The skills employees need to succeed in their job roles seem to be ever changing, and with that comes the challenge of providing the training to address those skills. Having a training program in place is a great first step, but now L&D faces a further struggle of getting more training budget to expand to fit the needs of the market.

You were able to get leadership buy-in at the onset of the program, and you can do it again.

Now the question is how? Let’s dive in!

Creating a Proposal

You won’t get very far in the process if you don’t present leadership with a proposal that has all the information laid out in a brief and to-the-point manner. This will help simplify what you’re asking for and why – address pain points you see and how you can help fix those with training.

Here are key elements to include.

Return on Investment

This is going to be a key metric to show leadership. By calculating ROI, decision-makers can better understand how their current investment is doing and how increased budget can help achieve more goals.

ROI calculations can also help gauge if employees are gaining new knowledge and skills that then help them be more efficient, which is a win-win for both individuals and the organization. You’ll want to pull out certain statistics such as efficiency, utilization rates, turnover, and promotion rates, for example. Furthermore, the organization can look at the number of internal promotions based on new skill learned, whether there were fewer safety incidents after training, and even look at customer satisfaction rates. All of these combined really help tell the story of success.

Your Role Within the Company

Your role is integral and important. As L&D leaders, a lot often falls onto your plate, but you have a hand in helping define the organization and set it apart.

Your training program can give your organization the competitive edge – 70% of employees are inclined to quit their current job to work for a company that invests in employee development and learning, according to Lorman. This should also feed into your recruitment efforts and listed as part of the benefits package so that job seekers know about it.

On top of that, you’re also playing a large role in employee retention – 76% of employees agree that they are more likely to stay with a company that offers continuous training, according to talentlms and SHRM.

And lastly, an important role you play is setting up an inclusive culture. By implementing an L&D strategy that truly covers all employees, you are building a culture of mutual respect where everyone feels supported and encouraged to improve their skills.

Giving employees access to content on demand is just a small part of building a culture of inclusivity. Employees can learn what they want, when they want, and are often more engaged when training is presented this way.

Benefits of Training

Don’t forget as an L&D leader to reiterate the benefits of training. Doing so reminds leadership of why they invested to begin with and why more budget is needed. Make sure to mention any positive changes in employee satisfaction, lower turnover rates, performance increases, skill application, and any talent that has been recruited since the training plan was first instigated.

Wants vs. Needs

It’s also going to be important to look at efficiency and time management on your team. Be able to explain what your team is doing and justify the time it takes to complete each of those things. This will help you measure what activities you need to be completing and are beneficial, and which are maybe not as time consuming or too time consuming and need more resources dedicated to it.

This is the step that will help really determine what amount to ask for because it will help focus on how you’re spending on resources and where adjustments can be made.

Getting Support

You don’t need to do this alone. Be sure to ask for help in getting metrics, writing a proposal, measuring ROI, and more.

Your training partner should be available to help you every step of the way from planting the seed to executing a presentation to expanding your program. They can provide the tools and resources needed to help you build a successful learning program by providing best practices and guidance on gaining leadership buy-in, developing marketing and communication plans, and executing flawless program management – all things that go into helping ask for more budget.

Regardless of if you’re just starting to consider how to grow your program (and budget) or you’re most of the way there and just need a little help, we can offer help, tips, and tricks to move across the finish line!