It’s inevitable for some, you come to a point in your career where you think there is no possible way you could still use more training! Or maybe you were hired to do a specific job so there is an assumption you already know how to do it all and don’t even need to consider training. As harsh as the reality check might be, everyone still has a lot to learn in some capacity or another and it’s an important part of keeping us on our game. The world of sustainability offers no exceptions.
We came across a fabulous article the other day that was posted by Mindflash: “How to Get Managers – Who Don’t ‘Need’ Training – Learning Again.” The article resonated with us so much because the same is true for sustainability training … everyone needs it and not everyone realizes why or how they might benefit. Here are three ideas directly from the article to get you thinking as well (and to help others in your organization or client base to get on board):
DEMOFest: Rally an event during which people show off what projects they are working on. This doesn’t have to be a conference; it is a great idea for an internal event in many organizations. Base it on a certain theme and have people from departments all over your organization come in and show off their projects.
Run Your Own Conference: If conferences are such a valuable learning experience, why not create one inside your company. Many organizations find this is a great way to bring people together and learn new things. Whether you make it a large or small in-office conference, make it feel like a conference by using a theme, registration, badges, keynote speakers, breakout sessions, coffee breaks, and lunch.
Bring in Guest Speakers: Guest speakers could be the VP of Marketing in your company, the social media manager for a company in your town that you admire, a local college professor, or even an author of a book that you enjoyed. Inviting guest speakers into your organization is a great way to introduce ideas from sources outside of your industry to get your people thinking outside of their comfort zones.
Training doesn’t have to appear like formal sit-down lecturers or even webinars, you can be creative in establishing learning experiences that make all the difference, resonate with audiences, and offer a take away that created a valuable training opportunity without people even realizing it.
Careers in sustainability mean staying ahead of the game and always informed. Your key to addressing this challenge is constant training … whether it’s formal or informal. Make sure to comment if you have some great out-of-the-box training experiences you want to share with the rest of us. Also, feel free to check out the complete article here.