How can you ensure everyone on a Corporate Finance team is learning and growing?

All of these pieces of wisdom are true. I'd add that focusing on expanding a team's "softer" skills like communication and EQ will go a long way toward growth and ultimately toward ROI.

Before setting goals, the objective must be made clear in the team member's perception. There should also be a quantifiable exercise to determine the individual and collective competencies as they relate to the objective, thus defining the deficit between current and expected or projected competencies for each tea member within their scope of responsibility.

sharing achieving the goals between colleagues can lead to employees to request and respond to the required training needs to complete each of their tasks .

In my experience, live coaching in small groups can have tremendous impact for the attendees. In order for these small group coaching sessions to be most successful, it’s important to be very clear from the start and have (1) specific and realistic goals for the sessions (2) attendees know why they are attending (3) there is some structure of reward for attendance.

One of the best ways to understand a process is to get hands-on experience with that process. Making the time for cross-training is a must. We tend to get protective of our processes and our approaches to our day-to-day task load. Opening up and teaching someone your way of doing things not only reaffirms your ownership of the process but allows someone else to understand how what you do and how you do it can impact the entire team. It also may allow you to see steps in your process that can be improved that you may be blind to in your day-to-day routine.

Corporate FP&A sometimes gets a little boring because of the routine nature of work. The employees typically working in this function need some sort of mental stimuli to keep them updated, to keep them challenged and to keep them engaged. Cross learning and knowledge sharing is essential. Imagine what a finance professional can do if along with being good in corporate FP&A, also comes with additional knowledge and learning about being a good public speaker. Tremendous combination isn't it?

First, establish a culture of safe, supported, and even expected failure. Supervisors can then encourage a "move fast and break things" attitude when the psychological safety to do so has been established. Clear guidelines and timelines to determine when an idea or hypothesis is "broken" or invalid, and what to do when that determination has been made, are also critical.

The credibility of this answer is in question. I have no experience in anything remotely related to corporate finance, but apparently I am one of “just a few” people who was invited to respond to this question. While I do know about learning and growth on staff teams, I haven’t worked within either the corporate sector or the finance field/profession. I’m not familiar with this type of content on LinkedIn, and this makes me want to steer clear of it.

In my experience, taking the time to review a deal (investment, merger, and/or acquisition) after it is completed is necessary. This allows the team to iterate and improve the process to ensure forthcoming deals are optimally handled. Key learnings should be documented for the benefit of the existing team and new hires.

At critical process deviations such as fail points and decision-making junctions, intentional debriefs including critical feedback should be part of the strategy. A general heuristic regarding feedback suggests that if it is supported by the majority, or by the most senior members of the team, it must be initiated. Otherwise, sound judgment skills within the operator's scope of responsibility can be used to determine the value and application of the feedback.

One the things that I have found successful in growth and development is allowing for staff to have the opportunity to lead and present critical projects at higher levels with the support of their leaders. By doing this, the staff generally spend heavy efforts in research and learning about the topic/issue/opportunity to expand their knowledge as a part of the exercise. Also having the chance to present info in front of leaders is a great opportunity for growth and experience.

Hire the right team. While many emphasize skills and knowledge in hiring, what matters most is the attitude toward work. With the right attitude, a team will learn, acquire skills, and effectively identify and solve challenges.