How To Get Your Boss To Invest In Your Professional Development
When it comes to personal and professional development, there are two types of people: those who wait for it to happen and those who make it happen. Depending on the industry, the company you work for, the leadership, or your supervisor – these factors can determine how easy or difficult it will be to get support for your professional, and even personal, development.
Whether you're a full-time or part-time employee, managing a full-time career and a side hustle, or even if you're a full time entrepreneur, it's important to have a constant desire to improve, learn, and grow. Whether it's going back to school, attending a conference or workshop, purchasing a book, completing a training or certification, or finding a mentor – all of these ideas can benefit your professional and personal growth, and they can help open the door to new opportunities.
I've been in Corporate America for more than 10 years now as a marketing professional, while managing a side hustle as well for the last few years. I decided a long time ago that I wasn't going to simply wait for others to do it for me. Instead, I have taken ownership of my professional development. I have found ways to get companies that I've worked for to invest in me by simply showcasing my experience, skills, value, and potential. Besides, as hard as you work for the company, why not get them to go to work for you on behalf of your professional development?
With that said, I want to share with you some of the elements you can put together and develop into a deck via Microsoft PowerPoint, Canva.com templates, Adobe Illustrator, etc. Keep in mind, where you lack in design skills, enlist the help of a friend who can help you lay it out in a creative and visually engaging way.
Think "business case" – something you can share or present to help get the company to invest in you and help you ultimately secure the bag.
1.Clearly state your objectives and goals.
This includes your short-term and long-term goals, as well as professional and possibly personal goals (depending on how open-minded the company or your supervisor may be). This section should help answer questions like: what do you look to learn, what do you look to gain? Where do you want to be six months, a year, five years, or ten years from now? Are you asking to complete a course or attend a workshop or conference? Make it clear as to what it is that you're specifically asking for.
2.Showcase how dope you are.
Most companies don't mind investing in people who have, in some way or another, contributed to the company through their talents, time, and/or tenure…just to name a few. So, it's important to highlight the things that make you stand out as a great employee, especially if you can show how you've directly or indirectly had an impact on the sales or savings of the company.
This is your time to shine, but not in a resume format; rather, in a more creative and engaging way using visual graphics and "smart art" (a useful tool in MS PowerPoint). Showcase your education, experience, past performance reviews/ratings, awards, and/or any other applicable talents and skills that they may not be aware of or may have forgotten about. Be sure to include any relevant personal accomplishments as well. Yes, you may already know that you're worth it, but it's important that you can show others why you're worth the investment.
3.Provide an overview of the professional development.
Whether it's a program, certification, workshop, or conference - a one-page or one-slide summary of the program will help give the decision-makers more insight into the professional development. Include things like: total hours, registration dates, curriculum, agenda, location (virtual or in-person), and the cost. It's also important to include the new or additional skills and knowledge that will be obtained, professional awards or endorsements, and possibly a few reviews from past students.
There's no need to include every detail, but if you're able to show just how much is offered and at an affordable or reasonable price, it will help further show the cost-benefit value. Feel free to include a link to the site as well where they can research further if they're inclined to do so. Strive to leave no questions unanswered, but in a clear and concise way.
4.Share your plan for successfully completing the program.
Make it clear and show how you will be able to balance and manage your time effectively between your work duties as well as the professional development, if necessary.
During my recent marketing certification, I was managing my nine-to-five, life as a wife, my side hustle, church ministry, the more than 250 hours of content that I had to learn, as well as the comprehensive tests I had to pass. I know friends who've attended graduate school, all while managing their part-time business and their life as a wife, mother, and so much more. Nevertheless, you may have to sacrifice some time away from social media or the television, remembering that short sacrifices yield long-lasting results.
5.Summarize the overall benefits and value for you as well as the company.
In other words, you should be able to answer the question: how will helping you help the company? Will you obtain a unique set of skills that will make you stand out more? Is there a need that you can fulfill simply by completing the professional development? Will it make you a better all-around employee? What new ideas or enhancements will you learn that can possibly help improve your company's systems, processes, or overall productivity?
