“Not another training class again… ugh.”

Bet you’ve heard this from a co-worker or two over the years. You can add, “My boss is making me take this”, “I don’t know why I’m here” and “I’m too busy for this” to the list of things people say when told about training. Learning and development is an important part of every organization but at times is seen as a hassle or a time drain rather than a benefit. It’s not though.

Why is training important? For an organization like Bison Transport, training provides several important benefits. Studies show that organizations that invest in L&D see increased employee engagement, reduced turnover, improved performance, greater organizational consistency, lowered costs and higher sales. These are all great reasons to get out and train, but how do they affect you, the individual, taking the training program? What benefit is there for you?

I did some quick Googling about the employee benefits of training. Most of the articles I found somehow always came back to the importance of training to the organization. It’s great when we can help the organization achieve goals and whatnot, but if there is no benefit directly to us, then why bother training? For staff, there are a variety of benefits that rarely get talked about. Here are five, starting with the one that aligns most closely with the organization’s needs.

• Career Advancement - We learn, we add knowledge, we gain new skills, we contribute more to the bottom line, we stay with the organization longer and we rise higher. It’s a pretty simple equation when you think about it. Learning helps us grow, it can take us down paths we never thought we’d take and it makes us better at what we do.
• Self-Growth – All about you. Training can give you transferable skills that a person can take to life outside of work. Most of the Bison U courses we provide offer a skill that helps a person anywhere. Growing yourself can lead to learning more about what your purpose is and keep you happy longer in your job.
• New Connections – Spending all of your time with the same people limits your view of the world around you. Attending a training program puts you in contact with people you might not normally interact with in your day to day. You learn more about them and their department and maybe find ways you can help each other out.
• New Ideas – Much like people, thinking the same way about things limits what you can achieve. Training introduces new ideas, new skills and new perspectives. Whether it is the training itself or the feedback of fellow learners, training offers a way to expand your view and may just provide the solution you need to a sticky situation.
• Gimme a Break – Training is a great break from your whirlwind. A couple of hours away, using your brain in a totally different way can help you return to work refreshed and ready to tackle your problems. Plus, you might have met a new person that can help you solve that problem.

Learning and growing is an important part of our lives. When an opportunity presents itself to learn something new or to refresh older knowledge, it benefits us to take it. And when it benefits us, it also benefits the organization, which in turn can benefit us. So, the next time you see an ad for a course or your boss tells you to attend, think about how it benefits you and get out there and learn because you can never learn too much.