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A Manager’s Dilemma – Part I

How can I support my employees’ professional development?

A Manager's DilemmaConsider this story:

Anna has been managing her customer service department for over 5 years. The group consists of 10 customer service reps, half of whom are new to the role (less than one year at the company) and the other half have been there for 5+ years. Early on in her career, Anna was able to send the group to training to help them improve their skills and also to help them develop new skills. She was able to spend about $1,000 per employee when she first started. New employees went through a new hire training program that was 5 days in duration. It was a great start to the job and enabled them to learn more about the company overall.

About 2 ½ years ago, the company merged with another. At that time, all training was put on hold. The new hire program remained although it was reduced to 2 days. Budgets were cut for training and development. It didn’t look like they were returning anytime soon.

Anna needed to do something. She had some great talent in the group and she was afraid she would lose them. They weren’t able to attend training to develop new skills nor to attend conferences. No matter how many times Anna made the business case as to why her staff should get training, she was told it just wasn’t possible.

Anna needed to figure out something to help her employees grow personally and professionally. She needed to get creative!

The question to you – what advice would you give Anna?  Part II will share some ideas for Anna.