As a marketing professional, it's common for me to be on video, photo, and television shoots. Hence, it was fairly easy for me to get approval and funding for certain film/TV/writer/producer related workshops, conferences, and more. How? I was able to show how those workshops and trainings were directly related to my role and responsibilities, as well as how they would better equip me for current and future productions, and even my personal goals.
Maybe you have a future position or a promotion that you're working towards, and the skills acquired will prepare you for the new role. Sometimes, companies are merely impressed by the fact that you're able to look beyond today, and consider the plans for not only their future, but for your own future as well.
As they say, "do something today that your future self will thank you for later." Having a pool of talented and valuable employees not only makes them look good as a company, but it makes you look good too.
Featured image by Getty Images
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Shonda Brown White is a bestselling author, blogger, life coach, and brand strategist. When she's not jumping out of a plane or zip lining, she's living the married life with her husband in Atlanta, GA. Connect with her on social @ShondaBWhite and her empowering real talk on her blog.
From Heartbreak To Healing: The Multifaceted Journey Of Nazanin Mandi
Nazanin Mandi is never out of options.
About a year ago, the 37-year-old life coach and actress was navigating life after divorce and determined to experience homeownership for the first time as a single woman. She’d been married to the R&B singer Miguel for three years, following a long-term relationship that started when she was 18 years old. But, in 2022, she filed for divorce. It was certainly the most public change she made but, in reality, it was just one of many decisions to refocus and reach her full potential in recent years.
“During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been,” she says in an xoNecole exclusive.
Still, as Mandi worked to get to know herself and her needs during this new phase of life, she realized the home she’d purchased wasn’t a good fit. Overwhelmed by the echoing of her voice in the spacious home, she had a breakdown and called her cousin, who immediately suggested she lease the home and live somewhere else. “I woke up in my house, and I was like, ‘This is not it for me,” she says. “All those years, I had been accustomed to living a certain way [and] in a certain house, so I bought myself a house like [my old home]. But my family was not the same. Waking up in that house by myself, it highlighted the divorce. I was like, ‘Oh, no, we can’t do this. This is not it.’ My life has changed, so my choices need to change.” At that moment, Mandi became open to the idea that there wasn’t one set way to achieve ownership on her own.
“I feel so much better. I’m in a smaller place. My best friend lives a minute from me and I can walk to her house,” she tells me during a Zoom interview from her home one recent afternoon in early February. In the past two years, she hasn’t just been advising other people on varying circumstances, she’s also been healing herself.
"During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been."
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If supporters began following Nazanin Mandi because of her conventional beauty or the contagious, bright, white smile she often wears in many of her photos, that’s likely not the reason they’ve stuck around. Instead, she’s amassed a following based on her transparency about her own anxiety and depression, along with the encouraging messages of self-acceptance, gratitude, ambition, and humility that are often sprinkled into her social media posts.
In an era where looking at Instagram photos of models can often lead to feelings of self-doubt and insecurity, Nazanin Mandi is determined to be more than eye candy. She’s food for her follower’s souls, too.
Since being recruited to model while dining at an In-N-Out at 10 years old, Mandi has worked in many areas of entertainment. The Valencia, California native has modeled for brands such as Olay, Savage X Fenty, and Good American. As a teen, she sang at Carnegie Hall and auditioned for season 1 of American Idol, making it all the way to Hollywood before producers disqualified her for lying about her age. (Mandi was 15 at the time, and contestants had to be at least 16 years old.) Mandi has acted, too, including appearing on Disney’s That’s So Raven as a teenager and on the BET+ series Games People Play and the Prime series Á La Carte in more recent years.
In recent years, though, she’s also expanded her professional goals outside of entertainment, too. After becoming a certified life coach in 2020, Mandi launched the membership platform You Bloome in 2022 with the hopes of providing wellness services to others, including her self-published gratitude journal. “I wish I had access to something like You Bloome earlier in my own life,” she writes on the company’s website. The actress, who has been forthcoming about her struggles with anxiety and depression, has never had a life coach, but credits therapy as a tool that “really, really saved me and it laid the foundation to who I am becoming.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
"I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself."
While she’s always had a nurturing personality, Mandi says her interest in becoming a life coach was inspired by the women who would message her for advice on social media. “I would answer them back. It really sparked a fire within myself to help people,” she says.
