Flexible Learning!

Last week I posted on LinkedIn about the challenge of managing flexible work for your team while also developing people, especially those who are early-in-career. 

With so many people now working remotely there is a risk of learners becoming lonely, feeling unsupported and their career growth slowing down artificially.

This is a challenge I see a lot of really talented people leaders grappling with. Does this sound like you?

You want to offer flexible work and see the mutual benefits of doing it well. You also want to support your team to learn and grow. It’s hard to do both simultaneously, especially without rethinking some of the ways in which development happens.

Until recently, a lot of growth has happened informally. Something interesting pops up at work. Unplanned, unexpected and full of learning opportunities for someone in the team. You would spot the learning opportunity and share it as early as possible. 

You’re known for bringing people into the work and stretching them. People love working for you, because you invest your time and energy in them. They trust that you will spot the value in a learning moment and act on it. That reputation now feels at risk and it’s really uncomfortable.

With so many of us now spending more time working remotely, those ‘learning moments’ have a lot more friction. You can’t simply pop over to the person and say, “hey, I think you’ll find this really interesting…”

You’re right. It does have more friction. With some deliberate work though I think there are some really good ways to work with it and get the best of both, flexible work and learning.

Using these three categories, ask people in the team to think about what their development needs are and how they can best be met. Then, in your regular flexible work team discussions talk about how to manage those as a team. Everyone wins when they get their development supported and they can support the development of those around them.

Solo

What can they do by themselves that gives them a stretch? What will they feel empowered by if they’re given a chance to try on their own? What formal learning can they get stuck into when they have quiet time working from home?

Paired

How can they pair up with others who can coach and mentor them, whether in person or virtually? Who can they have a peer coaching arrangement with? Is there someone at a similar career point to them who could mutually benefit? What kind of mentor do they need right now? What support do they need from you in the form of one-to-ones? How can this paired learning be scheduled into the working week so you know it is happening?

Shared

What team-time can you build into the schedule so that those opportunities for unplanned, unscheduled learning can still take place? What commitments will others make to pick up the phone when they’re working remotely, despite the added friction, and bring in the learner to meetings and discussions that they can learn a lot from?

Flexible learning is something that requires a lot more deliberate practice if we want our learners to keep moving at the pace that they’re capable of. Try using this approach and let me know how it works for you and your team!