Leadership development skills are one of the most significant conditions for professional growth. Therefore, investing in leadership training programs for any company is a prerequisite for success. This investment of time and money will definitely pay off in the future. After all, professional development increases employee productivity, motivation, and engagement.
If ongoing employee training is not part of your strategy for success and corporate culture, it’s time for employees to take the initiative. Thus, if your company has effective feedback, such an initiative will definitely be welcomed by the management.
Why Do You Need Professional Leadership Development Programs?
Leadership development (LD) programs, like any other training, are a long-term investment in a company’s growth. A trained employee can provide many benefits for the organization:
- Additional training opportunities within the company. An employee who has completed a team management training program can become an expert coach for other team members;
- Increased motivation, engagement, and work productivity. Additional knowledge and skills increase productivity, quality of work processes, customer satisfaction, and service quality. Employees who are involved in self-development to the fullest and achieve the goals of the company are also less likely to look for a different job;
- Most efficient use of technical resources. Team management skills, as well as a high level of professional training, help rationally use production infrastructure, equipment, and other technical means. Also, the number of errors and downtime of equipment is reduced;
- Quality strategic planning. Management skills are needed not only to set strategic goals but also to analyze the market regularly, adjust and scale your goals when needed;
- The successful use of innovation. Leadership development is a way to effectively manage your team, and encourage the emergence of new ideas and processes;
- Improving the quality of business processes. The risk of lost profits and lawsuits as a result of poor decisions is reduced.
Additionally, if a company looks for leaders within the team and promotes their development, there’s no need to look for “outside” specialists for certain projects, i.e., you don’t need to outsource many tasks.
How to Convince Your Manager to Invest in Leadership Development
If your company pays for employees to participate in various training and professional development courses, you want to take advantage of this opportunity. If that’s not the case, but you know about the required professional development or leadership training program, take the initiative “from below.”
To prove the need to participate in an LD program to your manager, you want to prepare some convincing arguments.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Choose a training program that fits your professional needs. The course objectives should match those established with the manager as part of your performance management system or your job description responsibilities;
- Prepare for the conversation with the manager. It’s not just arguments that you will need to voice for your idea. You have to be prepared to answer every question of your manager. Make in advance the most important information to present to the employer: a basic description of your chosen course, its duration, and the cost;
- Schedule an appointment. Inform your supervisor about your plans so that he/she has a chance to prepare for the conversation, too. For example, if the training you need for professional development has a high cost, the manager will be able to have time to find a positive solution to your problem;
- Justify the relevance of the training program to your professional activity. If team management is part of your job description, it’s sufficient to refer to the relevant clause in your job description. If not, you can “relate” the need for training to a particular project you are working on;
- Provide your manager with complete information about the course, including the cost, start/end dates, the necessity for accreditation to participate, etc. This will be proof that professional development is valuable to you and that you are willing to put in the effort to gain the necessary skills and knowledge;
- Explain the benefits to the team. If coaching is part of the company culture, try yourself as a coach. For example, after taking the course, you can train other employees whose job tasks coincide with the program of the required course. You can also hold a presentation for your colleagues or share the broad outlines of the course.
If participation in a training program will require your absence from the office, you should also be ready for this. Alternatively, you can let your manager know in advance how you intend to perform your duties during the training. If you will be able to keep your workload entirely, use that as an additional argument.
Conclusions
Team management and leadership training skills are mandatory for any manager in various spheres of activity. Such an investment in the development of the company will fully pay off, as training of employees increases their productivity, motivation, and engagement levels.
If compensation for the cost of training is not covered by corporate policy, you can offer it to the manager. Such an initiative taken by even one employee benefits the entire team. Thus, after successfully completing a course of training, the employee will be able to independently train other co-workers.
