From Surviving to Thriving: How to Transform Your Business by Upskilling Teams

Hiring the best employees today doesn't guarantee your future success. 

Things change, technology evolves, and your industry never remains stagnant for long. 

It's a sad truth. But you can no longer depend on your employees to keep up with the latest developments by themselves.

If you want to create the perfect team to drive your business forward, you need to invest in upskilling your team. 

These unpredictable markets are requiring teams to be agile, innovative, and adaptable.

Those that haven't had a chance to upskill may struggle to meet these demands, putting the organisation's bottom line at risk.

Stay ahead of the curve and succeed in a rapidly changing market. Keep reading this month's Bright Bites newsletter to discover the power of upskilling your team for sustained success:

Why Upskill Teams Sooner Rather Than Later?

It's not all doom and gloom.

But the sales landscape continues to evolve and grow in ways we could have never imagined just a few years ago.

In these types of markets, customer demands and preferences can change rapidly.  

Sales strategies that worked in the past may no longer be effective. 

As a result, salespeople who haven't made progress on their sales skills in a while may struggle to adapt to these changes. And find it challenging to meet sales targets.

That's why upskilling is still vital to keep skills sharp and staff adaptable to change.

Upskilling your team also:

?? Increases Agility: When teams have a broad range of skills, they can pivot and adjust quickly to changing circumstances, responding faster to market shifts and emerging opportunities.

??Encourages Innovation: When team members are equipped with new skills and knowledge, they can apply them to their work and come up with fresh ideas and approaches. This can help the organization stay ahead of the competition and differentiate itself in the market.

??Enhances Productivity: When teams have the skills and knowledge they need to do their jobs more effectively, they can work more efficiently and produce higher-quality work in less time.

??Increases Employee Retention: Remember us talking about employee poaching last month? Well, when employees feel that their employer is invested in their growth and development, they're likely to be engaged and committed to the organization, reducing turnover and associated costs.

So, What Stops Leaders From Helping Teams Develop?

Several obstacles prevent organizations from upskilling their teams. 

One major hurdle is a lack of resources, as it can be difficult for organizations to allocate time, budget, and staff for training and development (especially during economic uncertainty.)

A general feeling of resistance to change can make implementing new training programs and initiatives challenging, as some employees may be hesitant to learn new skills or take on new responsibilities. 

Limited access to training can also be an issue, particularly in remote or under-resourced areas, making it difficult to provide employees with the necessary training to stay ahead in unpredictable markets. 

Lastly, time constraints can make it challenging for employees to take on additional training or development activities without sacrificing productivity or client-facing activities, especially in fast-paced, unpredictable markets.

How to Start Upskilling Teams to Stay Ahead

Overcoming these obstacles requires a strategic approach to upskilling that takes into account the unique challenges of unpredictable markets.

Here's how to do it:

1. Determine Skill Gaps

The first thing you need to do is determine which skills will be most valuable in an unpredictable market, especially the ones you need to bridge the gap. 

To do so, you can:

1. List the essential skills and knowledge required for each job role in your team.
2. Conduct a skills assessment for each team member to determine their skill level. 
3. Compare the required skills for each job role with each team member's current skills to identify gaps.

2. Create a Learning Plan

Now you need to get down to the nitty-gritty. 

Develop a training plan to help team members develop the skills they need. 

For example, you could explore options like on-the-job training, mentorship, online courses, or external training programs.

Here at SOCO, we're big fans of the blended learning approach, which looks something like this:

?? ??In-Person Training: During live training sessions, coworkers brainstorm and learn from each other. They can practice new skills and get immediate feedback.

??Online Learning: By incorporating online learning, staff can learn new skills or reinforce existing ones according to their schedule, whenever suits them best. 

??Coaching: By implementing coaching sessions, staff can get personalised feedback on current issues and reinforce training to sustain momentum.

By using a blended learning environment, you can increase retention rates and reduce training costs. 

Creating the right blended learning environment depends on the company, staff and topics.

Here are 5 different ways to implement a blended learning environment:

1. Face-to-Face Driver: Trainer drives instruction and augments with digital tools
2. Rotation: Employees cycle through a schedule of independent online study and face-to-face classroom time.
3. Flex: Most of the curriculum is delivered digitally, and trainers are available for support
4. Labs: All curriculum is delivered digitally but in a consistent physical location
5. Online Driver: Employees complete an entire course through an online platform with possibly trainer check-ins.

3. Identify Resources for Learning

Now, it’s time to bring your creation to life and start to animate your sales training program.

However, first things first, you’ll need to determine whether you will deliver your training internally or externally.

4. Evaluate

Once the training program has come to an end, you’ll use your participant’s progress to determine whether you successfully met your training objectives.

As such, it would help if you utilised the feedback from stakeholders to gauge if there are any missing weaknesses throughout the entire program.

But how do you know if you got training right or wrong?

Here are some ways you'll find out:

Let Us Do the Legwork

We’ve been implementing sales systems in industry-leading companies for decades.

We found that the best system to train sales staff incorporates a combination of e-learning, in-person training and coaching.

By incorporating all 3, retention and implementation are maximised, and sales teams reach what we all strive for, their maximum potential.

If you’d like to learn more about our online sales training program SOCO Academy, which incorporates trainer guides so you can guide your team through the learning, drop us an email, and we’ll be happy to chat about putting together a system which works for you.