The Value of Education

As Jamie Thompson over at The Kitchen Table points out, getting an education is an investment in your future. Yes, there are things that need cutting back in departments, but the training budget should be one of the last to go. As a chief officer in your organization, are you putting your money where your mouth is? As a member in the department, are you really concerned with providing the best service you can provide?

Education not only gets you a nice certificate on the wall; it opens your mind up to possibilities, it expands your horizons. And I’m talking about the benefits to the entire department, not just to the individual. When someone comes back from training, we don’t always do the best job of picking their brain for new ideas, or getting feedback on what best practices we are doing now and what we could be doing.

The training budget is to emergency service what the research and development budget is to corporate entities; organizations that fail to perform research and continually improve are likely to be lower performers than organizations who don’t.

Take advantage of the opportunities for providing R&D for far less cost than doing it in-house; send your people to school and if you are in a department that encourages you to go to training, take advantage of it.

Also on Firehouse Zen …

• Finally, No More Begging – July 30, 2009
• The Case for Credentialing – Those Who Can't Get In – June 17, 2009
• The Case for Credentialing – Those Who Can't Get In – June 17, 2009
• (Insert Task Here) For Dummies – August 17, 2009

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