By Jack Ruffer

For some executive and management company owners, training[1] is perceived to be just a waste of otherwise productive time. I know, you have a myriad of essential tasks to accomplish on a recurring basis and few people and assets to get them done, not to mention a very limited budget to pay for it all. That having been said, training is an investment in the future. Not just your company's future, but your industry as well.

We've all heard the old axiom, "the best way to be successful in business is to surround yourself with the best people you can find." Well, everyone else is looking for those "best people" and there aren't that many left in the marketplace today with a scant 4.1% unemployment rate. That means you've got to build your own workforce - and training goes a long way towards doing exactly that.

Number 25 on the list of what I call my Forty Rules for Leaders is this: "Help your people achieve their full potential, even if it means you may lose them." I had a mentor early in my career who bent over backwards to see that I was offered all the training I needed. He also encouraged me to pursue my undergraduate degree while working full-time in his company. Had it not been for his encouragement and support I may not have finished college or gone on to graduate school. While under his  leadership, I gave him and the company my all. And, as a result of that training and education, I was able to achieve success far beyond my expectations. You know the (other) old saying, "what goes around, come around?" Well, I had the good fortune to work with him some years later, this time in a much larger organization, as his Executive VP, and he was still bending over backwards to help his people reach their full potential. My point is, he invested in my future early in my professional life and I returned to pay him back for that investment in two ways. First, by adding substantially to our bottom line, and second, by making it a priority to invest in the future of those whom I was privileged to lead. Your people deserve that investment, you company needs that investment and the future of your industry depends upon that investment.

Now, I know there are training programs out there that advertise big and deliver little. It's your responsibility to know which ones deliver as advertised and which don't. The best way to evaluate what's out there is to personally audit the course(s) you're considering for your staff and select the best to serve your needs. Most vendors will allow you to audit their courses for free. If for some reason, you can't audit a course personally, ask around. Some of your contemporaries may have attended or sent staff members to the course(s) you're considering and you can solicit their opinion as to whether or not the material offered meets your needs. Be judicious in your selection so that the spending of your limited training dollars is optimized.

And, remember this. Staying competitive in the marketplace requires that you work harder, but increasing market share in the management industry means you have to work smarter. Training is an indispensable means to that end.