For people who are still in gainful employment, a good way to get additional training is to simply ‘ask’ your employer. Bear with me here…

The chances of a direct training pitch working are often not high (no budget, office is busy etc)- so what I advise (and have used myself) is to use the WIIFM tactic as the primary asking technique.

“What’s-In-It-For-Me” boils down to 2 main things:

1- Present your request for training as an opportunity to improve something in your existing workplace e.g. a new sales skill which will help close customers or a negotiating tactic which can help lower your costs with vendors. This MUST be genuine and not some kind of subterfuge to gain a skill and give nothing in return. That kind of deception will backfire on you for sure.

2- Offer to run a mini-version of the training when you have completed it. Who attends should actually be up to your managers but the fact that you offer will put you head and shoulders above the majority of people. (let’s face it, despite the best of intentions, many people hurry way from the training room after the course never to open the notes again!)

To make this work you will of course have to work! And stay awake during the training. By making a few notes of when the trainer got to particular sections, you can easily scale down a 1 day course to 1 or 2 hours. Just cover the main conclusions in an informal way and let your interested colleagues follow up with you later.

PS – Put 1) and 2) above in a 1-page (max) email along with the estimated costs of training, and any follow up study time you think is required.
Send this to your manager and then politely request a 15 minute meeting to explain and answer any questions.

Getting this on your personal development plan (assuming your company has one) is something that shows real initiative. If there isn’t one at your workplace, then create your own private PDP on 1 sheet of paper. It will help you take more control of your career wherever you find yourself in the future.

regards
Mark McClure
japan

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