CAD Manager's Q&A: Getting Training Approval

Why is it I have so much trouble getting training approved by my management team?

Robert Green responds: Getting training approved has always been a problem. To illustrate this, I’ll list a few company scenarios here and show why training is tough to obtain.

The Company That’s Struggling. This company can’t afford to train anybody, but even if it could, it's hurting for work and thus doesn't need to up its productivity. If anything, this company is worried about having to lay off people rather than training them. You can forget getting training approved in this environment.

The Very Busy Company. This company has so much going on that it doesn't have time to train anybody because it would lose billable hours, which would, in turn, cost money. In this type of supercharged work environment, training is typically restricted to lunch-and-learns or self-study by the user -- not because of financial constraints but those of time.

The Company in Between: This company has time to train and enough work to justify the investment in time, but is usually worried about the future. If management is anticipating a downturn, training dollars will be hard to come by. Conversely, the in-between company that just landed new contracts will usually opt for training over increased staffing so long as the investment is reasonable.

So getting training approved is largely a matter of gauging what your company’s financial situation is and targeting your training program to meet the time constraints you must operate within. Think along the lines of “What type of training makes sense for us now?” or “What can I realistically expect to get approved?” more than “What training would I love to have in a perfect world?” -- and you’ll be armed with the right decision-making metrics.