Fridays could be the best day to get the board to loosen its purse strings and invest in learning, according to an IT training company.
The Training Camp has launched a set of tips to help IT managers get board members to buy into the business case for training.
And according to the accelerated learning provider, the Friday feel good factor can really help.
"When we talk to our students, it becomes clear that those who’d made a business case for training at the right time - usually on a Friday afternoon when people are more relaxed about sitting down and listening - had received it, whereas those who perhaps had taken an ad hoc approach were funding themselves," said Robert Chapman, co-founder of The Training Camp.
The guide is aimed to convince finance executives that training can and does lead to a direct return on investment.
The Training Camp's tips are:
* Email a concise business case for training to the finance director and be sure to back it up with how this will improve your effectiveness and why it is necessary.
* Approach the finance director when he/she has more time to concentrate on your request, not when they are in meetings or contract negotiations.
* Be objective about how and why the training will help, rather than emotional.
* Make it clear that you will feedback on the training after the course and show exactly what was learnt during your time out of the office.
* Choose a course that offers on hand tutor advice and input as well as finishes with the exam to increase the chance of quick certification.
* Explain how the training will allow staff to pre-empt potential IT breaches and upgrades with time to spare thereby saving the organisation ad hoc investment in IT solutions.
* Make the cost-reduction argument as IT staff troubleshoot in-house and there are fewer call-out fees to IT contractors and consultants for minor problems.
* Highlight that speedy training and certification ensures that when new technologies are to be rolled out, IT staff with the necessary know-how are on hand from the beginning, rather than delaying the implementation.
Mr Chapman said that the recent freeze on training budgets had hit IT departments.
"Accountants are still showing a reluctance to open their purse strings, despite an improving economic environment," he added.
