Put Your Professional Development Budget to Work!

It’s budget season, which begs the question, is your employer planning to invest in your career development in 2023? Perhaps you don’t have a professional development (PD) budget, and you’re looking for ideas on how to advocate for one. Or, maybe you already have one, but you’re unsure of where to invest it to gain the inclusive leadership skills you desire. If either of these scenarios resonates with you, this blog was written just for you. It offers some of the many ways you can advocate for a PD budget and then invest it to gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence you’re seeking to create more moments of belonging at work.

Much of the content featured below was shared during a webinar delivered to subscribers of the Belonging at Work Newsletter. If you’d like to watch that full webinar, simply click on the image above.

PD Budgets Promote Belonging

According to a 2019 Coqual Report, the core ingredients of belonging at work include being seen, feeling connected, and receiving support. When looking at these core ingredients, it’s important to recognize how PD budgets promote each ingredient. Let’s take a closer look at how employers can build belonging at work by making this simple workforce investment.

Seen. When your employer recognizes your career goals, and invests the necessary resources to achieve them, you’re likely to feel seen. You’re likely to feel valued, you’re more likely to make meaningful contributions, and you’re more likely to stick around for the long-haul. The research is clear:

• According to the 2022 LinkedIn Global Talent Trends Report, employees believe professional development is the #1 way to improve company culture because employees at all levels want it. They want to know their employers care about their career goals and are willing to invest in their professional success.

• Earlier in my career, one of my employers paid for an executive coaching program. That program connected me with many inclusive leaders in Washington, DC, and fully opened my eyes to career possibilities that were previously unknown. I felt valued and was even more motivated when I came back to work.

• Now, take a moment and consider this question: Has your employer ever made that kind of of investment in your own career growth? If they haven’t, I’d urge any employer that resists - or outright refuses - to invest in their employees to please reconsider this position.

 Why?

• The costs alone should prompt employers of all sizes to avoid making the mistake of not investing in their employees. Ignoring this truth is an expensive one, with 86% of professionals saying they would leave their current job if a competing company offered them more opportunities for professional development.

• Now remember, according to the Society for Human Resource Management, it costs a company on average, 6 – 9 months of an employee’s salary to replace them. As an example, consider an employee who earns $60K/yr. If they left their employer for another company that offered more professional development today, their former employer would be left with a $30 - $45k bill to recruit and hire their successor in the year ahead.

• Now, according to the Association for Talent Development, employers allocate anywhere between 1 – 5% of an employee’s salary for their professional development. Let’s go back to the employee making $60k/yr. This kind of investment would yield anywhere between $600 - $3k for their PD, and they would be much more likely to continue working for their employer in the year ahead.

• The modest investment of $600 - $3k in order to retain an employee making $60k, saves an employer between $30k - $45k every year this kind of PD is available. As a business owner, I care deeply about retention, and this modest investment in my company’s employees…well…that’s just common sense

Connected. The second ingredient of belonging is feeling connected. When an employer invests in its workforce, employees are more likely to remain loyal to their employer and stick around for the long-haul. In fact, according to a recent survey from Better Buys employees who have professional development opportunities are 15% more engaged, and because of that engagement, their employers enjoy a 34% higher retention rate compared to those companies that refuse to invest in professional development offerings.

In the era of the Great Resignation, employee engagement is the essential ingredient for business success and even industry breakthroughs. A simple investment of 1 – 5% of every employee’s salary can result in a greater commitment to your organization’s goals. This Deloitte report underscores how adding a modest investment in an employee’s professional development can help increase connection, trust, and rapport. Employers that make these kinds of investments are:

• 92% more likely to develop innovative products and services.

• 52% are more productive.

• 56% more likely to be the first to market with their products and services.

• 17% are more profitable than their peers.

• 30-50% higher engagement and retention rates.

Support. If it wasn’t already clear enough that investing in an employee’s professional development is great for an organization’s bottom line, I want to reiterate again that the investment itself doesn’t have to cost much. To make these investments meaningful, it’s important for organizations to give each employee what they need to advance their career goals that are aligned with the workplace’s broader goals. That means that an employer must take the time to learn more about the knowledge and skills that each of their employees desire, knowing that they will likely differ.

That’s where the third ingredient of belonging comes into play, and that ingredient is support. While it’s tempting to wait until a new employees is more seasoned in their role before making professional development investments, it’s critical that an employer immediately supports new and seasoned employees alike by connecting them with the learning and development they desire to have a positive and lasting impact on their experiences with the company.

So if a company goal is to build a culture of belonging at work, and an employee would like learn effective leadership skills, it makes sense to connect that employee with programs that teach the skills to lead inclusively, skills that have the ability to shape more safety and trust on the job, the belonging at work foundations.

Advocacy Strategies to Secure a PD Budget

In the spirit of support, I want to share a few basic advocacy strategies for readers who may not currently have a PD budget. If that’s you, know that the following strategies are available to begin advocating for one. Before executing them, I want you to first assess one very critical element that’s required to succeed with your advocacy, and that element is assessing your safety.

