Training vital to developing self-awareness, office smarts

The new workplace currency is training. Title is not important if you're not staying long term. Salary increases of 3 or 4 percent are ceremonial. So use the clout you earn to get training; it will make a difference in a way salary and title cannot because training can fundamentally change how you operate and what you have to offer.

The two most important types of training teach you how to understand yourself and how to function in an office. To a large extent, you have to take responsibility for training yourself in these areas. You can't learn this stuff passively, like memorizing key dates in US history.

''This must be a self-motivated kind of learning," says Julie Jansen, career coach and author of, ''You Want Me to Work With Who? Eleven Keys to a Stress-Free, Satisfying, and Successful Work Life No Matter Who You Work With."

''The problem is that most people don't know how self-aware they are," she says. Her book offers self-diagnostic tests to show you where you fall on the spectrum and how to retrain yourself.

Rosanna de la Cruz, a recruiter at Monument Staffing, is committed to the self-management that Jansen talks about. De la Cruz takes regular, long jogs that afford time to self-reflect, and she runs a book group with diverse, professional women who offer not only the chance to navigate competing ideas, but also to gather input on communication issues.

Most people think they make a good impression, but they are misguided. So a great help is an objective third-party who can tell you your weaknesses. The trick is to identify and fix them early in your working life so they don't hold you back.

When de la Cruz was having communication issues at work, her boss offered to hire a career coach for her. ''People get so embroiled in what they're doing at work that it's hard to get a different perspective," says de la Cruz. ''The coach has been invaluable in terms of helping me to better communicate. I'm pretty blunt, so I've needed to learn how to think about how words affect people." Workplace stars such as de la Cruz receive great training perks.

''Most companies quickly segment out high-potential employees and they get more advanced and aggressive training," says Jeff Snipes, the chief executive of Ninth House, a training firm. ''Companies don't usually market these programs because they create an atmosphere of haves and have-nots. However you can ask around at your company if there's a high-potential program and what you'd need to do to get in."

Here are some of the types of training to ask for:

1. Self-awareness coaching. Few people accurately judge the impression they make on others. This is so widely accepted that companies are willing to pay big bucks for a 360-degree performance review, which includes in-depth interviews between a third-party and a wide range of people you work with. Once you determine your weaknesses, hiring a coach is a great way to understand the results of the review and figure out how to either get rid of your weaknesses or at least get around them.

2. Communications coaching. One of the most difficult pieces of managing yourself is projecting what you really feel to other people. So many things get in the way of authenticity in the office -- notably, your ego and also your nerves.

Lindy Amos, a coach at TAI Resources, teaches executives to communicate better by using acting techniques. She says things such as, ''The difference between fear and excitement is breathing."

Before you decide that you are already good at projecting your true self, consider that Amos's clients are top executives from companies you respect.

If they need it, you do too. So get the training early in your career so you can make authentic connections from the beginning.

3. Training on how to navigate within a company. Many young people complain that they have great ideas but no one is listening. That's often true. It's not enough to have innovative ideas; you need to know how to promote them within the company.

Ninth House, for example, offers training programs that teach how to package an idea so that you can get it funded within the company.

Topics in this program align the idea with corporate strategy and find an internal sponsor -- two critical pieces to being an innovator in the workplace. When it comes to selling an idea at the office, don't forget you'll have to sell the idea that training will be good for your boss and for you. For de la Cruz, a career coach for her meant better communication with her boss. Not a tough sell. Be sure to align the benefits of training with the needs of your company.

If you're unemployed, you can't get a firm to pay, but you might ask your parents.

Another way to think about training is in terms of the job hunt: Hayden-Wilder, a Boston counseling firm for first-time job applicants, for example, teaches young people how to use public relations techniques to market themselves to employers.

Whatever sort of training you use -- self-generated, corporate funded, or a mix of the two -- if you create a life that encourages constant learning, your career and your life will be more interesting and more fulfilling.