3 reasons why you need to invest in your career right now (yes, even during the pandemic)

As I've started growing my coaching business, I've met many entrepreneurs and realized that as a corporate professional, I have a lot to learn from their mindset about personal development.  Like many professionals, for years, I relied on my company to be my primary source of career development.  I've been blessed to work for leaders who saw my potential and paid for my training.  However, I've realized that the model of companies being responsible for their employees development in antiquated.  Why would a company invest the same amount of money in employees who stay on average less than 7 years as they did when companies stayed for 30+?  It's not a model that makes sense anymore.  And honestly, it gives my company too much power to decide when I will be ready for my next role.

• Your company is not doing it (as much as they used to anyway). Generally, companies spent $986 per learner in 2018 compared with $1,075 per learner in 2017 per a 2018 training industry report. This means training budgets are trending down even in good years.  This year, with many companies struggling to break even with impacts from the coronavirus, some companies will cut their training budgets completely.  And generally, what money companies do put in training programs are focused on a smaller group of high potentials or executives where they spend 20K and much smaller amounts, if any, on their entire employee population.
• You are the CEO of your career. If you don’t invest in yourself, why are you expecting others to?  You have to ensure you have the skills to be competitive in today's market.  What do you want to do next? What skills or knowledge do you need to do it? While there’s been a lot of talk about the gig economy, what it looks like for many people in corporate America is that the tenure in role has on average gotten shorter.  People are shifting between companies and roles more frequently. So, it’s on you to make sure you have the skills needed for your next role, especially if you’re looking outside of your current company.  And even internally, if someone else already has the skills for that promotion and you don't even if you're a high potential or emerging leader, who do you think is going to get it?
• Luck happens when preparedness meets opportunity. If you invest in yourself, you’ll be ready for that promotion before your peers.  You’ll have the skills for that challenging assignment.  This means you’ll grow your income and impact faster.   So let’s say you make $75,000 a year and you pay $2,500 for a coaching or training program (that’s about 3%).  If you're looking for a 3 year ROI, that means in 3 years you should be making $7,500 more or $82,500. One promotion could get you there.  Even without a promotion, high performers see more in an annual raise increase (on avg. 4.6%) compared to 2.7% for average performers.  In three years, at 4.5% each year, you could be making $85,500.  And in many cases, the difference between high performers and average performers is not the work they deliver but more how they show up - their ability to manage up, influence, provide thought leadership, communicate to senior leaders, etc.  This is why I believe that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. We may believe that people get lucky when they get that promotion, but more often than not, they were prepared when an opportunity opened up.

I recommend to clients they should be investing 2-5% of their annual income in their career development.  This could be in training programs, coaching, or graduate education.  Your career is your business – so invest in it.

Source for average training budget: https://trainingmag.com/trgmag-article/2018-training-industry-report/