How Do You Ensure Your Team Stays Skilled in Technology?
In the dynamic realm of technology, staying ahead means constantly sharpening skills. We gathered insights from Privacy Experts to Software Engineers, focusing on how to keep tech teams adept. From embracing AI Prompt Engineering to fostering a collaborative learning environment, discover nine strategies that industry leaders employ to maintain cutting-edge expertise.
- Embrace AI Prompt Engineering
- Prioritize Certifications and Workshops
- Cultivate a Culture of Curiosity
- Stay Proactive in Cybersecurity
- Allocate a Learning and Development Budget
- Gamify Tech Engagement
- Develop a Strategic Tech Radar
- Conduct Regular Training Sessions
- Foster a Collaborative Learning Environment
Embrace AI Prompt Engineering
Every tech professional is building their skills with AI right now. If we don't, we will get left behind in the future. AI Prompt Engineers are now offering their services to companies, and some are being brought on full-time. Every team needs to become well-versed in navigating AI prompts in order to remain relevant in the coming years. Every office will maximize its productivity with AI going forward.
Prioritize Certifications and Workshops
To ensure our team stays skilled amidst rapidly evolving tech, we prioritize continuous learning through certifications and hands-on workshops. For example, we recently launched a Google Ads certification program, where team members completed advanced courses and applied new strategies in real client campaigns. This not only sharpened their expertise but also improved our campaign performance and client results.
Cultivate a Culture of Curiosity
We make sure that learning is baked into our culture by dedicating time each week specifically for upskilling—we call it "Learning Fridays." It's a few hours set aside where the team can explore new tech, work on personal projects, or dive into something they've been curious about. This keeps everyone sharp and motivated without making learning feel like an extra burden. In the fast-moving tech world, it's about staying curious, not just staying updated.
A unique initiative was introducing "Code Swaps," where developers switched projects for a week and had to work on something they weren't familiar with. This pushed people out of their comfort zones and forced them to adapt quickly, learning new frameworks or languages on the fly. It was uncomfortable at first, but the growth was enormous, and everyone came back with a new perspective. It's a great way to break routine and keep the team on their toes.
Stay Proactive in Cybersecurity
As a cybersecurity company, we're on the frontline, seeing these threats evolve daily. It's concerning to see just how fast threats change, and we've found that even as leading experts in the field, our team still needs continuous learning and regular training sessions to keep up to date with emerging trends and tools.
In this industry, it is crucial to stay one step ahead. By continuously learning and using our firsthand experience, we can be proactive rather than reactive and keep our clients' businesses protected.
Allocate a Learning and Development Budget
Keeping a tech team skilled in the face of rapid changes is like trying to hit a moving target, but it's totally doable with the right approach. One strategy that's paid off for us is implementing a "Learning and Development Budget" for each team member. This empowers them to take ownership of their growth.
For instance, one year we noticed a rising trend in cybersecurity threats. Rather than just sending out articles or memos, we allocated funds specifically for cybersecurity training. Team members could choose to attend conferences, enroll in online courses, or even get certified. One of our developers chose to take a comprehensive course on ethical hacking.
This approach not only keeps everyone up-to-date but also fosters a culture of shared knowledge and continuous improvement. Everyone feels invested in their learning journey, making the whole team stronger and more adaptable.
Gamify Tech Engagement
Gamification and recreational use of technology are key to keeping your team on trend. If they're only using a feature at work, they're limiting themselves. Making it all about business is boring and risks demotivation.
That's why, at Redfish Technology, I always encourage people to play around with new developments like artificial intelligence. One thing I like to do is create a challenge around the software or app. For example, when ChatGPT hit the scene, I held a little contest. Whoever came up with the most cringe-worthy version of a recruiting-themed poem got a comped dinner. Everyone had to read their version aloud at a Friday meeting, and we just about died laughing at what the AI had come up with.
But what it really did was encourage the use of varying prompts, and deepen our understanding of how the tech could be manipulated to best assist our industry.
Develop a Strategic Tech Radar
To keep the team ahead of the curve, we've developed a tech radar--a visual roadmap where we actively track and evaluate new technologies and frameworks that are relevant to our business. This tool helps us decide when it's time to invest in learning new tools or frameworks versus when to wait and observe. By being strategic about what we prioritize, we stay both innovative and efficient.
A standout example was our AI/ML-focused upskilling program, where we partnered with external experts to provide deep-dive workshops on machine learning and AI. The training included both theory and practical applications, helping our team better integrate AI capabilities into our platform. This initiative directly resulted in smarter features for our deliverables, including real-time content personalization, enhancing both our product offering and team capabilities.
Conduct Regular Training Sessions
I strongly believe that it is crucial to learn new skills in the evolving digital world. To ensure my team stays skilled, we actively conduct webinars, training programs, and workshops.
The most recent training session was on how to use AI to automate mundane tasks and boost productivity.
Apart from that, I organize Tech Talk sessions where members from our IT department and Development team share their knowledge about assigned topics.
Foster a Collaborative Learning Environment
In the fast-paced world of technology, staying ahead means fostering a culture where learning and sharing knowledge are at the core of everything we do. At our organization, we're big on investing in our growth, both professionally and personally. For example, I took advantage of our education budget to dive deeper into AI by attending the MIT Professional Education Applied Data Science Program, which helped me fill in some important gaps on our Data Science team.
But it's not just about individual growth—we believe in learning together. That's why we have our Demo Trainings, where team members who've worked on new tools or groundbreaking projects get the spotlight to demo their work. It helps all of us to stay in the loop about what's happening across the company and learn where to find the latest tools to better serve our customers. My thoughts are, if we're not all on the same page, we'd be weak—we're only as strong as our weakest link. These sessions keep us sharp, energized, and united, ready to tackle whatever tech challenges come our way, all while building a collaborative and open environment where knowledge is freely shared.
