Making professional learning and development a priority requires a commitment of time, staff resources and financial investment. Some companies simply don’t have the resources to spare to ensure that their employees have opportunities to develop new skills and knowledge.
More than Compliance Training: Tips for Personal Growth When Your Company Won’t Help
If your company isn’t providing resources for you, but you are serious about seeking personal and professional growth, here are five tips to help you get started:
- Accept that your professional development is in your hands. Though it is in your company’s best interest to provide proper you with proper training, it is ultimately up to you. Take responsibility for your own growth so that both you and your company stay competitive in the marketplace.
- Know what skills are in demand. Connect with professionals who take their business and learning seriously and learn from their experience. Study top performers in your field and figure out what their competitive advantage is.
- Look for learning opportunities in unexpected places. Create a personal learning network full of smart people you meet on LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs and Quora. Check out the networks and groups they belong to and join the conversation.
- Find online resources. Search the web for the skills you want to learn. From MIT OpenCourseWare and OpenSesame to LinkedIn and YouTube, there are tons of videos, tutorials, slideshows, and how-to articles that will awaken your mind to hundreds of possibilities. Today you can find valuable courses for everything ranging from sales and technical training to language and math classes.
- Join professional organizations (or at least follow them on Twitter). These can direct you to experts, courses, certifications and conversations that will help you grow. Can’t find an organization or community? Start one. Set up lunch dates with colleagues, create a Facebook page, or start a Twitter discussion.
Shop from OpenSesame’s full catalog of compliance training courses here.
OpenSesame connects the buyers and sellers of elearning courses in a marketplace where elearning courses are easy to publish and connect to any LMS. Our goal is to create a community where both buyers and sellers thrive and eLearning is accessible, easy to implement, and rewarding for everyone. Shop for elearning courses on OpenSesame to:
- Purchase only the elearning courses you need, with no long-term commitments or complicated contracts.
- Use any learning management system that works for you. We don’t discriminate.
- Our patent-pending technology ensures we instantly connect course content securely to any LMS in minutes, instead of months.
OpenSesame solves the content conundrum for both buyers and sellers. It’s that simple. For more information about OpenSesame, meet our management team, read our blog or find us on Twitter.
Image Credit: timsnell on Flickr