Investing in Your Firm’s Future Through Professional Development

As a consummate learner, I am always seeking knowledge from experts on the latest trends affecting my area of work. Throughout my career, I have often been asked by an employer to make the business case for why I should be given time off to attend anything from a one-hour seminar to a multiday conference. Professional development is often viewed as a benefit given by the employer rather than an opportunity. Here are five reasons why professional development should be considered an investment in a firm’s future.

1. Improving efficiency and processes 
I have attended many short seminars on topics that I am already knowledgeable about, yet I often gain a new nugget of information that allows me to do something both quicker and better. Through a recent webinar, I learned a new way to integrate Microsoft Excel and Adobe Illustrator, saving me crucial hours in creating a final report while providing improved data visualization for my clients. This skill not only makes my life easier but it is something that I can immediately implement into my team’s workflow process.

2. Advancing leadership capabilities 
A Deloitte study entitled “Global Human Capital Trends 2014: Engaging the 21st-century Workforce” states: “A shortage of leaders is one of the biggest impediments to growth.” Leadership training can assist in bridging the talent gap that many firms face. Unfortunately, the day-to-day roles and responsibilities within a design firm do not always optimize leadership growth. We often work with the same individuals on the same portfolio of projects over an extended period of time. It is necessary to seek outside opportunities to mature and advance our leadership capabilities.

3. Expanding the network 
Each group setting in a new environment is a chance for individuals to build their network and identify people who will challenge them to improve their knowledge base. And those connections may also become resources for future projects. At a recent women-in-business seminar, I bonded with three other attendees in one of the breakout sessions. We now meet virtually on a semiregular basis and serve as each other’s brain trust for fresh marketing and business development endeavors. I am also actively partnering with one of those individuals to pursue a new client lead.

4. Retaining the best talent 
In today’s marketplace, retention of key individuals is essential to the long-term success of a company. As a member of Generation X, I am lucky enough to find myself in the unique position of being called a “unicorn” within the profession—someone with 10 to 15 years of experience and an architecture license—and this has led to a continuous string of calls and requests from recruiters. My peers, fellow unicorns, find high value in organizations that are making a conscious effort to give us room to grow professionally along with additional resources that we would otherwise have to seek out on our own. Identifying a firm’s next generation of leadership and developing a transition plan for them, although necessary, is often a time-consuming and laborious process. The decision to support educational opportunities for those future leaders is an easy option that any firm can initiate immediately.

5. Boosting morale and reinvigorating the workplace
Some firms regularly allow employees to attend conferences or conventions as one means of boosting morale and reinvigorating the workplace. For more than 40 years, the biennial Monterey Design Conference of the American Institute of Architects California Council has been a place of rejuvenation for West Coast design professionals. Many firsttime attendees, who range from designers to firm principals, leave feeling as though they have just finished an intensive design school experience while making invaluable connections. Similarly, the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, is known for providing great professional development through new ideas and inspiration, as well as insights on future trends in a variety of markets, including workplace, education, and healthcare.

These are just a few of the many reasons for ongoing professional development to serve as both an opportunity and investment in a firm’s future.

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This article was originally published in Contract Magazine.