It’s natural to think that formal employee development requires investment into courses, programs, certifications, and off-sites. And yes, there is a right time for investment in external trainers / speakers since they do add incredible fresh insight, stimulate internal creativity, and provide great networking and team building opportunities.
Formal training is not the only way to develop people. In fact, if you’re relying only on budget to build experience, skills and energy within your team, you’re missing some powerful opportunities. Some truly important development can come from the knowledge and experience you and your team already have.
Thought leaders like Simon Sinek have long emphasized that leadership is not about authority or resources — it’s about creating environments where people feel safe, supported (enabled), and inspired to grow as they tackle shared strategic and individual goals. Similarly, Dr. Christie Smith (a favourite thought leader of mine) highlights that people thrive in cultures where they feel valued, included, and given the opportunity to contribute meaningfully.
When people feel safe and have confidence they will be heard, supported and respected, they will share creative ideas, listen and grow. When people feel they are unsafe, they avoid risk and stay quiet. To encourage your team to be active participants in their development and to challenge each other, they need to know:
- The unknown is never something to fear.
- Feedback is meant to help everyone grow, never blame.
- Speaking up with respect is expected.
- Mistakes won’t define them.
This aligns closely with Dr. Christie Smith’s work on inclusion and belonging where growth is fueled by environments that value contribution over perfection and collaboration over silos. Development accelerates when people feel safe, respected and supported… or in other words… they feel they belong.
Training and Employee Development Is Not an Event — It’s an Culture
There are two ways leaders can support development with their team. The first is to let it happen as mentioned above and follow the larger organization and/or HR plan. The second is to take control and therefore turbo charge individual, team, and department growth and the success of your team. As a leader I encourage you to treat development as part of the everyday work for yourself and your team.
If there is one guarantee it is that without direction and planning, growth will feel random. A safe culture where people are inspired to contribute and grow does require some out of the box thinking and a plan that encourages everyone on to participate as learners and subject matter experts.
When development is seen as part of the everyday work, it often reflects a culture where teammates have fun with, support and learn from (and with) each other. And not all training needs to / should directly relate to a project or a department goal. Sometimes it should feel about helping them be better people or communicators… and if possible… sometimes it should just be about having fun.
How do you know what training to prioritize? Have conversations with your team. Ask them:
- “Where do you want to grow?”
- “How can I support you the skills and experiences you want to build?”
- “What do you need to do your work better?”
- “What trends are you seeing?”
- “What new areas in our industry or with technology are you experiencing as opportunities for us all to learn?”
Every person, every project, every challenge and even every mistake is an opportunity in a learning environment. So instead of asking, “What training can I bring in?” Also ask, “How can I use today’s work or what just happened to grow and to help my team (and myself)?” Then look for ways to align those goals and your support with the work already happening. This is where development becomes meaningful — not just managerial.
Peer Learning: Potentially An Untapped Resource: Stop Telling. Start Coaching & Mentoring.
One of the most under-utilized (and completely free) development tools is to encourage others to be curious, ask questions, and embrace research and discovery. In other words, encourage critical thinking.
Critical thinking builds capability. When coaching or mentoring your team, instead of saying: “Here’s what you should do?” try asking:
- “What options are you considering?”
- “What do you think will happen if you take that approach?”
- “What support do you need from me?”
This shift builds even more confidence and the ability to think critically, assess situations, and apply your shared values. And over time, it builds competency, experience, independence and pride which are the ultimate goal of development.
Many leaders default to giving answers. Sure, it’s faster and you feel helpful. It feels like you are making a difference. But be careful, you should not be the only source of inspiration or creativity and even knowledge on your team. That would create dependency, decrease morale, limit new ideas, and will set you up as a bottleneck. That can lower creativity, increase frustration among your team and increase turnover of some of your brightest people.
There are so many ways you can include peer learning. Mentoring is a great opportunity that has been used for years. And with four generations in our workspaces now, there is great success with older teammates mentoring younger teammates. We are also seeing younger teammates being very successful (and adding to their satisfaction) as they mentor their more senior teammates.
When you create space for peer learning people share expertise. Simple practices like team-led discussions, informal “lunch and learns,” or collaborative problem-solving sessions can be incredibly powerful. This reflects another key idea in Dr. Christie Smith’s work: people want to contribute, not just comply.
For example, let’s say you have a team of eight and you have weekly team meetings. Imagine that once a month you choose one person and give them one day off, but not really a day off… more like a day free to explore. On that day they must commit to learning something new; anything new. Part of this is to increase knowledge, but it is also meant to increase creativity and thinking outside the box. If they use that day to take a pottery course – they can. If they choose it to read a book about AI – they can. Then, during the next team meeting they must give a 20-minute presentation about what they learned and what they learned about themselves. This process continues at random until everyone on has had their chance and then you start over again.
Does it directly impact their work? Maybe in the short-term is probably the best answer I can share – but in the long run I think absolutely yes. It also demonstrates your trust and respect of them and in them… not to mention your commitment to their growth and wellbeing. I am certain it will create a closer team that feels trusted and respected. And you are helping them become more comfortable public speakers.
Conclusion
I hope this article gives you some ideas on how internal training and development as well as employee growth can come from the knowledge and experience you and your team already have. But when you do have a training budget and are considering hiring external trainers / speakers, my practical, values-based training helps individuals like you and organizations find inspiration to lead with purpose and belonging. And, if you want some immediate help to inspire yourself and your team, my book ‘The Path of an Inspired Leader’ is available on Amazon, Indigo and Barnes & Noble.
To learn more about ‘The Path of an Inspired Leader’ click here.
You’ve got this.
Bruce