Should we allow training that is not immediately relevant to what we do?

Sometimes, we have members of our team who want to take up training that does not seem immediately relevant to what we do. They chance upon a course that they are interested in, but it is not immediately clear how it is relevant to their work. Accepting it could mean money taken from the L&D budget without knowing its relevance, but rejecting it could seem contradictory to the learning culture we try to build.

Scenarios like these happen fairly often, and will continue to occur as more training opportunities start to present itself in our AI-driven era. We, too have been on both ends of such a scenario. When I was a junior in the team, I wanted to take up certain courses that were not immediately relevant to our company or my job scope. I was driven by interest, but also the fact that I could pick up a skill without paying for it myself. It's not the greatest way to think of things. However, what I found helpful was that my then-supervisor got me to justify why the training would be useful. She did not reject me outright, but instead got me to think about it. It made me think through it very hard to the verge of wanting to give up, but I stuck to it and tried my best to ensure that I was not just trying to force fit something for my own benefit. A huge upside of that experience was that it made me dig deeper into the purpose of our work and how my job scope fulfilled that purpose. In the end, I found a good justification for it, and my course expenses were covered. Upon course completion, I also did an internal sharing with the team of what I learnt. Though it was already a company requirement, it was something I felt motivated to do. The session turned out well, with other colleagues giving good ideas of how the skill I learnt about could be implemented company-wide. By the time I left the company, it was a practice that had become a key part of our service efforts.

A key takeaway is that as L&D leaders, it is a good practice to avoid saying no immediately. It is good to mull over things and give it some thought mileage. If after deeper consideration the fit really is not there, then we can put it aside for the time being. In my case, what helped was not being outrightly rejected. Instead, it's recognising that learning is something most of us will try to do out of interest (or desperation), so our next step is just to find that alignment between what we're seeking to learn and our business goals. Clients who have an L&D strategy have been able to use it to help decide how to respond to this training request. What this tells us is that having an L&D strategy gives us a decision-making roadmap and clarity over what we want to do. It tells us when certain training might not be a good fit. It also helps us avoid situations where we wrongly assume - solely on gut feel or "experience" - that the training is not a good fit, and miss out on opportunities. Thus, if you're in a similar situation, know that having a well thought through L&D strategy is fundamental for making good training decisions to be prepared for current and future business goals.