Managers are a secret weapon for building skills.

Upskilling managers to have meaningful learning and development conversations with their teams can turbo charge organisations skills building activities, according to a recent Workplace Learning Report.

From onboarding of new colleagues to regular reviews of performance and productivity, line managers are best placed to identify and act upon upskilling needs in their teams.

 There are three key areas where managers can best support the development of their teams:

 1.       Commitment to opportunity

Managers who actively promote learning and development opportunities for their team receive the strongest impact from improved performance and connection.

2.       Ongoing feedback and support

Managers who are directly engaged in working with their teams to deploy new skills at work, support mastery of new skills in their colleagues and lessen the speed to competence following training delivery.

3.       Awareness of progression

Managers who broaden horizons and responsibilities for their team members quickly and supportively for their team members benefit from the greatest workplace application of new skills.

These wrap around the learning delivery itself to maximise return on investment and workplace learning from both formal and informal learning activities.

Managers with strong EQ skills can capitalise on their investment in their teams upskilling to provide performance and retention to a significantly greater degree than managers that are less invested in their colleagues’ futures.

Organisations that equip their managers with the tools as well as the wider learning culture to build skills in their workforce tend to outperform their competitors across scale, location and industry sector.

For growing businesses investing in leadership development alongside business specific learning and development initiatives ensures an outsized return on investment by magnifying the impact of training activities completed by their teams.

Surveys from Forbes suggest nearly all managers would value further training to support their effectiveness, and FSB suggests this stops two thirds of smaller businesses fulfilling their potential.

If a lack of these leadership and management skills is holding your business back, for an exploratory conversation to explore whether we can help, please get in touch.