Luckily, even in the midst of being on the mountain, I had the opportunity this week to attend Women Lead Change (WLC) and that one event single-handly drove me into the mental state of how can I become even more ME than I already am, so I can ultimately serve this world as I am meant to?
And that conference, whooweee, let me tell YOU. I have, no kidding, 15 hand written pages of notes, so there's lots of learning I'll be doing as I reflect on all that GOODNESS that I plan to capture here (presuming I can read my own handwriting, eek).
Let me just say, I have been attending WLC annually since 2014. In fact, it is so inspirational, I've done 2 other blog posts on it, which you can find here and here!
I'm extremely fortunate that my boss is willing to pay for me to attend this event (thank you Jade!) Even if she didn't, I would pay for it myself as it is a SURE way to fire up my passion, fill my soul and get me going on high speed for months! I decided after my divorce, about 5 years ago now, that I was going to put ME first on my list. My company has long been a sponsor of the Women Lead Change event and I first found out about the event the year I got divorced, via an email that went out regarding my company's lottery for tickets. They had a surplus that year and at last minute were trying to give them out. The "free ticket" comes with a caveat: you must volunteer in some way at the event, which usually means you MISS one of the amazing speakers. Well, I managed to belatedly score a ticket to first conference that didn't require volunteering. I had an amazing time and now knew that to get a ticket, I'd have to make sure I was in the lottery pool. The very next year, I put myself on the lottery list the day the email came out and I NEVER GOT A TICKET. It was at that moment, I recognized that if I didn't care about my learning and development, no one else was going to.
Its the only year I've missed since 2014.
Every year since, I started sending my leader the request for my department to buy me a ticket. I'm not going to feel guilty about asking to spend 2 days focusing just on me. And my company paying for me to go to WLC is a no-brainer return on investment. Lets talk about the return on investment in a concrete way other than subjectively.
SHOW ME THE DATA!
The conference was $550 and 2 days out of office, which we will estimate is $1600 of lost productivity at work.
Total Cost to company = $2100
Now lets say I'm just a "little more engaged" at work.
Did you know the average worker spends up to 3 hours a day in work drama where they don't make forward progress? For the sake of this ROI, I improve just 10% on that 3 hours of lost productivity and that goodness lasts for 6 months.
Engagement boost = 3 hours/day * 10% improvement * $100/hr = $30/day * 6 months = $3600
ROI = (effort's gain or loss / cost of effort) * 100% = ($3600 -2100) / $2100 *100 % = 71% ROI
Last I checked, 7% ROI on the stock market is considered a very good investment...
71%? Unheard of.
The really powerful thing here? Everything I learned at the conference doesn't just go away after 6 months. Its now my new operating norm which means MY individual return continues and compounds as I use these techniques to help those around me in the workforce unleash THEIR best selves!
So don't ever feel guilty for asking for an investment in YOU.
YOU are WORTH it. Own it.
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