Thanks to resources freely available online, employees who wish to can refine their expertise or develop new skills. However, nothing replaces real or virtual interactions within the company. Among management responsibilities, many managers aspire to develop an effective support strategy. Sometimes neglected because team training requires dedicating time to it, it actually leads to fruitful results: more motivated, qualified, loyal, and high-performing employees. Because upskilling the members of one’s department is in fact an investment, we are sharing the steps to follow to develop it.

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Step 1: Determine the skills to work on

Identify each person’s strengths and areas for improvement

To help teams progress, you first need to determine the topics it is relevant for them to work on. Employees, each with their own level, naturally have different strengths and areas for improvement. However, it can be helpful for them to meet with other members of their team (or another one) in order to grow together around a similar skill. In this situation, sharing the same experience can strengthen their bond, encourage them to help one another, and persevere.

Develop or strengthen a skill

To identify the areas in which to help teammates grow, two options are possible: rely on a new skill to develop or on a strength to reinforce. So, if a graphic designer wants to progress in their role, they could broaden their scope by training in video editing. If, on the other hand, the professional is an accountant who already knows Excel very well, they might want to master all the inner workings of this software so they become unbeatable in it.

Encourage dialogue between managers and employees

Discussions between a manager and their employee are key. Asking the employee directly what they are missing for their fulfillment both in their tasks and in their professional growth could bring out some interesting avenues to build on. Of course, the manager can first reflect on useful skills for their employee and suggest them. Indeed, thanks to their overall perspective, their knowledge of everyone’s scope, and their experience, they may have developed expertise in current or new skills to be developed.

Therefore, a discussion in which each person shares observations and feelings becomes essential. Thus, recruitment periods, annual reviews, skills assessments, and training plans are great opportunities to talk about it. However, nothing prevents the employee or manager from multiplying opportunities to discuss upskilling at work.

Use feedback to conclude on the themes to work on

To make the exchange as constructive as possible, the DESC method can be perfectly suitable. This concept identifies four steps to follow to start a caring dialogue and arrive at action-oriented outcomes. First, note the description of facts in order to begin from shared factual foundations. Then, move on to expressing both parties’ feelings in order to create a relationship of trust where everyone feels free to speak. Next, discuss the specification of solutions, based on the objective and subjective information identified. Finally, end with a summary of what has been communicated.

Step 2: Deploy the necessary resources

Delegate knowledge transfer

To help employees upskill, why not call on your most expert colleagues and ask them to dedicate some of their time to sharing experience. In the end, these are moments of exchange that are beneficial for both parties. One discovers or improves their knowledge, while the other tests their facilitation and transmission skills. It is therefore a double upskilling process. But to achieve this, someone on the team must be an expert in the desired topic, agree to invest their time, and be willing to share knowledge.

Offer suitable training

If delegating knowledge transfer is not feasible right away, another solution is to call on trainers qualified in their field. As they are most often accustomed to designing engaging content and enjoy sharing their passion, they pass it on with greater ease. Depending on the brief received, they adjust their workshops to tailor them to their audience. Let’s say a speaker is used to delivering Excel training and is given the audience’s expectations: participants want to measure performance improvements. Those are the calculations they will highlight during their sessions.

At Seven, all our trainers, whom we call “Seveners,” are selected for their interest in the subject and their desire to make knowledge transfer go beyond mere delivery. These are foundations that seem essential to us for creating quality content. In addition, we help them refine their facilitation techniques by sharing our experience in instructional engineering. Moreover, if you think this method suits you and are convinced that upskilling your employees is crucial, know that we would be happy to support you. We can create tailor-made training courses according to your needs.

Step 3: Maintain the desire to learn over the long term

Set SMART goals

To encourage learning (or strengthening) of a skill, it is important to determine a direction to follow. What do you want your colleagues to be able to do? Setting so-called “SMART” goals—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound—acts as a compass that guides the employee. With the S for Specific, the goal should be personalized according to the employee’s profile. With the M for Measurable, progress toward the goal must be trackable. With the A for Achievable, sub-steps can be set. With the R for Realistic, the goal should be consistent with allocated resources (budget, equipment, staff, etc.). And with the T for Time-bound, a deadline is set at which to measure the goal.

Track progress

Once the skills and expected outcomes to achieve are set, it is necessary to ensure regular monitoring of employees’ actions. If the manager waits until the deadline defined in the SMART goal to observe whether skill development or strengthening has succeeded, it is likely the teams will be far from expectations. Regularly organizing meetings therefore remains essential because it sets sub-steps, readjusts actions according to visible results, and defuses potential concerns.

Congratulate and encourage, of course

While the employee is training in a new skill or strengthening an existing one, they may experience difficulties (too much time required, lack of support, misunderstanding of content, etc.), which could lead them to stop their upskilling journey midway. Moreover, without recognition or encouragement from those around them and their superiors, they may drift toward a loss of motivation. Thus, it is important to congratulate an employee from the very beginning for the commitment they are about to make. Then, while training is underway, encouragement must continue over time by celebrating small victories achieved: “Your goal was to create around ten tutorial videos, and you have just made your first one. That’s a big step—I congratulate you!”

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In summary, encouraging managers to develop a support strategy is based on three key questions: Which skills should my employees develop? Do I have the necessary resources, or am I able to deploy them to support my teams? How can I sustain this desire for continuous improvement?