How to manage the knowledge gaps that exist within your team

Managing gaps in your team’s knowledge and skills is something every business owner must deal with, whether you’re hiring only contractors or employees. There are ways to deal with that that work well without offending anyone. Just be honest and direct at all times and your team will follow suit.

Identify future needs

It’s important to know what types of projects are coming up in the future so you can identify potential gaps in the first place. If you know what types of projects are coming up, you can inform your team so they too can be aware of the types of knowledge and skills that will be needed if they want to work on the project.

Offer Training

Training contractors can be risky, but if you really like working with certain people, you can offer them regular training so they can learn the skills needed to work on future projects.

hire someone new

If you’ve identified knowledge and skills that are needed now or will be needed in the future, get serious about crafting a better description of the skills needed to find a new contractor or employee.

Make them aware of the training

You don’t always have to offer training, but if you know what kind of skills you’d like your team to have, you can at least let them know about the training other people are offering.

Send them regular industry news

Create an email list just for your team where you’ll share industry news, training, and other things that can help them learn more about the industry you’re all in.

Offer regular feedback

When someone on your team submits a project, be sure to try to provide feedback on what they’ve done well and what they need to improve. This is a great way to encourage your own learning on your own time.

Encourage team members to work together

Some team members are going to know more than others. If you make it possible for them to collaborate on projects together, one can learn from the other.

set expectations

It’s important from day one to set expectations for your team members. If they realize that continuing education is important to you and they like working with you, they will be much more likely to seek training on their own.