That Time Of Year Again
It’s that time of year again! I am referring to year-end fiscal spending, as an important opportunity to direct dollars in a way that adds additional value to the investment.
If you are a workplace leader, entrepreneur, or business owner: professional development contributes to organizational innovation. ‘Year-End’ fiscal spending’ may differ depending on your industry, sector, and situation. This article will provide you reasons to include training as a planned priority. ‘Training’ includes educational resources, communications and marketing. Your audience can include: employees, clients/customers, colleagues, referral partners, or volunteers. [Article, Video, Podcast included]
Important Decisions
Your year-end is an important time to utilize unspent dollars, and plan for the next budget to include training as a priority. Whether you’re hiring a training consultant, content creator, learning experience designer, or facilitator/trainer, a variety of aspects should be considered before making important fiscal decisions. Training dollars should consider development, facilitation, hosting tools and resources, along with promoting access to information people need.
Training Dollars Considerations
- Needs assessment – where are the gaps?
- Development & creation of learning tools
- Where to host the resources
- How people access the information and find it
- Online Production Partner Services
- Technology Needs & Tools
- Equipment: Audio & Video
- Train the trainer needs
- Facilitation of the learning sessions, or self-directed
- Mobile access and/or in-person training sessions
- Evaluation of the resources and outcomes
- Further development of the resources as needs change
- Online access (mobile) or off-line
- Technology and accessibility, do people know how to use the tools
Golden Opportunity
Training is a golden opportunity to have the dollars go further than a de-appreciating equipment purchase. Do you already include professional development as a budget line for yourself individually or for your organization? Learning dollars indicate that you are future focused, and growth minded. If you are regularly creating or improving your learning resources, they indicate that you value your team, customers and community.
Innovation
Another innovative idea is to include your employees, team or network in the creation of bite-sized learning resources. When someone has taken the time to learn something new, it is fresh in their minds. They know what miss-steps they just took, and what helped them break through from ‘not understanding’ to ‘know how to do that, next time’. Therefore, get your team involved in the creation process. Training dollars can be spent on learning how to create, for example, a screen recording of a log-in process. This short resource can be utilized to save the learning curve time for others, in the future. Mini-resources can even be created by yourself, for yourself, so that you have a reminder checklist the next time you run through a process.
Ideas & Direction
- Get your team involved in the development or an idea session
- Match quality improvement deliverables
- Develop an innovation and growth strategy
- Compare strategic planning priorities
- Develop an education and communications plan
- Create mini-learning resources, beyond big courses, curriculum or programs
Beyond the Learning Curve
Training saves time and money: because the learning curve is a reality, but the process can become more efficient, when on-boarding new employees, clients/customers, collaborative partners or volunteers. As mentioned previously you can get your team involved in the creation process because this can spark innovative solutions to problems.
Another money and time saving aspect, is that if you your audience does not live all in the same geographic location (different offices, locations, time-zones), creating tools that can be accessed anytime, anywhere can save the additional costs for travel, space and logistics.
Why Training Dollars Matter
- Sparks innovation
- Saves time & money
- Create resources that last and evolve
- Get results
- Demonstrate vision
- Support your audience
Reach & Teach
Reach the variety of people you are working with, by hiring people that understand different learning methods, techniques and tools. If you are a keynote speaker, does your PowerPoint or facilitation tools reflect your level of expertise and skills? Are your training tools complementing and emphasizing your message or detracting from it? Investing in updating your tools and resources, produces a value that goes beyond the fiscal year!
Variety of Methods
- Videos – searchable for quick access, anywhere, anytime.
- Connect with a variety of learners, increasing how they remember information
- Bite-Sized Learning Resources, or a complete course/curriculum
- Downloadable checklists, scripts, step-by-step guides, instructions
- Visuals, text, audio, interactive activities, group focused, or individual self-directed
Hosting Videos
Consider YouTube as a platform to host videos, since it’s searchable. Even if you make the videos unlisted, they can be posted on a private web-page, Facebook group or other locations, if you don’t have a Learning Management System.
Always Added Value
You don’t have to follow all the ideas, but take one possible direction, to spend dollars on training and development, this investment now, adds value well beyond the fiscal year! Make sure that your 2020 Vision includes learning and development, so your 2020 hindsight doesn’t see a missed opportunity. This is the beginning of a New Year and a New Decade full of possibilities, learning and development priorities set the stage for an abundant and positive future.
Brought to you by Patricia Regier; Regier Educational Services. Content Creator, eSpeaker, Production Partner and Facilitator. Check out our YouTube video & podcast below and upcoming workshop. Plus last year’s blog about Year End Spending.
Podcast
Upcoming events
What We Do
Expertise: Multimedia Content Creation, Engaging Variety Learning Types
Patricia helps leaders (professional speakers, facilitators, entrepreneurs, course creators) have greater impact with their audiences. She excels in creating outside the box innovative learning experiences, training resources/tools, and multi-media content that engages your audience, getting results. Patricia can help you incorporate the right amount of variety into your presentations, course/training materials and promotional content so you connect with your audience, employees & customers. Learn how to “reach and teach” the people that currently ‘tune out’ during training sessions and instead provide an experience that lights them up with enthusiasm, so they can apply what they learn.
Patricia creatively combines theory with practical experience. She has a Master of Adult Education and twenty years working with a variety of sectors on inter-agency partnerships and learning resource development/facilitation.
Services include:
- Online Production Partner: We do more than tech
- Content Creation Services (Tune-up Your Tools)
- Speaking & Group Facilitation (Keynotes & Workshops)
- Consultation & Individual Training
Engage Your Audience
Regier Education Online Courses
Inspired Learning Personality Quiz
Affiliate Links: Tools I Use
CyberLink PowerDirector: https://bit.ly/2Tn4bZz
LATER Referral Program: https://later.com/r/7bb9ed
Canva Affiliate Link: https://canva.7eqqol.net/reachyouraudience
PresenterMedia Affiliate Link: https://bit.ly/2YqBk7H
ZOOM Affiliate Link: http://bit.ly/2DZ3gWE
[social_warfare buttons=” “]
P
atricia Regier is a speaker, facilitator, consultant and content creator. Passionate about helping people to Reach Their Audience and create engaging learning experiences. Help people light up, not tune your out. Expertise in content creation & learning resources tools across mediums, which engage your learners/audience/employees. Master of Adult Education and BA in Psychology pairs academic knowledge with practical experience.
To request more information about learning and development opportunities, or book Patricia as a speaker or production partner, please use the contact form below, or Email patricia@regiereducation.com
