Building a great team requires more than just hiring great people. Hiring great people is just the start. Talent has to be developed and nurtured over time, and it’s more than just a pat on the back and the occasional performance bonus. That’s why MSP leaders need to craft a complete strategy for talent development that includes continuing education and incentives for taking on additional responsibilities.
Here are 3 “must-haves” as you implement a strong talent development strategy in your MSP:
1. Quality mentorship and instruction – Your mentors need mentorship and training in order to mentor and train effectively. Don’t just expect mentorship to happen. Invest in resources to help your leaders develop the people around them.
ACTION STEP: Depending on the size of your leadership team, choose 1-3 of them to participate in a training program to enhance their leadership, mentorship, training, and coaching skills. Turn them loose to practice what they’ve learned, and then document what they’ve done so talent development becomes a part of your culture.
2. Accessible and relevant leadership and management content – “Winging it” here won’t get it done. You need to get access to, and give your people access to, cutting-edge training content that they can consume and apply easily and quickly.
ACTION STEP: Appoint someone on your team, or hire someone, to be the curator of talent development best practices. Then, establish a Learning Management System (LMS) to catalogue learning materials that can be accessed by all.
3. Dynamic learning communities – Learning is better in teams. Learning with a partner or in a group enhances motivation and accountability. And, each person brings his or her unique experiences and knowledge to the table, which makes the content come alive.
ACTION STEP: Establish rotating learning groups and get them consuming your “best practices” content. When they’ve gone through a learning course or module, create space for them to report to the whole team what they’ve learned and experienced.