In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, learning leaders face the critical challenge of ensuring their teams possess the necessary technical skills to thrive. This article delves into practical strategies and insights from experienced professionals, offering a roadmap for cultivating a culture of continuous learning and empowering teams to master new technologies.
Jerry Zandstra (JZ): As we continue our learning leader series we ask the question, how does a learning leader help their team maintain or develop technical skills. It’s a critical part of a learning leader’s job but also one that is constantly evolving.
Miriam Taylor (MT): Absolutely, and I feel like in the past few years the pace has accelerated rapidly. In my earliest days as a teacher I created my own website using Microsoft FrontPage, for anyone who remembers that. When I transitioned into instructional design, I taught myself how to use the various development tools, downloaded Audacity, and created all my own eLearning, including voice over work. I’m sure some of our readers have no idea what I’m talking about and others are taking a trip down memory lane right now.
Anyway, I digress. As my career continued, I found myself doing less of the technical work, specifically development, and leading the team instead. I still remember the weird feeling I had when I realized I didn’t know how to use that development tool anymore. So it’s an important topic for learning leaders to think through.
(JZ) I think we all have similar or other memories in our technical journeys. So, as you made that transition to leading a team, how did you help them continue to grow their skills when you felt you had less understanding of the tools.
(MT) First, I do have to say that I had some very talented people on my team and so in some ways it was freeing. They could clearly develop courses far beyond my technical abilities. But I will also say I always tried to stop by desks at least once a day to see what was being worked on and how the tools were being used. To me, that’s a must. As a leader, you need to be in touch with the overall ways tools worked, what their capabilities are, and how your people were using them.
(JZ) Okay, so beyond a good overall understanding, what do you recommend for helping your team continue to grow?
(MT) This may be obvious, but conduct a needs assessment of your team. I mean, when we talk about helping our team upskill technical abilities, we’re talking about creating learning paths, and they need to be individualized for such technical training. If another organization or department asked us to do this, conducting a needs assessment would be the first thing we do, but somehow we forget it with our own team.
I would begin with a comprehensive needs assessment to identify the current skill gaps and future needs of the team. I do this as personally as I can. I conduct interviews, send out surveys or assessments, and spend a lot of time just talking with my team members. I also look at competitors or peers to see what tools they’re using. When I do this, it’s not too hard to pinpoint the exact areas where the team requires development—whether that’s in emerging technologies, like VR or XR, AI, or foundational skills such as curriculum design or learner analysis.
(JZ) It seems like this could be a large and daunting first step.
(MT) Perhaps the first time you do it, but if you’re working closely with these people throughout the year, you’ve already got some ideas. And this could also tie into your yearly review tools, whatever those may be. But in this case, I’m bringing some intentionality to it. I want to know individual strengths, and where we have gaps, but also understand the team as a whole.
(JZ) So once you’ve done that, what are your next steps?
(MT) Whenever possible I work collaboratively with each member of my team to create an individual learning pathway. This can include a lot of things, but I’ll limit my comments to the focus of the interview: development or upskilling of technical skills.
And I do want to add here, besides the obvious benefits of improving the learning experiences the team designs, there is another benefit to my team. The people on a learning and development team are most likely there because they love to learn. Ignore their personal desire to learn at your own peril. Providing professional development opportunities for your team members is one of the major perks you can offer. I would also mention that in my more recent years of hiring, I heard this desire repeated often. We often picked up talented people from other organizations who might have even been paid more but spent all their time “cranking” out the work and were never given professional development opportunities.
This isn’t free though; you and the organization must be committed to providing the time and workload management to provide for these opportunities.
(JZ) Once you’ve designed those learning pathways/professional development opportunities, you obviously need to deliver. What resources do you use?
(MT) I’m glad to hear you use the word resources. There is so much good material out there today that I feel my job is to curate the best resources for my team.