You Bloome currently has three membership tiers, ranging in price from $2.99 to $39.99 per month. The highest tier offers a motivational text message twice a week, two live, group coaching sessions per month, and more. “We get emotional. We cry. We laugh. It’s really beautiful. I’ve built close relationships with my members through this. It’s been inspiring both ways,” Mandi says of the sessions. Still, the founder says she hopes to take on more motivational and keynote speaking opportunities in the future with the hopes of impacting as many people as possible.
And, she’s hoping to do all of this while continuing to explore a career as an entertainer.
At this point in her life, Mandi says she’s gained enough perspective on modeling, music, and acting to realize what she wants to prioritize moving forward. “We are going full force with acting,” she says, noting her goal is “to book a series regular or a film that impacts my career and the world.” She plans to continue to model, too, but has no desire to pursue music.
“I don’t want any part of that because I know what that life entails,” she says. “I don’t want to tour. I don’t want to do any of that. That is not where my heart is at.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If you ask Mandi, she’ll tell you she feels most comfortable in front of a camera, but she’ll also admit that she’s recently experienced a lot of imposter syndrome when thinking about her acting career. “I think it’s a fear of not succeeding,” she says. If anything, she adds, she’s harder on herself now than she’s ever been. “There were distractions before. There’s no distractions now,” she says. “I’m putting pressure on myself for no reason.”
This is where the life coach’s own personal healing comes into play. Mandi says she’s learning recently that “slow progress is still big progress at the end of the day.”
“Currently, I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself,” she adds.
Still, one of Mandi’s strengths is that she doesn’t feel the pressure to limit herself to just one passion. From working as a life coach to pursuing acting, she has given herself grace to explore all other dreams.
“We can be allowed to be many different things in this lifetime,” she says. “As people, our identities are allowed to expand. Don’t put us in a fucking box. I cannot live that way anymore.”
For more of Nazanin, follow her on Instagram @nazaninmandi.
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Featured image by Solmaz Saberi
'Raising Kanan''s Hailey Kilgore Talks Seeing Herself In Jukebox & Broadway Background
Hailey Kilgore, who has brought the character Jukebox to life on Power Book III: Raising Kanan for the past three seasons, was working hard in show business long before landing the role on coveted Starz franchise. She's already a Tony- and Grammy-nominated talent whose credits include the Jennifer Hudson-led Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and the Tony-winning revival of Once on This Island.
Hailey may play a teen on the Mekai Curtis-centered series but she's been training in singing, acting, and performance since the tender age of 9—that's 16 years now. If you take a look at her social media profiles, it will almost make you do a double take as her real personality couldn't be further from what's depicted on the show—proving just how talented she really is. The Broadway veteran, who is gearing up to release her first album, is what many would describe a girl's girl wearing loads of sequins, gowns, and serving face!
This will prompt you to dig a little deeper to find out more about the girl who is a multi-hyphenate and earned two major nominations before even making it on the big screen.
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xoNecole caught up Hailey as season 3 came to an end and was surprised to learn that although they may be completely different people, her real life is mirroring what's going on with Jukebox in Raising Kanan. "I really made the epiphany season 3." She continued, "[Jukebox] just wants to be seen. She works so hard, she's a really sweet girl. She has a beautiful spirit and she just wants people to see her—to see how hard she works. I feel that right now. I'm like, please just see me. I know you love Jukebox...but there's a super cool girl in here and she's got a lot to say. A lot to contribute to the world artistically."
She even delved more into her background, telling us about the extensive training and hard work she's put in to get to this point. "I started training when I was 9. I trained in acting, singing, and performance." She further explained, "I did my first job when I was 12, so I've been doing this for awhile. Performing is what I love. I've always said I wanted to be Beyoncé when I grew up...I'm really blessed to have the resume and the background that I do."
The latest season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan has come to a close but in true fashion, Hailey is still hard at work. Her first single "Drama Queen" is out now and her debut album will be released on May 3. It's safe to say that Hailey is having her moment. One can't deny that she's worked hard for it and we can't wait to see what's next!
Watch the full interview below.
Hailey Kilgore AKA Jukebox on 'Raising Kanan' Talks Broadway Background
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Featured image by Getty Images