As you continue your development as a professional, your firm provides continuing education programs to equip you to function at a higher level, take on more challenging work and experience the satisfaction of achieving more. There’s an expectation you will take full advantage of the learning experiences and apply them to your work. But do you?

High performers do. Just being good enough or equal to everyone else isn’t in their DNA. They aspire to excel. They figure out how to apply what they learn so they can accelerate their results and work product. That’s why managers and clients love hi-pros.

Here are some ways to accelerate your learning and development. They all happen before you actually attend anything.

1. Discuss with your manager what you will learn. What will you learn to do, do better or do differently? If you attend without knowing this, you won’t know what to focus on.
2. Determine how you will share your learning. There are numerous ways you can give evidence you learned something, including holding a lunch n’ learn, conduct a roundtable discussion, or make a more formal presentation. You may also write an article for your firm’s intranet or something to send to your clients. Having to demonstrate that you learned something will make you sharp in the training.
3. Know what roles and engagements you will be assigned. The training should equip you to be able to do something more than you were capable of before you attended. What will you be expected to do differently?

The bottom line is this: your firm doesn’t provide you with developmental training so you can just fill a seat somewhere and be off work. You are expected to learn something that will add value to your clients. Your firm leaders want you to excel. You should want to excel also.