You’re getting ready to introduce a new system, process, or tool to your team. It’s exciting! Except you’re dreading the part where you have to train your team on it. How can you train your team effectively when you’re new to it all, too?
By having a team training system in place! When you have a training system ready to go, you get your team up to speed, address any questions they have, and build their confidence in your new system or tool. (Including yours!)
Keep on reading, or watch the video version, to learn how to effectively train your team!
Before you dive right into training your team, consider what you want to get out of training. Besides getting your new tool or process up and running, of course. What else do you want to accomplish with a team training system?
For example, you might want to use your team training sessions to identify gaps in your team’s knowledge. You might be training them on a new software and discover that they could use your support on another related process.
Managing diverse learning styles might be another goal for team training, especially if you’ve expanded your team recently. Some like to learn visually through notes and slide decks. Others may prefer video tutorials and walkthroughs. And others might learn best through hands-on practice with your new tool or system. Use this time to discover the training methods your team prefers so you can have them ready in the future.
Team training is also the perfect time to address any pushback to what you’re implementing. Change can be tough. If your team doesn’t know why you’re making a change, or if they feel like their concerns aren’t heard, you might face some resistance. Be open to feedback and listen to your team from the beginning.
This is one of the most helpful tips we can share when it comes to training your team: have an SOP library.
An SOP library houses all your SOPs, or Standard Operating Procedures. SOPs outline your agency’s processes and include training on how to complete that process. With an SOP library, anyone on your team can access the resource they need when they have a question. It’s also really handy to have when onboarding new team members.
Internally, we’ve set up our SOP library as a ClickUp list. We love it because everyone on our team can access the SOPs. You can also see all the important details like when an SOP was last updated, when it was created, who owns it, and so on. You can even add outside resources like YouTube videos or in-depth guides to your SOP library.
We also like that you can easily customize your SOP library to your agency in ClickUp. If you have a smaller team, for example, you can create just one List for everyone. If your agency is large or expanding, you can create separate SOP Lists per department, if you like.
Because we know how valuable an SOP library can be, we’ve created an SOP Library ClickUp Template that you can grab now for free. Start creating and storing your SOPs with it now!
You have your team training goals outlined; you have an SOP library built out in ClickUp. Great! Now how do you actually use these to train your team?
You’re gonna create a Team Training List for your agency. Just like your SOP library, you can create one list for your entire team, or create individual lists per department if that’s easier to track.
With this list, you instantly see who’s trained on what, whether they’re behind on their training, and what trainings are currently on their plate. This list encourages accountability from your team members and ensures that they’re always up to date on their training.
Pro ClickUp tip: Use ClickUp’s custom task types to label each training as a training. Then, each training task will show as such on a calendar. It won’t be confused as a meeting or other type of task when it’s labeled properly!
Team training isn’t a one-and-done job! If you want your agency to have strong skills and confidence in what they do, you have to encourage ongoing training with your people. An “always be learning” mindset, in other words.
To support this team culture, schedule regular updates and maintenance to your SOPs. Look for new resources to add to your library. If one of your processes or systems changes, be sure to update it in your SOPs as well.
Remember when we recommended asking for feedback before starting training? It’s a good idea to keep doing that, too. Ask for feedback continuously. Have conversations with your team on how their training is going and what else they’d like to learn. That’s part of being a good agency leader.
By setting clear goals, building a comprehensive SOP library, and delegating training to your members, you set your team up for success. This training process helps make sure that training really gets done — and saves you the hassle of pinging your agency members or chasing them down to remind them!
Effective training is about more than just introducing new tools and systems. You also have to encourage continuous learning in your team, and in turn, be open to gathering and implementing feedback.
Don’t forget a key piece of the team training puzzle: creating an SOP library! Grab your free SOP Library Template from the ClickUp Community Center and start building yours today.
