The Giant List of Professional Development Ideas for Small Businesses

The average amount spent on training an employee for a business is about $1,071 a year, according to Training Magazine’s 2021 Training Industry Report. That’s a lot for a small business to spend on professional development. They need your chamber’s help. Here’s what you can do.

It’s not enough to just provide good work and a comparable salary these days. According to the University of Phoenix’s Annual Career Optimism Index 2022, an analysis of 5,000 employees and 500 companies, 68% of workers say they would stay with their employer throughout their career if the employer made an effort to upskill them. Plus, 49% of employees want to develop their skills but don’t know where to begin (up 6% from 2021 data) and 66% of employers believe the same.

So there’s a real desire and need for professional development ideas for small businesses.

While no one expects the chamber to step in and become a major educator in the community, there is the opportunity to fill in with secondary training and professional development ideas that could help small businesses especially do more for their employees.

People will pay hundreds of dollars for online courses. Why can’t your chamber provide similar resources for businesses in common areas of professional development for a lucrative non-dues revenue stream?

You need to know how to implement your professional development training and you need the ideas that will appeal to your small business members.

Implementing a Professional Development Program

There are many ways you could get involved in offering courses.

• You can create a multi-month leadership program.
• Create a shorter series over several sessions on a specific topic area such as marketing, finance or social media.
• Offer monthly one-time topics.
• Partner with larger organizations.
• You may already have suitable programs – they just need to be packaged and presented as such.

After you decide which kind of learning program you’re offering, you’ll want to figure out who will be heading it.

If you’re running a year-long leadership program, you will have many instructors. If on the other hand, you’re hosting a lunch and learn or professional series, you may have only one. Your facilitator can be someone you bring in from the outside or a staff member. They may provide their services pro bono based on their ability to sell additional professional services to the group or you will pay them for their time. You may even have a volunteer or a chamber pro from a neighboring chamber who is willing to volunteer their time to teach a skill.

70 Topics and Ideas for Chamber Training Courses

The true benefit to offering this type of professional development (aside from non-dues revenue if you decide to charge for learning) is that it’s something businesses/employees need but often don’t know where to go for it.

If you offer free learning opportunities to members, it may also be something that makes membership invaluable to them, especially if they can offer these courses as a perk to their employees.

Again, how you use these topics is up to you. Some of them lend themselves to one hour lunch and learns while others can be combined for longer series and possibly awarding a certification at the end. But all these topics are popular subjects for today’s businesses.

With things in flux and technology always changing there’s certainly a need to stay well informed and to spend time on professional development.

1. Dealing with imposter syndrome
2. How to start a business in your community
3. Time management for the busy parent
4. Side hustles and how to develop multiple revenue streams
5. Social media 101 (or a social media guru series)
6. Workplace conflict management
7. Managing through change
8. Managing work at home employees
9. How to write a business book and land more clients
10. Your first year as a soloprenuer
11. Business storytelling 
12. Public speaking and effective presentations
13. Creating a fantastic customer experience
14. Goal setting for creatives
15. Communication skills and body language
16. Practicing inclusion
17. Using your influence for good
18. Creative problem solving
19. Delivering difficult news
20. How to become self motivated
21. Creating an awesome company culture, small business edition
22. How to become an employer of choice
23. Delegating for people who hate to delegate
24. Things you shouldn’t be doing in your new business
25. Marketing for people who don’t have a marketing department or person
26. Streamlining your business with the latest technology
27. Working with freelancers
28. How to ace word-of-mouth marketing
29. Building a brain trust (or mastermind) to help you grow
30. Knowing when it’s time to take your business to the next level
31. Overcoming overwhelm (and mental health or dealing with stress series)
32. Identifying your value and learning to lead with it
33. Staying focused in a world of shiny objects
34. Embracing uncertainty and managing risk
35. Ways to use crowdsourcing in your business to build loyalty and increase sales
36. Creating your own personal development plan and sticking to it
37. Vision boards for the driven professional
38. How collaboration can improve your business
39. Anticipating what’s next in business 
40. Hiring and onboarding workshop
41. Women’s leadership series
42. Growth-hacking workshop
43. Cyber security
44. Things to do before you launch a new business
45. Federal government contracting
46. Expanding to new locations
47. Creating experiences for your customers
48. Mastering day-to-day operations in your business
49. Market research for people who hate numbers
50. Developing a competitive advantage and leveraging your unique value proposition
51. Social media marketing or digital marketing
52. Finding and attracting investors
53. Starting a subscription service at your business
54. Developing as a leader
55. Learning how to learn/mastering mental tools
56. English/communication skills for professional development or developing a business
57. Brand management
58. Is it time for a rebrand?
59. Using Canva in creative ways for your business
60. Easy ways to become a greener business
61. Fundamentals of leadership
62. Managing people, especially the difficult ones
63. Mastering teamwork
64. Personality types in the workplace
65. Overcoming bias in the workplace
66. Fundamentals of management
67. Becoming a more creative professional or business
68. Marketing analytics for non marketers
69. Diversity equity and inclusion 101
70. Becoming a successful franchisee