I’m going to start with the less obvious. Sometimes we forget that pre-conference workshops, conferences or hands-on training sessions are really the most effective way to learn technical skills. If you don’t have the budget to send your team somewhere, then these sessions could be led by another expert on your team or maybe pull in an external expert who specializes in that tool. A few times I’ve done a hybrid approach where we had several team members in a room and then paid for all-day virtual training. The trainer was online (therefore more cost effective), but the team worked together, helped each other, and answered questions together. I think that example highlights how important “learning by doing” is for technical skill training. Make sure the training is interactive, providing opportunities for the team to practice new skills and receive feedback in a supportive environment.
Beyond that are the more obvious training tools or subscriptions to online collaboration tools, and virtual reality platforms where appropriate. These technologies can provide team members with access to a vast range of resources and learning opportunities, including online courses, webinars, and virtual simulations, which can be particularly useful for developing technical skills. By integrating these digital tools into the learning strategy, team members can learn at their own pace and revisit complex topics as needed, reinforcing their understanding and mastery of new skills.
Regardless of what learning modalities we end up using, I try to organize the content into a Rise course or an internally hosted set of pages that keeps things organized and clear for my team. Something like a linked Google page or various Teams tools. This also allows me to link easily from those resources to create a personalized path for each team member or group of team members.
(JZ) I think this list has been helpful for our listeners, and I’m sure they picked up one or two new ideas. I also happen to know that you also incorporate some project-based learning, which is something some learning leaders may have not thought of before.
(MT) Yes! I wish it was my idea, but I had several great team members come up with the idea. We do it a few different ways. Sometimes we allow team members a few hours a month to work on a “pet project”. It might be something they’re interested in but don’t have time to explore, or perhaps application of a new skill. Google, as an organization, did this for a while. I’m not saying it’s something you can always do, but our team did love it. Another idea that worked more easily into our normal flow of work was creating “mock-ups”. We would have different team members work on mock-ups for projects and even design mock-ups in different modalities. This allowed them to stretch their creative and technical muscles while also showing our clients (internal or external) a variety of choices before we began work. Another idea we incorporated into on-boarding was the deconstruction of projects. Once we knew the areas a new hire might need some upskilling in, we provided them with an old project and let them play in the software, pulling things apart and trying to re-build. Honestly, developers love this! Most of them would prefer to learn by doing rather than watching a series of videos.
And I have one other thought that I’d like to share if possible?
(JZ) Absolutely. What have you got for us?
(MT) Implementing peer learning, coaching, or mentoring are also invaluable tools for a learning leader aiming to develop their team’s skills. Pairing less experienced team members with seasoned professionals can accelerate the learning curve significantly. I learned this the hard way as a leader. I took on too much myself. But over the years, I learned to pair team members up. We had one woman who was so cheerful, always willing to help and technically so advanced. We ended up creating a position designed around that. She was a great mentor and coach. Prior to COVID, we did monthly lunch and learns too. These were more informal and great ways to just have a conversation and learn from each other. This can still be done virtually, but a learning leader must be intentional about the design.
Beyond peer learning, it’s a good idea to implement a more formal plan of mentorship or coaching if possible. Through a formal plan of one-on-one interactions, mentees can gain personalized insights and guidance, benefit from constructive feedback, and develop problem-solving abilities. When it’s more formalized, I think the mentor team member feels freer to provide constructive feedback or push back a little which ultimately causes more improvement. A learning leader should cultivate a culture of continuous learning where both mentors and mentees are encouraged to learn from each other, fostering an environment of knowledge sharing and ongoing professional growth.
(JZ) Any final thoughts or suggestions?
(MT) I think it’s really important to celebrate milestones and recognize the work that’s been put in by your team. Success developing team skills in technical development skills hinges on recognizing and celebrating achievements! Try to establish mechanisms for acknowledging individual and team accomplishments, whether through formal recognition programs, informal shout-outs, or performance reviews that tie skills development to career advancement opportunities. While this not only boosts morale, but I think more importantly, fosters an environment where an attitude of continuous learning becomes part of the culture. By adopting a variety of strategies, I think a learning leader can effectively empower their team to acquire the technical skills they need to stay ahead of the curve.
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