by Ashley Andrus and Linda Anderson

Think again…you can’t afford NOT to invest in your leaders during this turbulent time.

The very real pressures of an economic downturn and the tightening of learning budgets doesn’t mean professional development needs to go away. Not surprisingly, there is an increased need for leadership development as organizations face uncertain conditions and find they need the essential skills that are vital during reorganization and periods of adjustment.

Because many organizations are facing unavoidable restructuring due to reduced resources, according to a survey recently completed by the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (results overview here), 54% of organizational leaders expect a greater emphasis on leadership development and 37% anticipate an increase in soft skills development. The survey also noted that during prior slow economic periods, over a quarter of organizations—the forward-thinking ones—resisted the urge to reduce their training budgets. Read the rest of this article »

by Ashley Andrus, President of Zoe Training & Consulting

Even when times are good and budgets are flush, it can be easy for managers to view training and development as a cost rather than an investment towards bottom-line returns. When the economy is tight, and your boss has ordered you to cut your 2009 budget by 15 percent, and across-the-board spending freezes are the order of the day, justifying programs can feel like an uphill battle.

When done right, people development pays long-term dividends for your organization: morale is better, turnover drops, your ability to recruit qualified employees improves—and that’s all above and beyond the resulting skills enhancement and performance efficiency improvements (that result). Even in lean times, workforce development remains a “must-do” for forward-thinking organizations.

The question then becomes prioritizing possible initiatives and stretching the most that you can out of your training and development budget. Some practical suggestions for maximizing your resources include: Read the rest of this article »