As back-to-school advertisements rule American televisions, radios, billboards and newspapers, now is a great time to evaluate your professional goals and if jumping back into learning is right for your career path. Do you need to gain a particular skillset to attain your career success milestones? It’s one thing is to determine your career goals, but another is to secure the finances to get the additional training needed to achieve them.
You may think that your manager wouldn’t support the idea of paying for your training; but you’d be surprised! With some creativity, you can persuade your manager to assist in getting you or your team the training you need to grow professionally and assist in developing new opportunities for the whole company.
Here are two reasons why your manager may be open to having a conversation:
- Great businesses invest in employee expertise and engagement
Businesses everywhere are asking themselves how to retain immense talent in the pursuit of digital transformation. Creating a culture of engagement is key. When professional development opportunities are available, they can lead to increased employee engagement and productivity. According to an IBM study, 84% of employees at the best-performing organizations are receiving the training they need.1 Today’s employees take career advancement and training seriously.
- Training lessens employee attrition
According to a Harris Poll, 70% of staff members would be at least somewhat likely to leave their current organizations and take a job with one that is known for investing in employee development and learning.2
3 tips to guide your conversation with your manager
Here are three tips to help you prepare for your conversation with your manager and convince them that it’s in everyone’s best interest in the company to invest in your training.
1. Have a future-focused mindset
No matter what department you are in, look for growth opportunities in your role. Whether it is assisting in accelerating the adoption of new technologies (such as modern apps) or aligning existing silos, identify areas that need additional momentum. Organizations are always on the lookout for high-performing individuals focused on what the business will look like in the future. Staying nimble and being able to adapt to technological change should be at the forefront of your planning. Two certifications in these areas to consider are the Spring Certified Professional 2022 or VCP-Application Modernization 2022. Both are great bets to ensuring a future-focused set of skills for today’s and tomorrow’s cloud-native initiatives.
2. Identify cross-training opportunities
Cross-training promotes confidence in your ability to understand not only the product but the solution as a whole. Gaining a comprehensive set of skills will help you develop convergent skillsets and adapt to emerging technologies. For example, with rapidly changing infrastructures, mitigating risks with a security certification becomes a priority. Consider pursuing a strong certification that will help you address security concerns, such as VCP-Security 2022.
3. Know your KPIs and ROI
Now more than ever, managers are making sure every dollar spent counts. Make sure to align the training to optimize technologies within your given field of expertise. Knowing your business processes and creating use cases where your desired training will generate the sought-after business outcomes will help in the planning process.
Approaching your manager can feel awkward, but it does not need to be if you are prepared. Take the above items and list out not only what the benefits are to your manager but also understand how the training will affect other areas of the business. You may find that you can bring best practices to your team that leads to improved team morale and better performance and efficiencies on upcoming IT projects.
Here is a sample letter to your boss to get you started:
Dear <Manager name>,
In order to obtain the latest professional skills in the industry, I would like to get training on VMware solutions. Much of the technological landscape has changed in the past few years with the focus on digital transformation initiatives. This training will enhance my knowledge and skills in <specific technology>, which will drive better business outcomes for our department.
Furthermore, this training and certification will help our organization remain more competitive in the industry by <KPI> in <a future-focused outcome.> This will also allow me to <specific benefit to the organization> by learning best practices from the finest instructors aligned with my schedule.
If the budget is a concern, I have created a few use cases where we could see an immediate impact for <certification or course.> I would be happy to discuss the details of the <certification or course name> with you.
I look forward to discussing this with you soon!
Sincerely,
<Your name>
Use the above letter as a framework to get the conversation started. While we cannot guarantee the outcome, getting your professional development goals in front of your manager will help build your relationship and put an emphasis on future-focused goals.
Ready to find a course or certification? Browse our certification portfolio to see which one is right for you today!
1IBM, “The Value of Training”
2PRNewswire, “How to get today’s employees to stay and engage? Develop their careers”
