Jay de la Cruz is SVP of Media at Underscore Marketing with over 25 years of experience delivering strategic media solutions.
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Your team is filled with intelligent people who have so much to share. Chris down the hall could hold the key to making data analysis easier, while upstairs, Lauren knows just how to make a team work in perfect harmony. You may never know this if you don’t have a culture of collaboration and intent to share knowledge within the company.
If you want to spur a culture where learning is constant and everyone is aiming to better themselves and the company, a Month of Learning may be the way to do it. A Month of Learning program is just that—a month where co-workers come together to share knowledge in curated sessions with a subject matter expert who can show their fellow employees new ways to look at tasks, teach them new skills and bring new understandings to difficult programs.
Identify the session leads.
The first step in creating a Month of Learning is identifying what knowledge your team members hope to gain and who can teach those skills. It’s important not to assume what your team members might want to learn and, instead, find a way to engage what they’re interested in learning.
Starting the conversation can be as easy as sending an email. When I first started to determine what people wanted to learn, I sent everyone an email informing them we were having a Month of Learning. I asked what they needed refreshers on or if there was anything new they felt they could learn. Ask your team to think outside the box. Learning isn’t isolated to hard skills; soft skills are just as important to a successful business and happy team. As you get responses, expand the conversation to those who might like to lead the requested sessions, and get your colleagues involved in developing the curriculum for the program.
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Identifying topics for learning can often be easier than getting people to present a session. You may need to nominate people you think are knowledgeable in a specific field. Extend the invitation in terms of, “Hey, I think you are really amazing at ___. How would you feel about sharing that knowledge with the team?”
Session leads don’t just need to be those who are already in leadership positions within your business. There’s often an added benefit to having a newbie or more junior team member lead a session. They feel seen, and you convey the message that you value everyone’s knowledge. With your topics and session leads nailed down, it’s time to communicate the when and where of the Month of Learning.
Be cognizant of everyone’s time.
Settling on a time for these sessions can be challenging, but one important objective to keep in mind is that you don’t want this to drain anyone. For this to work, your team members should look forward to the sessions and remember them fondly. Everyone is busy, so do your best to book sessions at a time that will be as convenient as possible for your team. I have team members based in Poland, so when we began to undertake this program, we had the added consideration of time zones, and you may too.
Session duration is also an important consideration: too long, and it’ll eat into your team’s workday; too short, and your team may not get any real value out of the session. Duration will also be topic-dependent. Some discussions will simply take longer than others. My tip is to stagger the length of the sessions the first time around and then ask for feedback on each length to get a feel for what works.
It’s also essential to ensure your session leads know this isn’t meant to be a lecture. A Month of Learning should be fun and engaging for everyone involved. The leads should be encouraged to use quizzes, prizes and personal anecdotes and encourage questions and discussions.
Take post-attendee measures.
The program’s success will be what your team members get out of it. You must find a way to measure this. Using tools like anonymous surveys can help get a realistic picture of the program’s success in the attendees’ eyes. You should also see results in the areas you covered in the sessions. If you focused on helping employees to understand a specific business function better, a good way to measure the program’s success would be to see how that function improves over the next few months. Interdepartmental relations should also improve when sessions include information about other specific departments, which may not be common knowledge to everyone.
Make sure to record the sessions. I’ve found that using them as a supplement or a jump-start to getting hands-on learning for our newest employees has been extremely helpful. They can also be used as refreshers, and you can use them to build on for your next Month of Learning.
Ensure that everyone is keeping an eye out for the lessons, skills and practices taught during the program, and ask people to let you know if the sessions are improving the attendees. It’s harder to lobby for another Month of Learning or a similar program when you don’t have any results to show from the first.
Although “month” is in the title, you should always be learning. For us, the Month of Learning was a result of a culture where we felt empowered and pushed to learn new things every day. If that doesn’t sound familiar, this program could and should be the start of a continuous program of learning and fostering a culture of curiosity and collaboration.
Although this project will likely start with you, once it’s greenlighted, don’t be afraid to ask others for help. You still have your everyday job to do; you aren’t a full-time Month of Learning planner. My co-workers reached out to me and offered support, which I greatly appreciated. Planning a month of curriculum, finding session leaders and creating post-attendance surveys isn’t something most people can handle alone.
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Author: Jay de la Cruz, CommunityVoice
