The Importance Of External Training
While self-learning and online education are great flexible alternatives to traditional classroom-based training ..
.. there are some serious benefits to disengaging and dedicating time to external training to improve your skills –
– and drive better performance for your organisation.Just follow me down my list of 4 reasons as to why you should start investing in Microsoft Ad campaigns.
Training @ Indago Digital
Our Digital Marketing Training Grant
As well as proving its own training courses, Indago Digital focuses on providing opportunities for its employees in pursuing external education and training.
As part of a range of range of employee benefits Indago offer a training grant of up to $2000, for any employee to choose a relevant course and simply go for it.
But too often – people don’t take this opportunity (maybe too many bad high school memories?) And when they do it’s often to attend a conference or online education of some kind.
Having recently taken my grant to attend a 4 day, in depth training in Tableau and Visual Analytics, I’ve put together a few reasons why you should look to get out of the office and get your hands dirty with some good ol’ fashioned classroom learning!
Network, network, network!
Cross-Industry Experience
Getting to work with people from various industries brought up interesting discussions and a deeper understanding around the applicability of what we were learning.
First up – something I didn’t consider, was being in a room with people from various industries and various positions. From helicopter production, health, online retail and local government, getting a broader understanding of the applications of software outside my own familiar context, helped me understand some of the features and use cases. While this also lead to a lot of specific questions in relation to each person’s industry, we all were able to share specific tricks that we had picked up and workarounds for common issues. Groupwork was surprisingly beneficial as well, with a lot of different perspectives which eventually lead to some great problem-solving discussions.
Also, it was a great opportunity for networking – you never know who’ll you meet!
Pick The Brain Of An Expert Trainer
Invaluable Learning Resources
Having an expert in front of you to answer your questions (rather than trawling through help forums or submitting a support ticket) was a truly invaluable resource.
While online learning has come a long way and certainly enables much cheaper, more flexible access to education – it’s hard to beat undergoing a face-to-face session with expert trainers. Our trainer was teaching and well-versed in using the product for over 25 years, which also meant that he’d seen just about every use-case issue and therefore had great insights, workarounds and resources at hand.
We often rely on self-learning and team-knowledge sharing within Indago Digital, which is great for consistency and building cohesion internally. But being able to learn from an expert, not only enhanced my ability to knowledge-share, but validated our current processes while providing an opportunity to update anything lacking.
You Don’t Have To Go To Work !
A Focused Learning Experience
Seriously, if you go to external training – you don’t have to go to work
All jokes aside – having 4 days that are solely dedicated towards learning and practical exercises, is something that a lot of people won’t have access to. Even if you’re undergoing an online course at work, the temptation to think about work or quickly check an email is a distraction which takes away from a pure learning experience.
Focusing on just learning in order to get the most from this course meant that I walked away feeling like I was working on a specific project which required dedicating all my attention towards it.
I felt like I learnt a lot more in 4 days than I could have if spread over a few weeks of sporadic video watching. And it’s always important to remember that although you may think the world will crash and burn without you at your desk – surprisingly – it rarely does!
The External Training Verdict
Better For You - As Well As Business
If you’re looking to brush up on some skills, become a super-user, or maybe just validate your current processes – I highly recommend undertaking some external training.
Having some focused, classroom- based learning is a great way to grasp a ton in a short period of time.
If you currently don’t have a training grant at your organisation, then it’s definitely something worth flagging with your boss.
Investing in an employee’s/your skill-sets, can only benefit the business in the long run!
In the meantime, you can learn more about our Digital Marketing Training Services – & more on the Indago Digital blog and by following us on LinkedIn today!
