HELP FOR THOSE NEEDING APPROVAL FOR TRAINING INVESTMENTS.

Introduction

ADOBE TRAINING ISN'T JUST FOR GRAPHIC ARTISTS.

Adobe training classes often appeal to professionals who may not have attended a formal design school, but find themselves using Creative Suite software products in their daily activities.

Many companies have paid for employees to learn Microsoft Office products like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint as this software took hold as essential, everyday tools. In many organizations, proficiency in Adobe software is becoming a similar essential skill.

Your boss may have started asking questions about how to improve the look of internal documents, or customer-facing forms and promotional materials. With more companies relying on internal staff to help develop marketing tools and web content, it’s becoming more common for employees to stumble through familiarizing themselves with Adobe software tools such as Photoshop and InDesign. This self-study process often takes weeks or months, if it even gets done at all.

If your job doesn’t normally involve using Adobe Creative Suite, you’re in for a tougher sell. You may have to convince your boss that she’s not funding your attempt to build a side business. Show her the ways that Adobe products can reduce friction in her business, and she may find enough wiggle room in her budget to cover the cost of your Adobe training. Regardless of your job role, you can build a compelling argument for employer-sponsored Adobe training by emphasizing five crucial points.

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1. Get More Done

TACIT KNOWLEDGE IS THE KIND OF KNOWLEDGE THAT IS DIFFICULT TO TRANSFER TO ANOTHER PERSON BY MEANS OF WRITING IT DOWN OR VERBALIZING IT. EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE IS KNOWLEDGE THAT CAN BE ARTICULATED AND READILY TRANSMITTED TO OTHERS.

According to University of Houston Clear Lake professor Elizabeth A. Smith (Smith, 2001), the most productive professionals blend both tacit and explicit knowledge. The explicit knowledge you gain from technical training courses, for example, lets you leverage the tacit knowledge gained from your experience, your team, and your insight into customer needs.

Instead of stumbling through tools like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, professional training lets you finish tasks faster. Your explicit knowledge about technical shortcuts and best practices frees up more time in your day. That lets you spend more time with your team or with your customers, growing your tacit experience. If you work in a design-centric business that charges a project rate, you’ll earn more money for your company by completing more billable tasks each week.

If you’re using Adobe products as only a small part of your job, show your boss how training can help you spend more time focused on your core responsibilities. And if you’re a design professional who’s been using Adobe tools for years, emphasize how Adobe’s constant innovation leads to major changes in their software platform between versions. Gaining mastery of these advanced tools reduces the time you’ll spend asking for help or researching solutions to your Creative Suite questions.

2. Save On Taxes

YOUR BOSS WILL SAVE MONEY ON TAXES AND PAYROLL.

It’s a long-standing human resources hack: bosses almost always prefer to pay for professional development requests rather than hear their team members ask for raises. In many companies, managers must jump through plenty of hoops to adjust compensation for their significant contributors.

When your boss hands you a raise, she’s also budgeting for higher outlays for Medicare, Social Security, and retirement plan funding. Ask for her to cover the cost of your Adobe training instead, and she knows she’s only making a short term commitment that actually results in a tax write-off.

3. Improve Quality

DESIGN IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN ESTABLISHING CREDIBILITY

You’re not wrong if you believe that poor design and sloppy execution can impact your business. David Ogilvy and other advertising industry icons built their agencies on the expertise of matching their clients’ messages with the right images and presentation. A poor image or a hasty design can “tune out” a prospect, so emphases how professional Adobe training can help you deliver the kind of designs that keep your company from losing those conversions.

If you are a marketing communication professional, from a day-to-day business standpoint, improving the quality of your work lessens the likelihood that your customer will return your product, or that your client will ask for rework. Getting it right the first time reduces the amount of money you’ll spend on refunds, while improving your chances for client referrals.

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4. Spend Less Externally

YOUR BOSS WON’T SPEND AS MUCH ON OUTSIDE RESOURCES.

