How do I Upskill my management team?

They say a company is only as good as it’s employees and they are right! A business can only be as good as the training and resources that they have invested in their staff – particularly their management team.  In a recent global survey by Deloitte, 86% of respondents rated the need to improve learning and development as necessary, or very important, but only 10% responded they feel “very ready” to address it.

Why is that? What are the concerns of business owners over upskilling their workforce?

The results indicated that a lot of the concern was to do with the changing landscape of businesses. The article stated:

Given that many jobs are changing, it may come as no surprise that, according to a recent World Economic Forum report, more than half (54 %) of all employees will require significant reskilling and upskilling in just three years.

What are the benefits of upskilling my management team?

Upskilling your Managers is vital to the success of your business, not only helping you to plan for the long term future of your organisation but also your employees. Offering training and development in roles also acts as a robust retention tool helping employees feel valued by their employer investing in their career.

Managers who receive training and development are more often:

• More proactive in their roles
• Able to more independently implement processes and structures
• Handle more day to day running of the business giving you more time to focus on your workload
• More active managers of their teams and the management of staff

How Can I Upskill my Management Team?

Everyone learns in different ways, and so our first piece of advice would be to ensure you use a variety of teaching styles and tools to upskill your managers.  No one style if going to be effective or useful for everyone.

Training and learning that is more personal, taught in a way that is useful to them and delivered at a convinient time is always going to be more useful and effective in the long run.

By having a personal development plan, created and agreed on by both parties, you can establish exactly what areas of development your Managers require.

On the Job Training

This type of training is a hands-on method of teaching your employees the skills, knowledge and competencies needed to perform their job, and it happens within the workplace. On the job training may be with machinery, tools, machines, software or programs, for example. This can be taught by a co-worker, HR department or Manager and can be on an individual or group basis. Sometimes, an external provider can perform on the job training if they are teaching specialised equipment or system.

Virtual Training

Virtual training is an excellent option for upskilling your managers as it can help reduce time and costs.

Virtual training is often self-paced and available to complete in manageable bite-sized chunks. This can suit managers who are short of time, or who struggle to take on large amounts of information from a full-day session. An additional benefit to virtual training is that you and your Manager can pick specific topics and training courses that are tailored to their individual need.

Off the Job Training

Off the job training is typically where a Manager or the employee will attend external training off-site. This could be a days training event, a seminar or industry event, for example. Although this can sometimes result in the opportunity to network and meet other individuals, it can be one of the most expensive and time-consuming ways to upskill your Manager.

Other methods of training to upskill Managers

There are also lots of other easy, low-cost ways that you can help to upskill your Managers within your own business.  Some of these ideas include:

• Workplace mentoring and shadowing. If you have a Manager who is established in their role and skilled in a certain area, you could pair them with a less experienced Manager and allow them to shadow and observe.
• Weekly Spotlight – In Management Meetings, you could pick a Manager to prepare a short presentation or talk on an area of their expertise to share with the team.
• Have a resource library that everyone can contribute to.  There is a wealth of information available online. Encourage your Managers to share articles, podcasts or information they find that may be relevant to your team, their roles and help to upskill them.

We hope you’ve found this information useful and if you’d like more information on creating personal and tailored training and development plans for your team to get the best results, get in touch to discuss how Altum HR can support you.