If you want to stay ahead of competitors and ride the waves of market change, investing in employee growth and development is vital. Equipping your employees with the knowledge and skills to navigate challenges in your organization can help you stay ahead of the curve for long-term business growth. In fact, 93% of employees would stay at their company longer if it invested in their careers, making development key for employee retention.

Getting your team on board with professional development can feel challenging. As such, building a business case that demonstrates the value of continuous learning is critical. 

In this post, we’ll explore how to write a business case to win over your key stakeholders, focussing on the importance of professional development, building a business case, and best practices. 

Understanding the importance of professional development

Professional development is crucial in the workplace for several reasons, including: 

Career progression: Promoting professional development shows your employees they have a long career ahead of them in your business. They’ll be able to learn the skills and knowledge needed to progress and will remain loyal to your organization as a result. 

Relevancy: Personal development training ensures your employees’ knowledge is up-to-date. They’ll be in the know with best practices, industry changes, and advancements in their field.

Customer experience: Professional development training ensures your employees have the knowledge and skills to deliver the best service to your clients. 

Employees’ confidence: The more expertise and knowledge an employee has, the more confident they’ll feel. Professional development can ensure employees have the skills they need to thrive in your industry. 

Now you know the value of professional development in the workplace, you’ll need to get everyone on board. Presenting a business case can establish goals and put your ideas into context. But what business case structure should you follow?

Below, we’ll cover how to write a business case, step by step:

1. Align professional development with business goals

Your stakeholders will focus on how investing in professional development can help meet their business goals. 

As such, you should keep your business’ vision in mind when explaining the benefits of employee training, so stakeholders know exactly where money is going and what the return on investment will be. 

Outline how the training will equip employees to do better in their roles and how their growth will benefit not only the team’s performance but the growth of the business as a whole.

For more information, check out our blog on aligning your employee learning program with your overall business strategy.

To work out the ROI of investing in training for employees, you can use a traditional ROI formula. This is the total benefits (net profit) minus the training costs, divided by the program costs. This formula should tell you the dollar amount returned as a benefit for the money spent on training. If you need this figure as a percentage, multiply it by 100.

ROI = (total benefits - total costs) / cost of learning * 100

So, if you expect your training to generate $7,000 in revenue, and the training would cost $4,000, you would calculate:

You could therefore work out that the ROI was 75%.

Estimating ROI is just one way to demonstrate the value of professional development. There are several ways you can use data to support your business case. 

You can use data to support the problem statement of your business case, such as employees having limited industry knowledge. Using data can make your problem statement convincing and accurate. You can use business data to show the frequency or severity of the problem you’re describing. Data can also help you set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) objectives for your proposed solution - investing in professional development. 

Anticipating and addressing potential objections from your stakeholders can help you feel prepared. Here are some common objections you may hear in response to your business case:

Limited resources, such as not having the budget for professional development

Limited buy-in, such as having to check with several decision-makers before deciding on your business case

Wrong timing, such as stakeholders saying your ideas aren’t a priority at the moment

By anticipating objections beforehand, you can prepare responses for them. Ensure you have the research, data, and case studies to prove that professional development will make a difference to your employees and the growth of the business. 

Check out our blog on how to motivate your team to invest in professional development for more tips and tricks.

Implementing professional development: best practices

Once you’ve got the go-ahead from key stakeholders, you can start implementing professional development into your business.

Choose the right professional development programs

What skills do your employees need to develop? Perhaps they want to develop new skills or stay up-to-date on industry trends. To ensure your business investment is worthwhile, you’ll need to choose the right professional development programs for your organization. Ask your employees what interests them and what their professional goals are so you can invest in the right training programs. 

Some courses may be designed for entry-level employees who are just starting in the business world, while others will be targeted at senior managers looking to work their way up the career ladder. 

To ensure your employees’ training meets the goals outlined in your business case, you’ll need to measure the impact and effectiveness of investing in professional development.

