10 Reasons to invest in training

arrest is a constant in our lives. Even before we open our eyes for the first time, the doctor pats us on the back to teach us how to breathe. From that moment on, we are in constant training. Speaking, walking, writing... School becomes a full-time job.

But when we enter the world of work, the amount of e-mails in our inbox and the emergency of daily challenges take up all our time. Then there's the family, for whom the remaining hours of the day are reserved, and a few more that we take from sleep.

Even though the desire to be successful and evolve professionally remains, we still wonder whether we should invest in ourselves. Time is scarce, the investment seems high and although nobody doubts that learning is continuously important, many still question.

Should I bet on my training?

The testimonials we have collected over the years from the executives who have been through the Nova SBE training programmes clearly tell us that they are. So, here are 10 reasons why you should invest in your training, supported by the words and experience of our participants.

1. Immediate return

There are few investments throughout our personal and professional lives that have an immediate return. Training is one of them. The applicability of the tools provided and the sharing of best practices allow an increase in productivity from day one. As pointed out by Patrícia Rocha, Executive Director at Manuel Violante Foundation:

"As soon as I completed the course, I drew on what I learned from the course to significantly adapt a training programme that the Foundation provides to social organisations, enhancing its impact on them, and their social impact on the communities they serve."

2. Recognition in the workplace

It is not always easy to make the peak of our skills visible within an organisation. But the strengthening of individual skills that you put at the service of your team, after the training, will be notorious, and the recognition of the effort to become a better professional will come as a consequence. The case of Luís Garcia, VP Marketing at OLAmobile, is an example of this:

"A few months after finishing the course I got a promotion from from Projects Director to VP Marketing at OLAmobile, a technology group focused on marketing and advertising technologies for mobile devices."

3. Updated knowledge and strengthened skills

Participants in a training programme are targeted to strengthen technical and interpersonal skills that make a difference throughout their professional career. The teachers present real cases and discuss current topics, contributing to the revision of business dogmas. José Carlos Queimado, General Director at S. Gonçalo Hospital, states that:

"The rigorous, dynamic and current approach to the main dimensions of organizational leadership, illustrated frequently with real cases, allowed me to revisit, consolidate and learn concepts and tools of immediate usefulness to those who lead people and organisations of particular complexity. In short, an intense, enriching and remarkable formative experience."

4. Tools ready to apply

Training, besides allowing us to update our knowledge, is a source of tools that facilitate daily tasks, namely strategic decision-making. These are working tools, mostly timeless in terms of relevance, as Patrícia Rocha, Executive Director at the Manuel Violante Foundation, tells us:

"All the learning I have collected throughout the various Nova SBE courses I have attended are compiled in a notebook that I turn to whenever a new challenge presents itself and a decision is required."

5. Global understanding of the business

The daily routine of each department often limits a holistic view of the business. Training makes it easier to achieve an integrated vision of the various management issues. As João Carrasco, Senior Project Leader at Bayer, explains:

"The course helped me to better understand how some areas of the company work that I had little contact with (e.g. Finance) and how this impacts on my work as a team and area manager."

6. Win-win for the participant and the company

Training is equally important for the participant and for the company. In addition to an increase in the employee's motivation after the training, the exchange of experiences and knowledge collected during the course results in an increase in efficiency and productivity beneficial to both parties. As João Viana, from the Office of the President of Millennium BCP, tells us:

"When I returned to the bank, I gathered my colleagues from the Marketing and Communication areas and I did a session showing everything I had learnt during the course."

7. Networking

The access to excellent professionals, from teachers to colleagues, extends the participants' contact network, fostering the exchange of experiences and knowledge as well as the relationship with new organisations from different activity sectors, further enriching the training moment. As Nuno Garrido, Performance Manager at Galp, points out:

"The course was an excellent experience in an openminded environment whose networking enabled new opportunities to be established business opportunities."

8. New professional opportunities

Training opens doors in professional life inside and outside the organisation you are in. Invitations for new challenges and internal promotion of the participants are very frequent, leveraging professional paths. Telma Guerreiro Candeias, Chief Compliance Officer at MetLife Iberia, says:

"In the weeks following the course I was involved in multinational planning projects aimed at developing projects to realise corporate values by 2020 and also in a leadership development programme at local and regional level, so I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to take a significant step forward in their professional development."

9. Strategic and future vision

The daily life of the industry in which we operate often formats our thinking and limits the options that arise as a consequence of it. Teachers are allies in the construction of a strategic vision that allows us to confront the problems of the future as soon as possible. As Filipe Vultos, PhD Student at the Instituto Superior Técnico, tells us:

"I especially remember Professor João Silveira Lobo's classes in which I I felt compelled to think "outside the box and in which I opened my vision to new ways of looking at and responding to an ever-changing world."

10. Time to reflect

Finally, training is central to our professional development because it allows us, above all, to reflect. The emergencies of everyday life leave little time to question our own dogmas and review our professional objectives. This exercise is particularly important for building a successful professional path. Luís Almeida, Director of Operations at Fisipe, points out that:

"In organisations we are steamrollered by time, and it's important to take a break and stop and think."

The market is increasingly demanding and learning has become one (or the only) survival strategy.