What makes professional development truly worth it?

In a world filled with nonstop webinar invites and training emails, it can be difficult to separate cost from real value. In this episode of The KEY to Your Next Step, CFTEA Executive Director Andrew Lederer explores an important question facing employees, managers, community banks, credit unions, and organizations everywhere:

Is learning from CFTEA worth the investment?

This conversation goes beyond pricing and digs into what meaningful workplace learning actually looks like. Andrew discusses the balance of cost vs. value and why support from employers matters more than many people realize.

Using real student stories from community banks and credit unions, this episode explores:

• Cost vs. value in professional development
• Employee training fatigue and learning overload
• Why affordable education does not mean lower quality
• How community banks and credit unions support workforce growth
• The importance of flexibility, mentorship, and practical learning
• Why confidence changes careers and supports value
• How organizations build stronger teams through education

Whether you are exploring banking education, leadership skills, workplace learning, career development, or professional certifications, this episode offers a thoughtful and practical conversation about what truly helps people grow.

Because the true value of education is not simply what it costs. It is what it helps people become.

Resources

3 Ways to Boost Retention Through Professional Development (Harvard Business Review)

You've bookmarked the course. You've thought about the certification. You've watched a colleague get sent to a conference you would have killed to attend. And the conversation with your manager... still hasn't happened.

In this episodeof The KEY to Your Next Step, Andrew Lederer goes into the ask most professionals never make, and the one their managers are actually hoping they'll bring.

This isn't a "just ask for what you want" pep talk. Andrew tells the story from a manufacturing plant where he heard no for years, and from the other side of the desk as a VP of Learning and Development inside a community bank. He brings inthe 2023 Crowe Bank Compensation and Benefits Survey finding that lack of career development is now the number one reason employees leave banking jobs, ahead of pay. He gives you three ways to reframe the ask so your manager hears it as a return, not an expense. And he goes into the harder truth nobody else covers: what to do when you ask the right way and still get a no.

Whether you're early in your career or deep in the middle of it, this one is for the person who's been waiting longer than they should have been.

**Key topics in this episode:**

- Why the "tap on the shoulder" you've been waiting for rarely comes

- The manufacturing plant story that taught Andrew the no wasn't always about him

- The 2023 Crowe Bank Compensation and Benefits Survey on career development and turnover

- The LinkedIn finding that 94% of employees would stay longer for development

- Three ways to frame an ask your manager will hear as a return

- How to acknowledge cost out loud and position yourself like a leader

- The difference between a budget no and a culture no, and why it matters

- The short email that makes your next yes ten times easier

- The role-read every professional needs to develop about their own environment

**Referenced in this episode:**

- 2023 Crowe Bank Compensation and Benefits Survey, Crowe LLP

- LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report

- CFTEA courses, certificates, and college-aligned diplomas (cftea.org)

**Connect with CFTEA:** cftea.org

**Follow CFTEA on LinkedIn** for upcoming courses, programs, and resources for financial services professionals.

Ever walk away from a conversation and wonder why it stuck with you all day?

Not a big argument. Just… draining.

In this episode, Center for Financial Training and Education Alliance Executive Director Andrew Lederer and workplace communication expert Trevor break down how to deal with difficult people without losing your energy or focus.

From chronic complainers to know-it-alls and subtle bullies, these behaviors show up everywhere. The goal is not to fix them, it is to handle the interaction and still move forward.

You will learn how to:

• Recognize common difficult behaviors
• Understand why certain interactions linger
• Set boundaries and protect your time
• Stay focused when conversations shift

Because you cannot control how others show up, but you can control how much they take with them when they leave.

If you have ever replayed a conversation hours later, this one is for you.

FURTHER RESOURCES:

CFTEA Global Workplace Skills Library

Working Effectively with Co-Workers