Want to see how much employees have learned? You can ask how engaged they were with the training through surveys. Additionally, you can look at course completion rates or test scores (if a course requires an exam for completion). The more data you collect, the easier it will be to measure employee satisfaction and ROI.

Learn how to use professional development for organizational transformation today

Now you know how to build a solid business case for professional development, it’s time to start upskilling your employees. At Go1, we have an extensive selection of online training courses that integrate with hundreds of LMS', making learning and development a breeze.

For more information, download our eBook covering 50 tips for increasing L&D business value. Or, you can speak to one of our experts to find out how Go1 can help you upskill your workforce.

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Build a business case for professional development to showcase the value of investing in employee growth and development.

How to build a business case for professional development

In today’s competitive business world, investing in employee growth and development is essential. When researching different approaches to professional development, you’ve likely come across several professional development models. So, which one is the right fit for your workforce?

We’ll explore the importance of professional development in the workplace and the benefits and pitfalls of different professional development models. Accordingly, you can identify the best approaches to professional development for your organization.

Understanding professional development models

Professional development is all about building knowledge and skills in your field. People learn differently, so what works for one employee may not suit another due to different levels of experience and expertise. With this in mind, many different teaching and learning styles are available, known as professional development models.

The importance of professional development

There are several ways your employees can work towards professional development, from skill-based training to increased responsibility in the workplace. 

But why is professional development so important? Here are some benefits of professional development for you to consider:

Enables your employees to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and advancements in their field, which can give your business a competitive edge.

Can improve employees’ confidence and credibility, which can help your business maintain its reputation.

Can help employees achieve promotions and raises and take on new responsibilities.

Can unlock new business revenue and sales opportunities as staff learn new skills, which can boost business growth.

Ambitious employees will want the opportunity to grow their careers, so investing in training materials can increase job satisfaction and morale among your team.

Some professional development models you could introduce to your organization include:

Continuing education: Employees could enroll in formal degree programs, workshops, or courses to develop their knowledge. In doing so, they can achieve certificates, accreditations, or other credentials to boost their credibility.

Events: Attending local, regional, national, or internal meetings, conferences, and workshops. Not only are events a great learning tool, but they also offer networking opportunities for employees to meet like-minded professionals, grow their confidence, and promote your business. 

Research: Another form of professional development is conducting research. An employee might spend time researching a particular topic or carrying out customer research to improve your service. They could then present their findings for others to learn from.

Online learning: Online learning allows employees to learn from anywhere in the world at any time. There’s no limit to the topics you can explore through online courses. Online training is more cost-effective than employees attending in-person classes and can easily integrate into your LMS. Check out the benefits of online training for more information.

Increased responsibilities: Assigning employees new projects, tasks, or assignments to develop their skills.

Evaluating the effectiveness of your chosen model

Once you’ve chosen a professional development model, you’ll need to decide how to measure its success. 

One way to measure its effectiveness is to review an employee’s Personal Development Goals (PDGs) and whether the chosen professional development model has helped them reach their goals. Perhaps an employee wanted to improve their presentation skills, so they attended a workshop on public speaking to increase their self-confidence. 

Another evaluation method is asking your employees for feedback on your professional development structure. Did they learn what they expected? Would they have preferred a different approach? You could even ask managers for feedback about their employees’ performance post-training to assess its effectiveness. 

Assigning key performance indicators (KPIs) for your training and development can help you analyze the effectiveness of your professional development models. They also serve as evidence should stakeholders ask if professional development is worth investing in. 

Some KPIs you could use to measure the success of your training and development efforts include:

Choosing the right professional development model for your organization

The professional development model you choose for your employees should suit their learning style, background, and career goals. You can then analyze the pros and cons of each training method to suit their needs.

Here are some factors to keep in mind when choosing a professional development model:

Skills gap: Conduct a skills gap analysis. What training do your employees need? Analyze the knowledge and skills they will require to excel in their roles. 

