Development budgets, most companies have them. And if you don’t find a use for yours, someone else will get it.
Most large companies will have an allocation of around 1500 euros development budget for you as standard. They don’t advertise it, but it’s there. But if you don’t ask for it, they don’t keep it for you.
That colleague who’s doing that 5000euro course? They asked, nobody else had plans for their own budget, so they got to use the team budget.
So let me ask you, have you used yours?
You’ve done your annual review. You’ve received feedback, maybe even a full 360. You got a rating, and yes, it was forced into the curve.
You have development points you want to work on.
Here are some typical examples from clients:
You know your stakeholder management could use some work. You’re drowning them in detail and they want the key points. Or they’re only looking at things one way, and you need to get them to see it from your expert perspective, but you can’t reach them.
Presenting in front of large groups gives you the sweats, the heebee geebees. Even though you know you’re an expert on your topic, people are making mistakes that you know how to fix, and it will help your career, you avoiding doing that presentation at the all hands session.
Strategic visioningand enabling your team to high performance is your job, but the details call to you and you can get bogged down in doing all the things, and you don’t want to be waking up at 4am every day to get it all done.
I admire your dedication, you 4AMers, but I won’t even get up at 4am for a flight to go on holiday. I am not a morning person.
Invest in yourself and your career
What was the development action in your review?
Now go find a resource: a training day, a course, a coach, and work on that thing.
And if the resource costs you money, then go get that training budget.
If you don’t ask for it, someone else will get it. Or worst case scenario, the company keep it and puts it in some shareholders pocket
Invest in yourself.
p.s. If the program costs more than the company budget, then invest in yourself.
That’s literally how I learned coaching skills. My employer at the time paid for part of the re-training, and I paid for the rest.
This post is part of my special Coaching Tips Series. This series was inspired by my clients and the core themes in their challenges. When we can apply these tips, we bring a lot of ease into our lives and step into our leadership. Want to talk it through with me? Call me and let’s make a Game Plan together.