Sounds familiar?
Certainly not. Nobody would EVER voluntarily drop their vacation.
But let’s not talk about your next trip to a sunny beach, but about training. Following my most recent blog Training? No thanks. I am too busy., our customer Doug Hippe sent me a private message here on PTC Community with his comments and this conversation is the reason I am writing a follow-up post now…
Doug wrote: “I'd like to add to your post on training. I too hear this same response from people when I suggest training. I routinely respond that we find time to remake or re-do something and we find time for employees to go on vacation, how is it we are too busy to train? While this doesn't work with everybody, it makes them pause and think.”
I absolutely like this comparison! I sometimes find it hard to find time for training myself (yes, Marketers have busy schedules, too) and I am under massive pressure every time I go on vacation - delegate things, finish up open projects, etc. Then, when I come back I am facing a flood of emails to work through and that immediately throws me back to real life...
Despite the mess before and after, however, nobody would ever say "no, I won't go on vacation because I need to focus on my work".
Vacation is immediate personal benefit – you need to recharge your batteries and nobody would doubt the necessity. The issue with training is that people do not see it as a personal benefit right away - for most, it is "just" work-related. People see it rather as an additional task than a merit and this is where I believe we need to change our thinking.
For us as employees, an official training course is also a personal benefit in many ways:
- It is an opportunity to grow and become a more valuable employee for the current or even future employers.
- It will allow us to do our work more easily and make it more enjoyable. Most of you will agree that being able to do something well and getting recognized for this is really a great feeling.
- Last but not least, by being able to complete your work in a more efficient way and without re-work, workarounds or error-fixing, you can save yourself many fire-drills and have an overall more relaxed work atmosphere.
I have had employers in the past who didn't offer much training – and thus no real growth perspectives. It ended with me quitting the job and looking for new perspectives. This changed when starting with ITEDO where workforce development was taken very seriously and when we were acquired by PTC in 2006, I got access to even more development options that I am still enjoying today. So basically, I have seen both sides and absolutely see the personal benefit of being trained on a regular basis.
I would even be willing to complement a good training opportunity with some of my spare time – such as travel early on a Sunday afternoon to a seminar or do some homework for a class in the evening when the kids are in bed. Would you agree?
Why don't you talk to a Training Advisor to get an overview of the training options that are available from PTC University today. We look forward to hearing from you!
Bettina
PS: I also like going on vacation, but haven’t finalized plans for this summer yet – simply had no time – yet.
