3 Reasons To Consider Offering College Tuition Reimbursement

The recent years haven’t been too kind to businesses. Times have been tough and profits have been slim.

Great employee programs have been cut. There are businesses that no longer offer matching 401K, health benefits, and college reimbursement.

Thankfully, many businesses are seeing a rise in profits and are considering reimplementing, or implementing for the first time, these programs.

Today, I want to share with you what I see as the benefits of offering college tuition reimbursement to your employees.

As a leader, it’s your job to attract key talent to your team. You’re most likely looking for smart, well-educated team members who are hungry to learn.

Yet once they enter the workforce, many find it hard to continue to educate themselves.

There’s many factors including:

Lack of time

Lack of finances

Lack of ambition (Hey, it happens!)

Leadership Lessons From Whitewater Rafting

I had the privilege of taking several members of my school’s leadership team to the U.S. National Whitewater Center about a month ago. After exhausting ourselves by embarking on adventures such as high-ropes courses, canyon-crossing zip-lines, and category 4 whitewater rapids, we decided to relax by watching other teams attempt to navigate the most challenging rapids: a quick drop into churning water that forces the raft to turn left just before a severe drop over the largest rapid in the complex.

Rafting expedition in Colorado

Image by Wesley Fryer

We laughed, joked, and, occasionally, cringed with one another as people fell out of their rafts. As the last wave of rafts came through, I noticed a small boy – perhaps 6 or 7 years old – at the front of the raft. There was a man with him at the front that I assume was his father. If you are not familiar with rafting, the strongest team members are usually placed at the front to determine the pace for the rest of the raft. It is also the place in the raft where one is most likely to get thrown-out headfirst into the rapids. So, while it is a place of honor, it is also a risky place to be.

Congratulations!

Really, it’s amazing what the word Congratulations can do to a person. It can make them feel like they’re on cloud 9 and the world is their oyster.

Whenever we hear Congratulations, we feel like we’ve done something worthy of praise. That’s awesome!

Sadly, we may not hear the word Congratulations all that often. Our spouse (I know I’m guilty of not saying it to my wife enough), our boss, our employees, and even our friends may not say it or communicate it to us. That’s a bummer.

When we don’t hear that great word there’s often a feeling of shame or guilt we haven’t lived up to expectations or done something great. Don’t believe the lie.

We were made to be amazing. We were made to WOW the world. We were made to excel.

Making The Choice To Move On

Being chosen for a position of leadership is a great honor. It shows someone noticed your potential and asked you to come along for the ride. Or maybe you chose yourself to lead. You took measured action and stepped up to the plate. And you’ve been leading ever since.

But there comes a day when we’ve all got to make the choice to move on. Whether or not you make the choice is up to you.

Moving on

Image by Mark Fosh

However, it’s a decision you don’t make lightly. You know you’ve been blessed with a great position, leading a great team, and having the time of your life. Except for when it’s not.

Let’s look at 3 reasons you might make the choice to move on in your leadership duties.