Training: The Cost/Value Trade-Off

"…When I train now, I am not training to be strong or handsome – just better than I was yesterday" - Jean-Claude Van Damme

OK, so the Muscles from Brussels probably wasn’t addressing a room full of agency execs when he said this, but there’s definitely something in that quote for businesses serious about improvement.

Training budgets are at best hard to come by, at worst non-existent. More often than not they’re top of the list in cost-cutting exercises – even in businesses that start off with the best intentions.

But deprioritising training will not make your business strong. Nor is it a good look as far as your staff are concerned.

The better approach is to weigh up the long-term value training adds to your business against the short term budgeted cost. The former is invariably greater than the latter, so rest assured you’ll be quids in.

For your employees, it means improved morale, new and enhanced skills and a newfound confidence. Need proof? Check out our recent feedback:

When asked 'What did you gain today?' this reply from one of our workshop attendees was simple: "Confidence – I’m going back to the agency feeling empowered."

And that’s not all. Back at their desks, their mood is infectious, meaning the value of their training rubs off people who weren’t there. They work more efficiently and inspire others around them to do the same. 

In and around the office this means improved processes and a better motivated workforce. Training and employer desirability go hand in hand, which is why we partnered with Campaign Best Places to Work in 2018.

On the bottom line, training increases output and reduces recruitment costs. Replacing people who leave is disruptive to your projects and client relations, while recruiting instead of training and promoting from within limits people’s opportunities. Save money and invest in your people through training and development instead.

In an industry that changes as rapidly as ours it’s easy to stagnate when the immediate priority is to get the work done and billed.

That’s why our resource management workshop focuses on forward planning and aligning recruitment and training needs to your new business pipeline. Or as one delegate put it: "The course gave me a greater understanding of resource management as a strategic role and the positive difference [it makes] to the agency's bottom line."

So, training is as much about future proofing your agency and boosting profits as it is about developing specific skills.

It’s about being better tomorrow than you are today.