Growing your business through your talent

Whilst we are thinking about spring and our own growth story, covered in Michelle’s recent blog where she shares the rollercoaster of a ride through the last decade, we are reminded that when times are tough it’s so easy to shy away from investing in marketing and developing your people.

We hear this all the time. Respectfully, it’s not the right approach in the current climate and here’s why.

Workforce training, always a significant player behind the scenes in a company’s success, is having its day in the limelight. And we are seeing this at Pro-Development with many of our clients realising how key it is to employee engagement. Employees now see a vibrant learning & development (L&D) culture as a key part of what makes a company a great place to work in 2023.

In order for a business to grow, it needs to have the ability to scale its operations. This includes having the ability to grow its talent. Without a plan to grow your talent, your business will eventually reach a point where it can no longer grow. You can read a bit more about this in Lee’s last blog.

One of the main reasons businesses need a learning and development budget is to ensure they can scale their operations. By investing in training and development, businesses can bring on new talent, develop their current talent and grow their business and capabilities.

Another reason businesses need a learning and development budget is to stay competitive. To stay competitive, businesses need to be able to bring on new talent and keep up with the latest trends and innovate. By investing in training and development, businesses can do both.

Finally, and most importantly, businesses need a learning and development budget to retain their employees. To retain their employees, businesses need to ensure they are providing them with the necessary training and development opportunities, engaging them on the right things at the right time and inspiring and motivating them. By investing in training and development and employee engagement programmes, businesses can ensure their employees are happy and engaged and want to stay with their company.

There are many benefits to having a learning and development budget as a business small or large. By investing in training and development, businesses can grow their talent, stay competitive, and retain their employees. We read on Forbes recently that:

• 76% of employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training
• 55% say they need additional training to perform better in their roles
• 32% believe training should be both more social and updated more frequently
• One in two employees are pursuing learning opportunities on their own, outside of training at work
  (Forbes)

As you know from Michelle’s blog, lesson five was all about investing in your team.  They are the key to everything.  Losing talent is not something we want to risk.

If you are not sure where to start with your L&D budgeting and strategy get in touch and we can support, and ensure you have the right plans in place to inspire and engage your people.

If you have a budget and want to spend it wisely, we are in Yorkshire after all, we have funding available for businesses in York, North Yorkshire and East Riding – use it this year whilst it’s available! Our offer is bespoke to you and there’s funded development across every level in an organisation.  We also work hard to ensure anything you invest makes a real difference to you, your people and your business.

If you are investing personally come and chat through the options, we have options from one day workshops that are affordable, and you could group a few together to create your own mini programme to our flagship 7-month experiential leadership development programme that’s often quoted as being life changing or life affirming.

When you are looking for training that is more social and interactive, we get it – everything we do is practical, aligned to company values and creative, fun and memorable. Our team building, team development and outdoor activities are perfect for bringing teams together, getting to know each other better and getting higher levels of engagement.

L&D is still a top priority for growing a successful business. Don’t let the media or anyone else tell you any different. You know that your people are critical to your future success, development and growth just like we do here at Pro-Development and just as Michelle has done over the last 11 years with great success. Focus on your people and the rest will follow.