How to make time for business training. March 28, 2019

How to make time for business training.

Tips for busy managers to make time for learning.

Managers are constantly on the go. Although managers in top positions may want to invest time in attending business training to further their management and leadership skills or potentially skills in fields outside of their specialisation, they may find it overwhelming and difficult to find a time in their busy schedule to fit the business training in.

Here are some tips on how managers can ensure they find time for training:

1. Plan around your busy periods.

Consider quieter periods of your work year to put aside for business training periods, particularly if you are a manager considering enrolling some of your team members into business training as well. Christmas or the end of year may be a great time to invest some time in learning as the office environment is generally quieter and people tend to take annual leave.

2. Incorporate travel into your business training.

By choosing to take business training in a different country you could potentially turn your business training into a partial holiday and much needed break. By choosing to travel outside of your city to undertake business training, you can be free from distractions and focus not only on your personal development and learning but also take some time out to rest. Relaxed and focused you will undoubtedly be able to get the most out of your business training.

3. Incorporate research into your business training.

There may be some international tradeshows you want to attend, international contacts you may want to meet with or perhaps you want to research new products in emerging markets that could mean new opportunities for your own business. Whatever it is you could choose to take business training in a country that you have been meaning to visit. Perhaps one reason to go was not enough but with business training you could turn an international work trip into a very beneficial experience full of new ideas, learning experiences, opportunities and new contacts.

4. Use technology to allow for your scheduled time out of the office.

You may be finding it hard to leave the office if you are constantly being scheduled for meetings, presentations or discussions with other team members. While these are extremely important duties of a manager, it doesn’t mean that you should not be able to schedule some time out of the office for your own personal development and learning. By using digital tools for digital conferencing, you can unlock the ability to have meetings on the go. You can also encourage team members to send you exported and annotated PDF reports for items that need to be reported on daily. You can even use instant messenger apps to stay connected with team members that need instant approvals or regular contact with you. Any of these tools can allow you to leave the office while still being fully connected to team members.

5. Swap networking events for networking in your business training.

Networking is an extremely important aspect of developing your business and brand as a manager. There are endless opportunities in attending networking events. You can potentially meet new clients, new business partners, new investors, gain new insights, stay on top of current trends and attract good press. Despite all of the positive aspects, networking events can become extremely time consuming and tiring especially if a lot of these events are outside of office hours. Attending after work events can mean late nights and less time socialising with friends and family which can also be emotionally draining on top of a regular work load. It is no wonder that is it hard to find time for personal learning and development such as business training. You can make the conscious decision however to swap some of the time spent on networking events to instead be spent in business training, where you will also have an invaluable opportunity to network with like minded professionals that are in your business training session. As well as your trainer you will meet others taking the business training and have the opportunity to share ideas throughout the business training session, over breaks and even over lunch.