Following Through on Training

It's impossible to overstate the importance of professional development for your Creatives, and the current economic environment (which means a lighter workload for many firms) offers an opportunity to step back and fill the empty time with training and education. Bear in mind, though, that it's easy to say "go get training," but actually making it happen is another matter. There are some things you can do, though, to make it work.

The most important thing is to make sure people actually attend the training they've arranged to take. Chances are that if you sign them up for it you're going to have to pay for it whether they attend or not. Since wasting money is never a good idea (and certainly isn't these days), you need to impress upon your Creatives that when they're scheduled for training, that's their job for the day. If the training is off-site they shouldn't come to the office for anything, and they should leave their phones and Blackberries off for the day. Make sure they understand they score no extra points for skipping training in favor of work.

One reason people may skip out is that they see their leaders doing it. If you and your peers arrange training for yourselves, then you, too, have the obligation to go. You'll be setting a poor example if you don't. It's easy to think that you're so important that you can't afford to be gone for a day, but trust me, you aren't. If you're really that critical, that's a sign you should be delegating authority a bit more, or perhaps you've hired Creatives who need a little too much supervision.

Another reason your Creatives might bail out is because you tell them to go, but then don't let them. If the firm's leadership agrees that training is important then you need to release people to take that training. You may need to schedule their training around projects, or their projects around training, but whatever you do you need to deconflict their work requirements with their development requirements. Don't schedule someone for a class when you know they've got a deadline, or something's going to be missed.

One reason you might not be letting people go is because you really don't have enough people such that you can afford to have someone gone for a day or two or five. With all this talk about a lack of work for firms, the reality may actually be that your company is doing very well and keeping very busy. This doesn't mean you shouldn't do employee development, but it DOES mean you have to do it more smartly. I once had a supervisor who said she couldn't send people to training because she didn't have enough people in her department to be able to cover for absences. That was a crock, of course, since her people didn't really do much anyway, but her point is well taken: in order to meet your main priorities you have to make sure the work gets done even when people are off doing something important like professional development.

Lots of people talk about developing their Creatives, but many of them don't follow through. It's the kind of thing that sounds good in a meeting but can be tough to carry out. If you decide to take a step forward and provide training and education for your Creatives, especially if you see a good window of opportunity right now, then make a little extra effort to ensure it actually happens.