What's the best way to help your global team learn and grow?

Assess the needs of your global delivery team and address it to optimize efficiency. This could be knowledge gap or technical skill to aid their performance in alignment with global delivery objectives. This will prompt decision like organizing training to support them becoming better at what they are hired to do.

Evaluate skill, knowledge competency of each team members through skill assessment, self assessment performance review discuss career goals, aspiration and development interest with team members. It is also important to identify learning need, preference and challenges. Assess team dynamics and collaboration within team to identify area of improvements. We need to evaluate team's cross culture competency cultural intelligence address challenges Review performance data identify area of improvements. When designing the learning and development objectives considering cultural differences, local regulations and market standards ensuring leering goals align with strategic priorities Proactively prepare for future needs and emerging challenges.

To help your global team learn and grow, prioritize open and regular communication to foster a culture of collaboration and trust. Implement structured feedback mechanisms, such as progress check-ins and performance reviews, to identify individual development needs and celebrate successes. Encourage continuous learning by providing access to training resources, mentorship programs, and opportunities for cross-functional projects.

To help your global team learn and grow effectively, prioritize clear communication and cultural awareness while leveraging technology. Establish well-defined goals and expectations, ensuring all team members understand their roles and contributions. Embrace diversity by fostering an inclusive environment that respects different cultures and perspectives, which can enhance collaboration and innovation. Utilize accessible communication tools for real-time collaboration and project management, and encourage asynchronous work to accommodate varying time zones.

Have a meeting with the team as a casual discussions on local culture and work environment to learn from each other. That would prevent any potential conflict in future and improve team internal relationship, therefore team feels more motivated to participate in team effort.

Accountability & Alignment: Align your team's learning with the company's objectives. But remember, personal growth is equally essential. Encourage them to take ownership of both.

It is good to encourage exploration across disciplines and apply new knowledge to demonstrate the learnings in either POC or real-time projects. The collaborative approach fosters a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and global collaboration, allowing teams to succeed and deliver exceptional results.

Creating a supportive environment is crucial for the success and development of any global team. Starting with the saying "Feedback is a gift" sets the tone for an open and constructive culture. When team members see feedback as an opportunity for growth rather than criticism, they are more likely to embrace it positively.

I think a culture of acceptance is often key to building a supportive environment. One of the ways of doing that could be to foster collaboration and trust by as many means as possible. Once a year face to face meetups with global teams would be welcome.

Community Building: As leaders, gather individuals with similar objectives. Form small learning groups or communities. Not only does this cultivate shared knowledge, but it also boosts morale, fostering a sense of belonging.

It is very important to understand the different learning styles and patterns for upskilling among the global task force. Here are few examples that has helped us to achieve desirable results. 1. Build Micro learning series ( Episodes of 10-15 mins covering key aspects of a topic) 2. Simulation Games (Experiential Learning) where we put people in to a 1 day action oriented workshop where they are able to apply the principles and concepts reflecting their workplace 3. Ask me anything Q&A (Fireside Chat) with expert once a month to address any issues, concerns of a technology/framework area 4. Hands on Demo and Lab to enable experimentation and learning. 5. Brown Bag/Lunch and Learn session for knowledge sharing among peers

The key here is to not adopt one solution but to adopt multiple technology channels. Where recorded Teams meetings watched in playback work for one individual, they may not want to watch 30 hours of these. Where a well devised quiz app and training material works for another, this can’t take into account the level of knowledge of everyone. Giving people options to learn and grow rather than a single source will help everyone thrive. Don’t forget that delivering this once is not enough. A cycle of the same learning and further learning to the wider groups will help crystallise the knowledge. The other challenge is time to use the tech whilst working a hectic schedule. Weekly ‘knowledge hours’ given to teams allows this more efficiently.

Collaborative learning could be leveraged by setting up SMART goals and can be tracked with any available tools. The tools help to gamify the learning process and build accountability to make it successful. The learnings can be demonstrated in any short meeting to make visible the progress that is being made.

Evaluating the impact of any team is complex but essential. Something that is universal is starting with cultural fit. No matter how talented, a misaligned individual can disrupt team harmony and damage client relationships. Impact for the client starts with defining KPIs that matter to their organization. At the core, impact is felt most on the bottom line. Are the teams efforts being realized in profitability for the company. Too many firms are focused on checking boxes to hand into their HR department instead of getting to the core of what matters to the client. Technology is a business, firms who treat it that way and align their teams with that mentality, will have the most impact.

Identifying Interest areas and relevant skills for team members is the step 1 to make the learning process efficient. Basis this input, separate working groups or learning groups can be formed with keeping potential opportunities in mind for the practical exposure. People with improved skills should be given right opportunities to utilise their knowledge and enhance it further, which keeps them motivated. A culture of learning & appreciation for the skill enhancement is also equally important.

Adapting and refining your learning strategies is key to fostering growth across a global team. Regularly reviewing data and feedback helps to uncover trends and best practices, enabling you to tailor approaches to evolving needs. Involving team members in this process (and early) brings in valuable perspectives and ensures that learning initiatives remain relevant and impactful. This continuous cycle of improvement doesn’t just keep the team engaged - it also drives sustained development, aligning individual growth with organisational goals.

Ensure you have a common language that cuts across countries and cultures. English may be your global business language, but beyond this you can agree phrases or words that help to avoid any misunderstandings. For example saying someone is ‘accountable’ or ‘supporting’ could be perceived differently country to country. Avoid this by implementing and embedding definitions that are understood by all for the things that matter most. This will increase successful collaboration and business results within teams of differing language proficiencies.

There's no single "best" way to help a global IT team learn and grow, as the optimal approach depends on various factors like team size, budget, learning styles, and specific skill gaps. However, here are some key strategies that can be highly effective: Assessment and Planning: 1. Identify needs: 2. Set goals and align with strategy: Diverse Learning Opportunities: 1. Formal training: 2. Mentorship and peer learning: 3. Conferences and events: Technology-Enabled Learning: 1. Learning management systems (LMS): 2. Microlearning platforms: 3. Collaboration tools: Creating a Supportive Environment: 1. Encourage continuous learning: 2. Provide resources and support: 3. Embrace diversity and inclusion: .

Some simple ways I have encountered to support and grow a global team but have the most impact have been to avoid team meets and check-ins in the line managers time zone. Alternating time zones for regular team meetings: - Gives everyone a chance to not be tired and provide more input - Enables all team members to be more time aware of constraints and therefore be more thoughtful in time friendly meetings moving forward - Allows for a ‘round table’ approach and reduce the isolated locations involvement. A simple and maybe obvious idea but having seen many global firms not operate this simple idea also suffered from isolated staff and missed collaborative opportunities.

By leveraging the strength of the each team member a power house can be built .It requires efforts such as ,Every member identifies his unique strength and brings it to the team and rest consume, promote it. By this each member gets recognized and motivated . It turns to be individual growth and collectively team growth.