Mastering Skills in Minutes: Bite-Size Learning for a Time-Starved Age
Reader Note: The following is a snippet from an interview with Amy Crum, Sr Director Of Commercial Sales at Proofpoint, that will be incorporated into Darren Reinke’s upcoming book, The Savage Manager.
AI and massive technology-driven change is upon us. It’s not slowing down. It’s upending every part of how we work and what we work on.
The only way to survive, and dare I say thrive is to continue to learn and grow.
But, how do we find time to learn and grow when free time is non-existent? Time has become a nearly extinct resource.
Amy Crum, Senior Director of Commercial Sales at Proofpoint, addresses time scarcity by streamlining all training to focus on only the most critical elements. She calls these "bite-size Masterclasses"—laser-focused learning moments designed to tackle key issues facing her team.
For example, Amy’s team holds short sessions focused on a single topic—e.g. customer engagement. In one recent session, her team shared individual insight into two key questions: “What are 3 things that would be helpful for your customer to know?” or “What are the 3 questions you should ask your customer?” Sharing what has worked and not worked provides context-specific learning for her team and elevates the performance of the entire group.
Given the constraint of time, Amy looks for ways to embed learning moments into all dimensions of her team interactions—Quarterly Business Reviews, onboarding meetings (what she calls “mini-ramp sessions”), and team meetings.
Masterclasses Build Skill in Short Bursts
One of these is a bi-weekly Masterclass series focused on the ongoing growth and development of her team. “When I kick off a new year, I always pull in the top sales people in our organization worldwide,” she explained. “Then we run really short 30-minute sessions every other week.”
In Masterclasses, the organization’s top sales reps are invited to share their secret sauce, custom resources they have built, and methodologies with their peers. “Masterclasses are a valuable opportunity to gain fresh ideas, performance strategies, and best practices from the company’s elite.”
Content-wise, learning moments are tailored to the needs of her team. “I’m really focused on career growth and it’s all about what’s important to each one of us,” she said. Each person has unique needs and creating customized content while meeting the broader team needs is critical.
Templates Create Scale in Learning
Masterclasses sometimes involve sharing templates. This helps to build scale in learning moments as other team members can start to leverage them immediately. “Templates are our secret sauce,” she said. New people, who are earlier in their sales journey, use templates to jump start their outreach and interactions with customers. They can “copy, paste, and tweak” emails to help them to get up and running quickly.
Templates aren’t just for newbies. They are also helpful to more experienced team members. “Senior people will want to put their fingerprints on it,” she noted in explaining how her senior team members tailor the templates to match their style and experience.
“Teach Backs” Close Skill Gaps and Boost Confidence
Masterclasses aren’t just for people to share their expertise. They are also an opportunity to take a topic they are struggling with, do research to build their expertise, and then do a “teach back” to demonstrate what they’ve learned.
“I look for prescriptive ways to find somebody that's struggling a little bit and put them into a teaching situation,” she explained.
Teach backs force people to first master the content so they can then present it. “I'll ask them to go investigate something and then teach it back to the team,” she said. “I found that when they do that, they pay attention to the content even more, and it makes them stronger and more of a subject matter expert because everybody wants to show up well in front of their peers.”
Teach backs also boost confidence by showing them leadership believes in them. “I have found that it also helps to build confidence because it shows that leadership has trust in them,” Amy noted.
But, it’s not for everyone, she cautions. “It’s something I have found to be helpful, but you have to be careful because if you put somebody in a position that isn’t set up to do that, it can also have the opposite effect.”
Time is an increasingly scarce resource. Success at work requires us to allocate our time strategically. Finding time for learning moments is key to enduring success, regardless of marketplace forces and technological changes. Bite-size learning moments integrated into the rhythm of work are one way to maximize learning while minimizing “time off the line.”
Put This Into Action
Implement bite-size learning moments by doing the following.
Make the Case: Start with “why” we need to make time for learning. Markets change, customers evolve, and technology forces abrupt change. If we don’t peek around the corner for what’s next, we’ll find ourselves in an unwinnable race to catch up. Instill this mindset in your team—learn and grow or fall behind.
Identify the Learning Needs: Don’t just learn for the sake of learning. Identify key learning needs to maximize the ROI of learning moments. Assess team competency, identify skill gaps, and “peek around the corner” for what’s next—new technologies, shifting customer preferences, and new processes. Aim learning moments at these new imperatives.
Find Intersection Points: Forcing “time off the line” creates frustration and resistance to learning. Look for ways to integrate bite-size learning moments into existing team activities—daily stand-ups, team meetings, quarterly strategy sessions, offsites, and annual planning exercises.
Look for Ways to Scale It: Templates are one way to create scale. Inviting teams from other regions and departments can also create scale by sharing knowledge broadly across the organization. It will also build your brand across the company as a thought leader and someone who thinks beyond their role and function.
Assess and Make Changes: “Set it and forget it” isn’t a strategy for success. Assess the efficacy of the learning moments and find ways to improve them—address new learning needs, adjust timing and cadence, and involve additional team members who can provide insight and perspective. Constantly look for ways to improve your learning moments.
About The Savage Manager
The Savage Manager will focus on the principles that are common to the most successful people leaders and how they apply them in their roles. Each chapter will address a pressing challenge facing managers. It will outline the issue they are facing, why it’s important, and most importantly, provide “how to” recommendations to address each of the challenges. Some of the questions it will answer are the following:
How Do I Motivate and Inspire My Team?
How Do I Create a Sense of Purpose within My Team?
How Do I Create Psychological Safety?
How Do I Communicate Effectively with My Team?
How Do I Increase My Team’s Performance?
How Do I Prevent Employee Turnover?
How Do I Manage Conflict More Effectively within My Team?
How Do I Develop the People on My Team?
How Do I Nurture the Wellbeing of My Team Members?
How Do I Give Feedback to My Team?
How Do I Create Strong Team Chemistry?
How Do I Create a Strong Culture?
How Do I Encourage More Creativity and Innovation?
How Do I Encourage Effective Risk Taking?
How Do I Get My Team to Think More Strategically?
How do I Lead My Team Through Change?