Investing in Training and Professional Development: Why bother?

By Yaw Frempong Ampomah || @Kotokovski

Paid for by yourself or sponsored by your organisation, the fact cannot be understated on that training provides opportunities to broaden your knowledge base. It is common knowledge that quality is an exercise in continuous improvement but what is there to gain in INVESTING in regular quality training?

Defined as the acquisition of skills and knowledge used for personal development and for career advancement, Professional Development will generally include all types of learning opportunities from specific training, college and university education to attending conferences and workshops, and it never ends.

Most employers, employees and individual professionals acknowledge the importance of training and the fact that they need it at regular intervals to stay relevant in their fields of work over time. It is however a fact that many organisations and professionals find training opportunities at home or abroad too expensive to take. One cannot judge them as perhaps, there are no critical assessments done to establish the measured gains made by individuals and organisations that INVEST into trainings over those that do not. 

Training costs and inconveniences of having employees miss out on work time while attending training sessions, which may in turn affect daily work output, conspire to mask the great benefits of taking up training opportunities.

Working at Penplusbytes’ New Media Hub; an ultra-modern training and events facility dedicated to delivering tailor made training and professional development courses for a cross section of stakeholders, I have come across a myriad of reasons proffered as hindrances to pursuing professional development.

Valid reasons they may be however, efforts put into such trainings and development and its resultant benefits make it a worthwhile INVESTMENT.

Yes! I call it an investment rather than just another cost, considering how much more stands to be reaped in return.

The list of benefits derived from investing in the professional development and training of your employees or yourself is not an exhaustive one but let me share a few.

• Improved Performance: training ensures you become more informed about procedures for various tasks and now being, fully aware of your roles and responsibilities boosts your confidence to deliver. It helps professionals carry out the duties in a more efficient way and even helps them craft new ideas to incorporate in the daily execution of duty.

• Consistency: Undergoing a well-organized training program gives you constant knowledge about trends in your particular industry. Consistency is very vital when it comes to an organization’s or business’ growth. .

• Satisfaction: There comes with regular training a feeling of satisfaction with the role you play in your business or organization. There is great satisfaction in knowing you are capable of completing even complex tasks and this becomes a spur on to giving off your best.

• Increased productivity. There is no doubt about the net effect of training of professionals on the productivity of their organisations. The acquisition of skills and know-how needed to be efficient and effective in task delivery means that one can perform at a faster rate and thus increase overall productivity.

• Reduced cost: Training and development results in an optimal use of resources in an organization. There is little to no wastage of resources, which otherwise could incur extra cost with resources put to their most economical use to cut down on expenditure.

• Reduced Supervision: Being well trained translates into becoming more With proper skills and knowledge acquisition also comes self-reliance and very little need of supervision in the execution of tasks. A supervisor finds relief from the burden of constantly having to give directives on what should be done when his/her employee employee’s decision to give quality output on their own can be trusted.

There are quite a number of training centers out there for people who want to take up and enjoy the
rewards of constant job related training. Call me biased, but I think Penplusbytes’ New Media Hub is one of the most progressive centers.

We appreciate the value of training and also the challenges organisations and individuals have in finding the right balance between budgeting decisions and developing the skills of their employees. With this in mind, the New Media Hub has researched the most effective way to deliver modern, well-trimmed and cost effective courses that address peculiar needs and cater for all types of work place skill deficiencies.

With a cutting edge training schedule developed with YOU in mind, you may want to check out and keep in touch with Penplusbytes’ training listings for the year. Visit www.penplusbytes.org/events for all details on upcoming trainings at the New Media Hub in Accra.