1) Assess Your Safety. Specifically are you psychologically safe? Psychological safety is your ability to take interpersonal risk without fear of negative consequences. This kind of safety is a prerequisite for self-advocacy. As you imagine requesting a PD budget, ask yourself the following questions:

• Can I speak up and request the support needed to achieve my career goals without fear of negative consequences?

• Can I admit to a mistake when I make one without fear of negative consequences?

• Can I offer constructive feedback when I have it without fear of negative consequences?

If you answered no to any of the above questions, recognize you likely work for an employer that may unfairly penalize you for speaking up. If that’s your reality, know that you can always connect with a supportive colleague that can engage in the following advocacy strategies on your - and your colleagues - behalf. Your work is to identify one of these prospective allies. On the other hand, if you answered yes to each of the above questions, that’s fantastic news! The following strategies will absolutely come in handy.

2) Be Different. One of the first areas to begin advocating for a PD budget, is to acknowledge that only 8% of CEO’s value the ROI gained when investing in employee learning & development programs. To bridge the disconnect that far too many senior executives experience when investing in their workforce’s career growth, you may want to share this wisdom offered in Michael Leboeuf’s book, The Greatest Management Principle in the World:

If you believe that professional development is expensive, it is because you do not know what ignorance costs. Companies that have the loyalty of their employees invest heavily in permanent training programs and promotion systems.

Then offer some of the research presented in this blog post, and absolutely conduct your own research to strengthen your case for making these critical workforce investments.

3) Do Your Homework. Be sure to research the costs arising from failing to invest in professional development. This research will help underscore why investing in an employee’s professional development is truly a prerequisite for a business to succeed. For example, according to a study by Work Institute, 20% of all employee turnover occurs because of a lack of professional development opportunities. Put another way, a modest investment in career development opportunities has the potential to increase employee retention by 20%.

4) Align Your Goals. To strengthen your business case for a PD budget, be sure to align your career goals with your organization’s overall goals. You can attain this kind of alignment by making sure what you want also adds value to the outcomes your organization desires. Your needs will likely be taken more seriously when you can frame your career goals as a win-win for both you and your company. You’ll want to position your requests in a manner your executives can relate to, and when you’re successful, you are more likely to secure the resources you need.

• For example, if your organization values inclusion and you’d like to develop as a leader, consider exploring executive coaching opportunities like my company’s Belonging Leadership Series, or the Belonging Membership Community. Both opportunities are designed to deliver peer support and group mentorship to help you embody inclusive leadership skills, which help you grow as a leader, and helps your organization activate its inclusion values.

• If your company values employee engagement, consider sharing this research: 94% of employees are likely to stay longer, and remain engaged with their work if their employer invests in their PD, and those employers that make these kinds of investments have a 24% higher profit margin compared to employers that don’t make these PD investments.

5) Get Creative. If you still experience resistance with securing a PD budget, it’s time to get creative. You don’t have to change jobs just yet. Rather, you can simply begin to grow your professional connections using social media and building up your own network, which can expose you to more perspectives, opportunities to interact with experts, and advance your development by learning from other people’s skills.

You may also want to utilize free L&D resources, such as podcasts, virtual conferences, like the Belonging at Work Summit, group coaching and peer support spaces, like the Belonging Membership Community, or simply reading up on books that deliver the kinds of skills you desire like Belonging at Work and Imagine Belonging, two of my bestselling books.

6) Strength in Numbers. You may also want to connect with other people on your team to see if they feel the same way. If they do, you could encourage knowledge sharing by organizing informal lunch and learns, or book clubs to introduce and practice new skills to begin promoting a sustainable learning culture. There is absolutely strength in numbers, and if you want some content to begin these kind of groups, consider joining the 30 Day Belonging Challenge.

Barriers to Using PD Budgets

If you do have access to a PD budget, and you aren’t putting it to use, chances are you might be experiencing one, some, or all of these three common barriers:

1) You don’t love what you do. Perhaps you wound up with a job that doesn’t match what you really want to do, or you may no longer find your current work mentally stimulating – put another way, your work is no longer exciting.

• Solution. If that’s where you find yourself, it’s not surprising that you may have some resistance in gaining even more skills for the thing that you are bored with. The good news, if your organization gives you what you need to grow, you may want to discuss with your manager areas where you’d like to move within the company, and identify the skills you need to make that happen. Taking this approach would allow you to invest your PD budget into opportunities that will help you build the skills you need to evolve within the organization and move onto a new position that is more stimulating, challenging, interesting, and exciting. Explore what you love to do, and find PD opportunities to help you build the skills to go and do it.

2) You believe your contributions aren’t valued. The second common reason you may fall into the trap of not using your PD budget is because you may believe that your work and contributions aren’t important or valued. Take a moment and consider why your role exists. Then ask yourself: how does my role contribute to the bigger outcomes my organization is working to achieve? Go ahead and take a moment and answer this question.