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Many companies rely on outside help when they need to complete projects using Adobe Creative Suite. In-house designers can easily get backlogged with requests from throughout a company, resulting in calls to freelancers and temporary agencies. If that sounds like the place where you work, building even basic Adobe skills can mean that you can handle more of these requests on your own instead of either delaying a project or raiding a budget.

However, for the majority of companies that don’t staff Adobe experts in-house, your Creative Suite training can reduce the need to engage with specialized agencies or with unreliable contractors. If your boss has ever had to spend time and money taking a gamble on an unknown temporary Adobe expert, she’ll appreciate investing that time and money into your training instead.

5. Build Your Team

LEARNING CAN RESULT IN SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIC COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

If your boss operates a company that’s keen on professional development, your Adobe training can give her the kind of case study she needs to inspire other team members. Teams typically work harder and deliver better results when they see they’re contributing to a company that gives them room to grow. Let your boss know that you’re willing to share your experience and motivate your peers to invest time in their own professional development.

It’s also hard to get fired when you’re the person on the team that everyone relies on for a specific skill. Asking for your boss to pay for your Adobe training equates to volunteering for more work and more responsibility, even if you’re not going to get a raise right away. Using your skills judiciously can result in creating raving fans among your colleagues, who’ll fight to see you get a raise or a promotion rather than lose access to your expertise.

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5 Bonus Tips On The Conversation With Your Boss

Even after you’ve done your homework and sharpened your arguments, you’ll still have to place your request in the right context for your boss to extend her approval. Follow these five tips to make the conversation easier:

BONUS TIP 1

Research whether your company operates a traditional tuition reimbursement program.

Many medium and large companies already cover the cost of college degree programs and specialized professional education courses. Your boss may already have a system in place to handle continuing education expenses that doesn’t involve begging or pleading. Check with your human resources department and review your benefits handbook: many HR professionals admit that employees typically under utilize these programs.

BONUS TIP 2

Learn how your boss has to schedule budget requests.

If you base your request solely on your own timeline, you’ll face one of two outcomes: your boss won’t have the money to spend, or she’ll become highly suspicious of your motives. Think long term by getting interested in how budget cycles operate in your company. A small business may have the flexibility to cut a check for Adobe training at any point in the year. Larger companies must weld a request like yours into a budget approval process that’s timed around fiscal years or quarters. Start talking about your plan with influences in your organization to learn the right time to ask for approval.

BONUS TIP 3

Discover the kinds of projects and products that can cover the cost of your Adobe training.

Your boss may not have a discretionary budget to pay for training courses, but she may have the power to drop your request into the line items of a specialized project. Take the time to learn about departmental plans that could involve enhanced use of Adobe projects, so you can get yourself assigned to that team.

BONUS TIP 4

Align your request with your department’s stated goals.

You’ll fare better in this kind of negotiation when you can point at the results that resonate the most with your boss. If she stays up late at night poring over cus¬tomer service surveys, call out ways that Adobe training can help you improve the aesthetics of your products and marketing materials. A sales-driven manager will prefer to hear how you intend to use your training to close more deals. Even though most managers will talk about lofty professional development goals for their teams, they have to understand how your training will “move the needle” to justify the expense.

BONUS TIP 5

Emphasize your commitment to the company in every conversation about paying for your Adobe training.

In today’s job market, the combination of experience and training can make you a hot commodity. Your manager my feel apprehensive about paying for Adobe training that could qualify you for a better paying job elsewhere. If your career ambitions involve growing your influence and impact at your current employer, offering your boss those assurances now will smooth the path to approving your request.

Remember that it’s never your manager’s job to get you ready for a higher-paying job outside the company, or to help you build the skills you’ll use to start your own business. When you focus on the impact you’ll bring to your existing team in your existing role, you’ll have the best shot at getting your Adobe training expenses reimbursed or covered completely.