Training will continue to consist of identifying the necessary skills to get the work done and teaching those skills. There is an adjustment coming to those skills, but we’ve faced many adjustments.
Too many people seem to think that you can automatically teach other people about something if you’re an expert at it. Being an SME is great, but communicating that expertise so others can learn from you is a different skill. In fact, it’s a set of skills. Skills we should encourage our SMEs to learn to help our whole team grow.
I’ve had an opportunity lately to play around with some AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot for 365, and I have to admit, when I have a question about how to do something, I ask Copilot. I ask Copilot because:
It’s right there while I’m working.
I don’t have to bring in another tool or trainer.
I don’t have to take a class or watch a YouTube video to learn a new skill. (Imagine a Copliot prompt like – “How would I do a VLOOKUP with this data using ID as the unique identifier?”)
I wonder how many survey responders watch their managers struggle and/or fail because they weren’t prepared for management. Why would we be surprised that so many are happy not to bring that upon themselves?
The flip side of this is also true. The most generous thing you can do is teach someone something you already know.
If you truly want to be an organization that supports learning, you need to put your money where your mouth is and figure out how to incentivize individual and team learning opportunities. Taking the time to learn and the time to train others, shouldn’t come at a cost to the performance review of the people who want to learn. They should be the people you want to reward and hang on to. They are the ones who will be pivotal in helping you navigate change, but they can only do that if they still work for you. Making them work double-time to make up for “lost productivity” when they try to be part of the learning culture you claim to want won’t encourage them to hang around.