• Solution. Even if no one shares these words with you – and I hope you do hear them – your contributions are valuable. You are making a difference. You are a part of something much bigger at work, and you deserve to be celebrated for all that you do. By investing in your career development, you will move from where you are today, to where you’d like to be one month from today, one year from today, or even a decade from now.

3) Overwhelmed with Options. Even if you overcome the first two barriers, you may likely feel overwhelmed by all of the options of where you could invest your PD budget. If you have between $600 - $3000 for your professional development budget, what offering makes the most sense to reach your career goals? Are you looking for live-instruction, online courses, 1:1 support, or networking opportunities? Will these take the form of conferences, courses and classes, executive coaching programs, or professional associations.

• Solution. The bottom line here is that the volume of choices can inevitably lead to analysis paralysis, and that’s why it’s important to utilize the following Skills Clarification Framework to zero-in on one concrete skill you would like to develop in the year ahead.

Skills Clarification Framework

The following framework can help you identify the best possible PD opportunities in 2023. To effectively utilize this framework, let’s say that the key skill you would like to develop in the year ahead is to embody inclusive leadership behaviors as a leader. Assuming this is the skill you’ve developed, let’s put it through this Framework’s filter.

1) Reflection. As Simon Sinek says, start with your why. Go ahead and ask yourself, “why do I want to lead inclusively?” Perhaps you want to achieve this career goal to transform moments of exclusion into moments of belonging. As you reflect on this question, continually ask yourself: how will inclusive leadership skills help me reach my career goals, while also helping my organization activate its inclusion values?

2) Exercise Patience. Then, I want you to exercise patience. You know the saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” nor will mastering inclusive leadership practices. No matter what professional development program you choose, this kind of skill building takes time. You shouldn’t rush it, and you’re encouraged to embrace this mantra: “learning & practicing these skills is a practice to make practice, not one that will lead to  perfection.”

This is why it’s so important to know your options, and select learning & development programs that best meet your current needs. You’ll also want to set realistic timelines with clear deadlines for each skill you’d like to learn and practice, and regularly adapt the timeline as you make progress because life happens and its important to make adjustments as you move through the next calendar year.

3) Research. Did you know that there are at least 12 kinds of adult learning styles that vary from three broader categories including visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning? What modality best aligns with your learning style? Perhaps you thrive with self-paced learning, hands-on executive coaching, or team building offerings. Once you’ve narrowed the format, what delivery method best suits your needs? Is it an in-person, virtual, or hybrid engagement? You’ll want to thoroughly research available options that will fulfill your needs.

4) Mentorship. One of the best ways to gain insights on professional development opportunities is through your professional networks and working with your mentors or sponsors - people who are where you would like to be in a year from now, or even a decade from today. A great example of mentorship opportunities like these is through connecting with professional associations or peer support networks like the Belonging Membership Community.

5) Commit. Now that you are clear on the skill you want to develop, and the options available to build and refine it, it’s critical that you commit to doing the hard part first. Making a real commitment asks that you put something of value on the line to make it happen - perhaps it’s your time and effort. This kind of commitment could even mean making a personal investment if you don’t yet have a PD budget that will offset the cots.

 2023 Belonging at Work Offerings

If you’re looking for programs to help you embody inclusive behaviors at work, the following Belonging at Work offerings may help:

• Belonging at Work Summit. A week long, 100% virtual, learning journey that connects you with some of today’s most inspiring DEI thought leaders, fellow inclusive leaders, and DEI professionals, along with loads of actionable content you can apply to your daily practice at work…right away.

• Belonging Membership Community. A network of inclusive leaders and DEI professionals committed to learning and practicing inclusive leadership skills and community care in fellowship several times each month. Programming includes guest speakers, group coaching, reflection worksheets, a robust learning library and so much more!

• Belonging Leadership Series. An executive coaching program delivering the knowledge, skills, and confidence to allow you to embody inclusive leadership behaviors to help you confidently answer this question: how do I transform a moment of exclusion into a moment of belonging at work?

The Bottom Line

This post offers powerful insights to ensure you won’t be paying money out of your own pocket to gain the professional development skills you desire. It offers valuable guidance to clarify why your professional development is so essential. It truly is a key ingredient that will ignite your career growth and your feelings of belonging at work.

It also helps you make a powerful case to your employer to invest in your career development to embody inclusive leadership behaviors that align with your organization’s inclusion values. If you’re ready to take the next move to growing you inclusive leadership skills, I invite you to consider enrolling early in the Belonging Leadership Series.

Lastly, if want to dive deeper into this kind of content, please be sure to register for our next complimentary webinar all about how to establish your DEI vision for 2023 by being the first to receive registration information through our Belonging at Work Newsletter. You can subscribe here.

Thanks for growing the #BelongingMovement!

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Listen to Episode 27 of the Imagine Belonging at Work Podcast and take this content on the go!