Advanced Learning Opportunities

Congratulations! You’re choosing to advance your career!

I understand that many workplaces try their best to have professional development opportunities for their employees, but sometimes it is not enough to have a day or a few trainings year by year.

What is that new technology? People are using it? You can use it? Oh. Okay!

What is this new style? Anyone? No one…okay, no one on my team has a clue…now what?

So here, we are going to briefly talk about where you can go and what you can do to get to your advanced learning opportunities.

As there are many of you here, visiting, checking out different pages, hopefully cracking up at some funny things here and there…I don’t know how to tell all of you the same thing.

Have you covered your basics?

And I mean the basics of your position or role.

Directors? I know they don’t really have a website for directors to go to figure out how to develop your creative direction decisions, etc. Artists? I know there are only a few select types of training you can opt for (mentorships, classes…that’s it!).

If you like to learn independently, which is just about no one, then you can find your way based off of what you want and your own searching.

If you like to learn as a group, and one person has an idea, and you are all conducive to this new…speaker, training, class, etc., then go for it.

If you are frustrated with your position, because there literally is nothing at this time for your type (directors, I am looking at you), then begin with a piece of paper and a pen.

Please write down the following:

“For my position, I require…

Without these things, I cannot succeed the way I wish.

The closest things to the above 3 answers I have put down are:

I can reach these things if and only if…

[insert your conclusion here]”

Got that? Okay, good. You can fill that out now and come back to the rest of this page, or you can save it for later. Keep it close to you at all times.

For my artists! You have a very simple thing to write down:

“The thing I would like most is …

Do I have ….

1) The need / desire?

2) The time?

3) The money?

If all three answers are yes, I may proceed.

If any of these are no, I will not.”

My artists, it is very important that you have the need / desire, the money, and the time. If you do not have all three, it will not be worth it. You will be bored, or frustrated…or just plain unimpressed. “Why is this so expensive? I have no time for this…I don’t even want to do this work…” Sound familiar? Don’t go unless all three answers are yes.

For my managers! Your questionnaire is even easier!

Please write:

“In lieu of the usual management training available to me, what professional development do I want for real?

Of the above 3 answers, which one is my favorite?

[insert answer here]

What would it take to make me happy?

[insert answer here]”

Got that? Okay, good!

For my admin folk. Do you want one?

Please write:

“What was it that I always wanted to do that I never really got a chance to try?

Which one is the more exciting one? Which one is more fulfilling?

[insert answer here]

How could I do something for me right now to get started on that dream?”

[insert answer here]”

So as you can all see, different things are needed for different people. If you find that as an artist you like the admin question-set, or you like the director one, then continue to write these other options down.

The idea is, you really do need to give yourself a direction.

Not everyone really needs another art mentorship with the next great industry artist, especially if you are one and you just want to see if maybe pottery will help calm you down and focus your mind.

Conversely, if you are frustrated with the lack of training opportunities or advanced learning opportunities available because it either isn’t your work culture or you are the one on top providing everyone else with lessons or training, etc., consider going beyond your company.

Go external if you can’t find what you want internally.

No one is going to say anything if you come back after 2 months of learning something above your paygrade and just help people even more, and you also find satisfaction in being nurtured, trained, and cared for.

If this is a topic that is near and dear to your heart, or seems to hover in your head a lot, then consider talking with people on your team, or other managers or other directors in your company. It is very hard for me to imagine a place where no one is allowed to develop professionally, and no one likes anyone in the company, and everyone is just miserable all the time.

Pockets of it? Sure, okay. The entire company? No way. We all have good people with us, so let’s try to make good together.

If you are a boss, and you feel dragging feet, or even worse, crickets! See if you can help your team in real time. Forget about saying training. If the top artist of the team next door tells you how to solve a problem, then you go to your person and you say, “hey, guy. Try this. See if it works. Yeah. Oh hey, we fixed it. Good job! Awesome!”

If you happen to be in a place where crunch time seems to be every day, every year, then you have a different assignment. Find the person with the most time and send them to a training. Let them take notes, let them breathe, and then let them pull hardest for you. Next time? it won’t be that person who is going. Pick someone else, and send them. If you absolutely cannot afford an entire team plus the boss going to a training, take turns.

Advanced Learning Opportunities are what get us ahead in life. It isn’t orientation that makes you a stellar worker or manager. It isn’t “how to use our software” either. What is going on? If conferences are just falling flat with your entire team or IP director, then can you run an in-house event on your floor?

Set up tables, get some cheap table cloths from the dollar store or similar store, and then decide, “who does the swag? Oh, there’s gonna be a competition, okay. Every table has to have swag. What are we designing? Let’s go.”

You can do one for 2 hours, no joke. I think 3 hours would be ideal.

Who wants to give 20 minute art tips? Your top artist? I’m not surprised. “Just 20 minutes, nothing longer, Sarah! They can’t focus. I can go for 3 hours!”

Who wants to give tips to get along with your team? Your peace maker? Your ultimate people pleaser? Yes, you’re not surprised either. Let them have a table and talk with you about things you can say, and give you a positive rubber bracelet that’s all sorts of neon colors.

Directors? Want to make a director’s booth? You can have a photo booth right next to you where people can take silly pictures of themselves after they have gone through your director’s challenge! What you do is you sit them in a director’s chair, and for 4 minutes, they have to talk about their creative vision. You can give them a mercy minute to add if they fumble in the beginning or blush or just crack up laughing saying, “I can’t, can I get out of your chair?” It’s 5 minutes tops! The director’s challenge! Go! After? You can let them into the photo booth for sweet sympathies!

There are many things you can do. One, you see the latent talent of your peeps. Two, you see the latent talent of yourself, my special peep! Three, you get inspired and get to laugh and think in a way you usually don’t.

It’s like show-and-tell, just for adults. We need it too. We need to share. We need to give to our peeps and tell them fair, “you rock. Wow! My gosh. That’s cool!” So try it. If you can’t get anyone to go to a fancy-schmancy conference or training or continuing education, go lower. Go to community events, floor events, team events that you can do pop-up events for in 2 days.

Try these things. Help each other out. Do you have a training coordinator and I just don’t know who they are? Have you talked with them? Will you hear their woes of how hard it is to do a company-wide training for companies like yourselves? Do you want to hire a training team? That is an option if you don’t have it.

Talk with people. And I don’t mean the people who always tell you “no.” I don’t mean people who laugh at you or make fun of you, or who drag their feet, or whatever. Please talk with other people who want to learn. See what they want. See if you can help. If you help someone, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will help you back.

We may come back to this topic and add buttons and additional pages! But for today, and for now, we at least have this page. I hope it helps, and I hope it gives you ideas, and I pray that no one feels so exhausted that they are truly burned out. Stay until you feel better, then go back out into the world (Directors? That includes you!). Okay, well, I’ll leave you here to think about what you want, and when you’re ready, go and do what you need to do, or explore the website more, okay? Okay.

I love you! Remember to breathe, then smile!

How Much Experience Do You Already Have?