Types of learners: We all learn differently. To ensure your team’s professional development is effective, you’ll need to choose training that suits each individual’s learning style. Some employees may be auditory learners, meaning they learn best by listening through methods like lectures and conferences. Others may be visual learners who digest information best through diagrams or pictures. 

Methods: Would your employees suit in-person training, or would online courses appeal to them more? In-person training is ideal for hands-on skills that require group work and interaction, whereas online learning is more flexible, allowing employees to learn in an environment that suits them.

Implementing your chosen professional development model

Once you’ve chosen the right professional development model for your business, you can decide how to implement employee training. 

Creating a business case for professional development can help demonstrate its value to your stakeholders by outlining how professional development will benefit both your employees and the business. 

For example, if your chosen professional development model is online learning, you’ll need to choose courses that will benefit your employees the most. Courses are available to suit all levels and abilities, from entry-level employees looking to learn the ropes to senior managers striving for a promotion.

You won’t know if your chosen training model is effective without measuring its impact. You can assess the effectiveness of training through various methods, such as employee surveys, completion rates, productivity, performance, and test scores. From this data, you’ll have evidence to prove professional development’s power and ROI. Be sure to measure the effectiveness of professional development against your goals and KPIs to ensure it’s a good return on investment. 

Learn how professional development can transform your business today

Once you’ve decided on the most effective professional development model for your organization, you’ll be ready to upskill your employees. We have an extensive selection of online training courses at Go1. Integrating learning and development into your business’ culture has never been easier.

For more information, check out our ebook on the 5 new thinking habits for a smarter, stronger L&D. Or, you can speak to one of our experts to find out how Go1 can help you upskill your workforce.

Craft the perfect professional development model for your organization and find the right fit to enhance the skills, knowledge, and abilities of your employees.

Which professional development model best suits your organizational structure?

Spending professional development funds wisely is key to optimizing ROI and ensuring employees get the most valuable skills and knowledge. 

The right learning and development solutions will empower individuals to grow and advance in their careers, while simultaneously becoming more efficient and effective at their jobs, supporting the continued growth of your organization.

But which solutions are right for you? Where should you invest professional development funds? That’s exactly what we’ll explore in this post.

Understanding the value of professional development

Professional development is vital for both employees and businesses. For employees, it helps them develop their skills and knowledge, which allows them to progress in their careers and feel like they’re growing professionally. For businesses, it ensures they can adapt to an ever-evolving landscape and not be left behind by competitors.

The impact of professional development on employee retention

When employees continuously develop, they’re more engaged, have better job satisfaction, and feel more valued. These benefits add up to better employee retention, which is a key factor in creating a solid working culture and avoiding the significant costs associated with high levels of turnover.

The role of professional development in business growth

Happy, engaged employees perform better. They’re more productive, and they have greater levels of innovation and creativity. When your employees perform better, they serve your clients and customers better, meaning your entire organization performs better. Therefore, a culture of learning is essential to encourage continual business growth.

Strategic planning for professional development spending

When considering how to spend professional development funds, it’s vital to align the allocation of resources to support both individual and organizational goals. 

Consider the six steps below before making your investment:

Assess business needs - Understand current and future organizational needs, identifying skills and competencies required to stay competitive and hit objectives.

Create personal development plans - Managers should create PDPs for all line reports, covering an employee’s aspirations and tying into the company’s needs. PDPs should outline the steps an employee should follow to progress and understand how their actions will benefit themselves and the company.

Link to organizational goals - Your organization’s strategic goals must directly link to any professional development initiatives you undertake. 

Allocate budget - Allocate funds to address critical skill gaps, which should be prioritized to maximize ROI. 

Choose a solution with a mix of learning methods - This caters to different learning preferences and styles and could include text, image, video, quiz, audio, and in-person learning.

Measure your success - You can’t understand the ROI of your spending without analyzing the impact of learning on your company. Establish KPIs to evaluate your professional development initiatives. 

