It could happen to anyone. You wake up one day and realise that you’ve been living the same life for the last 365 days. It’s clear that you need to do something differently to grow in your career path, feel a sense of achievement and even increase your earning potential. But where to begin?

Well, as the saying goes: “Knowledge is power”.

How important is training in your career growth?

And what is it you actually want to achieve? Before you launch yourself into your learning journey, first take the time to evaluate which areas that you need to develop and how these line up with your personal and professional goals.

Let’s look at how training and development can help put you back in the driver’s seat of your life.

It helps you to build new skills and improve existing ones

At its core, learning and training equips you with the building blocks to develop new skills and abilities. Where you may have had foundational knowledge of how to set up a digital marketing campaign, for example, by completing a programme in the fundamentals of digital marketing, you can take your skills further by actually implementing what you’ve learned. When you get the opportunity to put it into practice, you gain more experience and can grow your portfolio.

Your skills become more marketable

Proficiency, passion and practise = excellence. As you improve, so do your marketable skills. This will help you attract more opportunities, engagements, contracts and work.

You open yourself up to new ways of thinking

Training exposes you to new knowledge and industry information based on real-life experiences and case studies, from experts, market trends and industry developments. Take the opportunity to build relationships and network with industry leaders who can help to elevate your perspective and ways of thinking. 

It can supercharge your personal development

Many successful entrepreneurs and solopreneurs once began small and continued to invest in their own skills and abilities. They not only have the vision and big thinking to set out what they want to achieve, they also take the necessary steps to improve their core competencies and skills to ensure their success.

Telkom Learn understands that the path towards success requires support and carefully considered resources. By investing in your learning and growth journey,  you are also investing in your future.

Whether you are an entrepreneur-in-training, or you would like to excel in your chosen career, we are here to support you. We’ve crafted a learning path that gives you the tools to set up a customised journey on your path to success.

In addition to learning material, did you know that Telkom Learn also offers you the opportunity to:

• Measure and track your progress.
• Earn trophies as a reward for milestones achieved.

We understand that the path to success is not always straight and that you'll also need support along the way. To help you be future-ready, we’re building resources around mental health and wellbeing, learning support and even financial services and bursaries to help you achieve your goals.

Boost your confidence and people skills

Learning and training can also boost your confidence and people skills. As you gain expertise, you feel more assured in your interactions with your peers. Training programmes can help you develop your communication abilities and help you to connect better with others. This growth can also help you build stronger relationships and networks.

Ways to identify goals and knowledge gaps

• Set up time with your manager, mentor or even a career coach to get their perspective on your professional development.
• Have a meaningful conversation about your core competencies and development areas and then put together an action plan. This could include additional work-related studies and taking on tasks that may be out of your scope and challenge you to adapt and grow.
• Engage in some self-reflection by trying out personality and aptitude testing such as Myers-Briggs Personality Test to examine some of your internal motivators and what drives you.

How Telkom Learn can help

Learning and upskilling for the workplace is a nuanced and dynamic journey and one that Telkom feels passionately about.

Our learning programmes available via Telkom Learn are powered by reputable, industry-recognised learning partners, such as Google, Alibaba Cloud, IBM and others. We are committed to raising employability levels and helping people already in industry to hone in on their craft.

As South Africans, we believe in the power of possibilities and Possible begins here.

Other ways you can upskill yourself

• Find someone, like a friend or colleague, whose career and personal development you admire, and ask if they’d be open to being your mentor. It’s a great way to learn the habits of successful people and build relationships.
• Apply for apprenticeships or work shadow opportunities to learn through real-life experiences.
• Be a sponge! Read, listen and engage with the world around you so that you are constantly learning and are perceptive to trends and opportunities to grow.

It’s time to make waves in your career, and step into your power. Telkom Learn can help.