New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Developing your team is as important as developing your business
Although the calendar indicates that it is still summer, the change of seasons from summer to fall is announced by the return of students from summer vacation back to school.
This seems to me to be a good time to assess the education needs or current skill set level of your team. Sometimes the term “personnel development” is used to describe the work to identify the skills needed to accomplish a given task and the current capability of a team member to complete the task satisfactorily. Any difference between the two data points is a delta, or skills gap, that needs to be addressed.
Also, the dimensions of the education gap are important to evaluate. Are there shortcomings in the area of social skills on your team, which may be referred to as soft skills? Is there enough financial awareness on the part of your team for organizational and personal capabilities? Additionally, as you may be anticipating a new customer service initiative, have the team members received the proper training and skills development to make rollout of your new customer service plan successful?
Training is an important element of your organization’s culture. Team member training and, by extension, personal development demonstrate to your team that there is a genuine interest in the members of the team. The deployment resources for education — including time allotted — go a long way toward creating a culture of engagement and interest both inside and outside of the organization.
Most educational institutions provide professional development opportunities to their staff with
the anticipation that they will become better educators. Most professional groups, such as physicians, accountants and others, attend trainings on a regular basis. Some of those professions have periodic examinations to maintain their professional accreditation.
As the students go back to the classrooms and the instructors evaluate their levels of preparedness for the work ahead, consider doing the same for your team.
There are many ways that one can improve the educational levels of your team.
Consider the following ideas.
The internet continues to be a wealth of information on most topics. But let me suggest a different approach. Much like playing a game of Clue, give members of your team different elements of a puzzle or riddle to solve. The teamwork and communications about the problem will
be their own reward.
If you have a television or radio broadcast at your location, vary the channel so that different views on the same topic can be presented. The change in perspectives could assist in the way that your team evaluates challenges. Explain what you’re doing to avoid unnecessary surprises and possible complaints.
Whenever you hold meetings for the entire team, invite a speaker from the state or local government to attend and address a subject pertinent to your organization.
A highperformance team requires continual training and development. Create your plan to help your team perform at a higher level.