Balancing cost and quality in professional development

It’s crucial to look for reputable training providers and courses for your teams. And it’s worth considering the format in which your employees will learn. For instance, will they take time out of work to attend conferences or in-person training courses? Or would you prefer to offer a more flexible online learning environment, such as the courses available at Go1? 

Both classroom-style and online learning offer valuable opportunities for employees to upskill, but online courses certainly offer some advantages, such as:

Convenient & flexible - Employees can learn at their own pace, whether they set chunks of time aside or just dip in and out of courses when time allows. 

Cost-effective - With no travel expenses and less time taken out of the working day, online learning is often less expensive than classroom learning. 

Access to experts - Employees can learn from experts around the world from anywhere with an internet connection.

Engaging formats - Gamification, videos, simulations, and other multimedia options make online learning an engaging way to achieve professional development.

Continuous access - Online learning resources are always available to revisit at your leisure.

Personalized learning pathways - Online learning doesn't have to be generic. Employees can find courses and learning pathways tailored to their specific aspirations.

With online learning, balancing cost and quality doesn’t need to be a compromise, because quality is thankfully available in a cost-effective solution. It should therefore be an option you consider carefully if maximizing ROI is a priority.

Measuring the impact of professional development

You can’t evaluate ROI without having a dependable way to measure the impact of your professional development initiatives. But what are the best ways to measure their impact? Here are seven steps to consider:

Do pre- and post-assessments - Before launching an initiative, assess employees’ current skills and knowledge, then compare after training.

Use learning analytics - Many learning management systems (LMSs) provide analytics that track employees’ progress, assessment scores, completion rates, and other performance indicators. These metrics are a great way to analyze the effectiveness of a professional development solution, as well as engagement levels.

Get employee feedback - Less high-tech but still valuable, getting feedback from employees can give you an idea of how satisfied they are with the available resources and how they feel it has affected their performance.

Monitor performance improvement - Performance metrics can highlight knowledge improvements among employees in areas you’ve already highlighted, showing that your organization is progressing toward its learning objectives. These metrics also show your business is compliant with appropriate industry standards.

Review time and cost savings - Has the training you’ve invested in led to tangible time or cost savings in day-to-day operations? If you’ve implemented online learning, compare your spending to what it might be with traditional learning methods to calculate time and cost savings.

Consider retention and job satisfaction - Has your professional development investment affected retention and job satisfaction? Engaged employees who feel they’re progressing are more likely to stick around. 

Look at long-term impact - Continue to review employees’ growth and development over time. Is training contributing to their success?

Make the most of your professional development investment with Go1

With Go1, you and your employees can gain instant access to the largest learning library in the world at a fraction of the cost of traditional, classroom-style learning.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs. 

Spending professional development funds wisely is key to optimizing ROI and ensuring employees get the most valuable skills and knowledge. Here's how.

How to spend professional development funds for maximum ROI

Spending professional development funds wisely is key to optimizing ROI and ensuring employees get the most valuable skills and knowledge. Here's how. 

Continuous employee professional development is crucial to ensure your organization has the flexibility to adapt to an ever-evolving business landscape. With technologies, industry trends, and customer demands changing regularly, your workforce is the key to making sure your organization is at the forefront of tackling these changes.

To do this, your organization must prioritize professional development for employees. As such, we’ll explore why professional development is important, including the role of continuous learning, and how you can cultivate a learning culture.

Understanding the importance of continuous professional development

Continuous professional development should be a key part of any organization’s growth strategy as it has two major benefits:

It develops employees’ skills and knowledge. 

It ensures your business can adapt to an evolving landscape.

