As studying intensely while working full time is challenging, and may cause a temporary decrease in your work performance, you very much need your boss to advocate for your examination within the company.

Exclude conflict of interest

If there is a conflict of interest, meaning your boss does not recognize any value and is against you taking the exam, there is probably no point in trying to convince him/her. In that case you usually have two choices: either you try to take the exam anyway and keep it as a secret, or you don’t take it while working and consider taking time off or switching to another job, depending how important the exam is for you and your future development.

In the first case, the journey will be more difficult, as you will have to keep up your expected work performance, which will mean less time for studying (with a corresponding lower probability of passing the exam) while risking an open conflict at work, if your secretive preparation leaks out. In most cases though your boss will not have an absolute conflict of interest. Therefore the objective is not to have to study in your free time only, but to gain your boss’ approval for using at least a portion of your working time for exam preparation.

Remember your boss is your ally

Regardless of what you think about your boss, you have to remember, that in order to get approval for some protected studying time, you have to perceive and treat your boss as your ally. So in case getting his/her buy in is challenging, the question to ask yourself is not “why is he/she not convinced?”, but “how can I convince him/ her?”

Find reasons, why the boss should support you

Usually it is in the interest of the company to raise the qualifications of their employees, if they are at least loosely related to the business. The question for you to contemplate, which will help you find the reasons why it is a win-win situation if your company supports your exam and which will help you effectively argue it with your boss, is “how will your new qualification benefit the company?”

• Can it be a good marketing tool, if the company bragged about your qualification?
• Could you contribute to more business if pass the exam?
• Is it prestigious for a company to have an employee with the qualifications you are striving for?
• Are there any currently running or future projects, in which your new qualifications could be used (list the projects)?
• Would you be able to do something that currently has to be outsourced because of lack of qualified staff?
• Could you help other, already certified experts, with their workload, once you pass the exam?

Once you have identified the reasons, use them as your convincing arguments to win your boss’ support for time off for studying.

Make your boss feel important

Your boss is crucial to your success story. He/she is a very important person, providing you protection and buffer during your study period from all the other  people in the company, who demand your time and don’t care about your exam. The boss is the guarantor, that you leaving work one hour earlier or working from home on Friday will not be seen badly (well it still may disturb your colleagues who do not know the situation, but once you have your  boss’ approval, you really shouldn’t care – remember your priorities!).

This is why you should make your boss feel important and express gratitude for the support. Do you have any one-on-one scheduled during your study period or a performance review? Don’t forget to appreciate the “study approval” during these conversations. Your boss probably doesn’t know yet how important the exam is, and how difficult the preparation, but emphasizing it by saying thank you will build the awareness. Don’t say you will pass thanks to that (you don’t know this yet), but rather say you will do whatever you can to be well prepared and that the extra time is invaluable.  

Make it tangible

Make your boss’ support something concrete. It is not enough for him/her to acknowledge that you are preparing for an exam. This acknowledgement has to be something tangible: eg. going home one hour earlier every day, working from home on Friday (or any other day), additional time off just before the exam…Whatever will help you, but name it. He/she might not agree to everything (to read my story go to step #3 of the previous post), but get him/her to agree to something and start acting on it immediately. You executing your part of the agreement is like a signature on the (still) non-official contract with your boss. You may be intimidated and feel awkward at the beginning, when you go home earlier and everybody else is still working, but ask yourself what is more important? Pleasing your colleagues or passing the exam? Believe me, after 2-3 weeks, everyone will get used to it. In case they ask, you already have your boss’s approval and you are indeed preparing for an important exam.

Make it official

Once you have won your boss for your cause, take one step further and make it official. Update your professional development plan and list the exam as one of your goals. This leaves a permanent record in the system, communicates it to the HR department  and makes both you and your boss accountable for achieving this goal. Making your boss officially involved will give you additional external motivation, which will be of invaluable help in times of crisis and lack of discipline. Knowing that your boss is watching you will make you study even if you really don’t feel like it and would rather procrastinate.

Conclusions

•  Your boss is your ally, and if he isn’t yet, you have to make him/her your ally
•  Find reasons why it will be beneficial for the company if you pass the exam, and use them as arguments to convince your boss to support your cause
• Ask for approval of a concrete action, which will help you prepare better (my preferred option is time off, but it may be a special course, conference, etc…you name it, as you know best)
• Appreciate support and make your boss feel important, because he/she is supporting you in your exam mission
• Make your goal of passing the exam official by listing it as one of your development goals in the HR system

 

In case this plan seems impossible or carries a risk of severe conflicts, think of changing companies. Your company will most probably benefit from the qualifications acquired by you, so if you have to fight too much for it, ask yourself if you need that trouble. It really doesn’t have to be that difficult. Be calm, clear about what you want and persistent. This works most of the time.