of the investment the company is making in you. How can you "teach back" what you have learned in a lunch-and-learn forum to everyone in your department? What a great way to divide and conquer and save money in the long run. Send one person and teach everyone else! Richard Branson says, "Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to." - Christie Cooper, Cooper Consulting Group
4. Involve Your Manager In Your Growth
As a former hiring manager, it was always frustrating to invest in professional development only to chase them down later for the results. Involve your manager in your growth! Share what you have learned and have a conversation about it. No one learns well in a vacuum. I can say, from experience, your boss will feel much more engaged and may be more willing to fund additional growth in the future. - Erin Urban, UPPSolutions, LLC
5. Show The Emotional Value
The main reason why we agree to anything is because we believe there is value in it. Show your manager the emotional value they will get from having you attend a specific skill set conference or course. For example, tell your manager they might feel less stressed out if they know you can accomplish certain tasks much faster because you now have the specific skill set required for that task. - Anne Beaulieu, Walking Inside Resources Inc.
6. Tie It To The Company's Mission
You want to get ahead? Know what you want, meet with someone in that position and find out specifically what they do, what skills you are missing and what you could do to gain them. Then look from how you are helping fulfill the overall mission of the company. Create a business case for why the company should invest in your growth path. Take that information to the decision maker and ask. - Janet Zaretsky, Empowered Women Enterprisess, LLC dba Janet Zaretsky
7. Position It As A Corporate Branding Opportunity
Most companies have a budget for employee development. Build a case that your attendance helps build the company brand in multiple ways: benefiting recruitment with company awareness and developing your professional network while developing your skill sets. Learn while being a brand ambassador at conferences. Your employer will see it as an investment and perhaps pull from the recruitment budget. - Gayle Draper, Intentional Careers and Human Resources
8. Find Testimonials From Former Attendees
Find testimonials from people who have attended the courses through your own interviewing and your own current due diligence. You will be bringing that argument using the power of other people's words. Those words frame your argument and will speak for you. Found a person who is with a competitor company who has said it helped them win a deal in the industry? That's your sales pitch. - John M. O'Connor, Career Pro Inc.
9. Know Their (Not Your) 'Why'
If you're considering an opportunity and want your company to contribute with time, support and/or money, get clear first on the decision maker's why—not yours. While your "why" is important, it's not always compelling to others. Get specific. Use the words they use. If they talk about efficiency, explain how the investment makes you more efficient. Clarity wins and will help you win too. - Darcy Eikenberg, PCC, Red Cape Revolution
10. Gather Data To Support Your Case
There is no denying the copious amounts of research that shows us that employee learning and development positively impacts employee engagement. Approach your manager with a short proposal outlining what you will learn and how it will benefit the team, your initiatives and your engagement. Furthermore, don't be afraid to bring in some data to further make the business case for your development. - Jacinta Jimenez, BetterUp
11. Shadow Other Teams
Most think growth opportunities lie outside of an organization, but sometimes the most powerful ones we dismiss. When I worked in the corporate scene, I shadowed and had meetings with other teams to understand their processes. I gained insight into how different departments impacted each other, allowing me to propose changes that helped everyone, and which led to me being seen for opportunity. - Cody Dakota Wooten, The Leadership Guide
12. Bring Options To The Table
Schedule a time to speak to your manager about professional growth. Offer to bring a range of options, costs and benefits. Set a follow-up meeting, then discuss the order of preference for your development. It’s likely that finance and HR departments will have input too, so be prepared that the process may take multiple meetings and some time to organize. - Frances McIntosh, Intentional Coaching LLC
13. Time Your Request Well
Managers don't typically think about their teams' career development throughout the year, but they do at annual reviews. Time your request by including it in your review. Look at next year's goals and projects, make a list of the new skills you'll need. Research training, conferences and mentorships, then request one. You are more likely to get a "yes" if you time it when your manager is ready. - Loren Margolis, Training & Leadership Success LLC
Sourced from Forbes Coaches Council
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