Each of these benefits feeds into one another to build a culture of learning. When your employees develop, they’re more engaged, which helps them to perform better. This allows your business to serve its customers better, which can reduce costs and increase revenue. By doing this, you feed back into the continuous development of employees, allowing for further innovation and growth, 

To understand the importance of continuous development, consider the following business impacts: 

How to implement a culture of continuous learning in your organization

Once you understand the impact of professional development programs on employees, you can begin implementing one at your organization. The good news is you likely already have the tools and resources you need to make it happen:

To embrace continuous development, your workforce must know your leadership team is actively participating. After all, if your leadership team doesn’t practice what they preach, how can they expect the rest of your workforce to?

Establish clear and achievable goals early so employees know what’s expected of them. Use employee PDPs and personal development at scale so employee goals align with organizational goals. 

Communicate the value of continuous professional development and ensure employees have all the tools, time, and resources they need. Highlight the benefits of micro-credentials to help improve engagement.

Use your learning management system (LMS) and create a collection of online courses, such as those provided by Go1.

Regularly recognize and reward employees’ learning achievements across your organization.

Encourage collaborative learning to improve engagement and retention.

Evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy using data, which will also allow you to understand the ROI of your training.

Introduce a professional development coach to guide employees.

Utilizing technology for continuous professional development

Creating a culture of continuous professional development is only possible by utilizing the right technology. In-person training and classroom-type sessions will always have their place, but with many organizations working from different office locations, or adopting hybrid or remote working, ensuring you have the right technology is vital. For example, even in a virtual working environment, video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet ensure tutor-led learning and workshops still have their place.

There are many benefits to using an LMS, but one of the key benefits is how accessible and flexible training can be. You can access training at any time, using any device. Features such as single sign-on (SSO) allow employees to access training and make the best use of their time, while microlearning means that even if an employee has just 10 minutes to spare, they can still use that time to learn.

From an administrative point of view, LMSs also provide you with data about engagement and course completion, allowing managers to offer extra support to employees who need it.

At Go1, we have a huge database of online learning resources that can be integrated with hundreds of LMSs. So, whatever skills your employees want to develop, you can easily provide them with the resources they need.

Key performance indicators for learning initiatives

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for learning initiatives are important for tracking the effectiveness and ROI of training programs. Below are some KPIs your business can use to measure the impact of training:

LMS Data - Data available through your LMS, such as training completion rate, assessment scores, and engagement rate, allows you to monitor how and when employees access training.

Knowledge acquisition - This lets you measure the knowledge and skills employees have retained after completing training.

Performance - Depending on the type of training, metrics such as customer satisfaction scores, revenue, average order value, and conversion rates are useful.

Return on investment - Measuring the ROI of training programs is a great way to assess their effectiveness.

Employee retention - Employees that feel valued tend to be less inclined to seek alternative employment.

Employee feedback - It’s important to get feedback from employees to gauge how they feel about their development opportunities. 

Build a culture of continuous professional development at your organization

Now that you know how to enable professional development, why not start upskilling your employees? At Go1, we have a vast selection of online training courses that integrate with hundreds of LMSs, making personalized learning at scale simple.

For more information, download our guide on five new thinking habits for a smarter, stronger L&D, or speak to one of our experts to find out how Go1 can upskill your workforce.

Foster a culture of continuous professional development by implementing effective training programs and encouraging employee feedback.

How to enable continuous professional development throughout your organization

In recent years, online learning has become more and more accessible and affordable. While this is a fantastic tool that businesses can utilize for personalized learning at scale, where does this leave professional development coaching?

In the modern business landscape, coaching still plays an important role in many L&D strategies. Coaching provides the support and guidance employees need to develop in a way that benefits both themselves and the organization.

So, we’ll explore why coaching should still be part of your organization’s learning and development plan, including how it can benefit your business, and how you can successfully implement professional development coaching. 

Understanding professional development coaching

Professional development coaching, also referred to as career coaching, is a way for businesses to support the development of their employees by offering one-on-one coaching. A professional development coach works with individual employees to help them identify what they want to achieve, when they want to achieve it, and how they can enact that plan. In the process, they learn valuable new skills and knowledge that push your business forward.

