The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo

Author:Julie Zhuo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

Take Advantage of Formal Training

If you have the opportunity to get formal training, take it. This might mean signing up for a company seminar, attending an industry conference, participating in a roundtable discussion, hearing experts on a panel, or engaging in a hands-on workshop.

It might seem obvious that formal training is helpful, but it also rarely feels urgent or necessary. Besides costing time, it also tends to cost money, which means we engage in a classic back-and-forth with ourselves: Is it worth it? Especially in the middle of a hectic week, is it really a good idea to step away for a two-day workshop or to give up a relaxing evening at home for a lecture?

The answer is usually yes. If spending ten hours being trained helps you be even 1 percent more efficient at your job, then it’s a good return on investment (1 percent of time saved per year is about twenty hours).

I remember taking a one-day class several years ago on how to have hard conversations. Those eight hours transformed the way I approached conflict. I left with a newfound belief that, yes, it is possible to have a productive conversation with anyone about anything. Even now, not a single week goes by where I don’t call to mind something I took away from that course.

Another type of formal training is professional coaching. You will likely need to pay for this out of pocket unless your company covers it (some do for senior-level employees). Many CEOs and executives work with professional coaches because, at that level, there are fewer people who can naturally serve as mentors, and even small improvements in performance translate to significant impact for the organization.

When you think about formal training, the question to ask isn’t Is this worth doing right now given all the other things on my plate (or all the other things I could spend money on), but rather One year from now, will I be happy I did this? When framed that way, the choice tends to be clearer.

When you invest in your personal learning and growth, you’re not just investing in your own future but also the future of your team. The better you are, the more you’re able to support others.

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