You can utilize coaching across your entire workforce, from entry-level employees who are still trying to work out their desired career path, to senior managers who know their goals but want to continue upskilling. Coaching is a collaborative process that requires a proactive approach from employees seeking to further their knowledge and skills. A coach is simply someone who will guide employees using a series of techniques, such as setting goals, encouraging self-reflection, and setting skill and knowledge-building exercises.

Coaches will help employees upskill in a range of areas, such as communication, time management, leadership skills, emotional intelligence, and decision-making. Each of these skills allows employees to grow, while also contributing to the overall success of your business.

While coaching is a one-on-one process, individual employees undertake most of the legwork. That means a coach can support a large organization with many employees looking to develop.

The importance of professional development coaching

Coaching can be a fantastic way to improve your organization’s learning and development plan. The benefits of coaching include:

Developing key skills such as leadership, decision-making, and communication

Ensuring employees feel valued and motivated

Encouraging employees to embrace change and be more flexible

From this, your organization will be in a better position to promote from within, which will prevent the need to recruit as regularly, saving you from long and expensive recruitment processes. It’ll also help you attract and retain top industry talent.

A coach will help build a learning culture in your organization, pushing your employees to be the best they can be. They will also encourage continuous learning, so employees never lose their enthusiasm and drive to learn and develop.

Of course, without utilizing a professional development coach as part of your L&D strategy, your employees can still use online learning and other tools to develop. However, a coach will guide employees to overcome challenges, improve their self-awareness, and get the most out of their learning and development. Coaching will help employees reach their potential and drive your organization to success.

For more information, read our post on why professional development is essential for future-ready organizations.

How professional development coaching enhances L&D

Coaching is a fantastic way to boost your organization’s learning and development strategy to ensure your employees develop in the most effective ways possible. This includes:

Personalized learning so employees can take control of their journey.

Application of learning so employees can utilize what they learn to increase retention.

A shift in mindset across the organization as you introduce a culture of continuous learning.

Implementing professional development coaching in your L&D strategy

To implement professional development coaching at your organization, consider the following steps:

Understand the goals you hope to achieve by implementing coaching. For example, do you want to improve communication throughout the organization, or focus on leadership development?

Ensure your business has the infrastructure to support coaching. Can you dedicate the resources necessary for it to be effective?

Speak to qualified coaches to find one that aligns with your goals, industry, experience, and values.

Identify which employees are most likely to benefit from coaching. 

Develop learning strategies that align with the overall goals of your organization.

Roll out the strategy and communicate the benefits to your workforce.

Provide the resources employees need so your L&D strategy can be as effective as possible, such as offering relevant online training courses to help employees upskill.

Ask employees for feedback so you can continuously tweak and improve your strategy.

Use metrics to measure the effectiveness of the strategy and ensure the goals you identified are closer to being achieved.

Real-world success stories of coaching in L&D

78% of LinkedIn’s top US companies utilize coaching to support careers, succession, and performance goals. One such company is Verizon, which found that: “99% of managers agree that coaching has improved new directors' impact on communication, executive presence and influence, resilience and change, team performance, and strategic thinking.”

LinkedIn’s data also revealed that Alphabet (Google’s parent company) offers a coaching strategy that prioritizes learning and development, which resulted in a 200% increase in participation in just two years.

Upskill your workforce with online courses from Go1

At Go1, we have a huge database of online courses to support your L&D strategy and upskill your workforce. For more information, download our free L&D playbook, or speak to one of our experts to find out how we can help you create a culture of continuous learning.

Tips for leveraging professional development coaching to enhance employee skills and drive business success.

What role should professional development coaching play in your L&D strategy?

When examining professional development methods, it’s easy to focus solely on individual development goals. Some might even argue that learning new things and developing skills is an individual’s responsibility. However, without guidance and support from their organization, employees can’t reach their full potential. Accordingly, setting professional development goals must start at an organizational level. 

Setting professional development goals at an organizational level enhances employee engagement, boosts productivity, and drives business growth.