What is the Remote Managers Role in Professional Development?

In a recent post, I kicked up a hornet's nest of trouble for myself for suggesting that despite the best efforts of the nice people in training, it's really up to the manager to help remote employees develop their skills. A number of you begged to differ. It would be foolish to suggest that the manager is solely responsible for all the learning a worker has to do, but we do have a unique and powerful impact on the growth of our team, especially with remote employees. Here are some of the reasons and ways we impact training and learning in ways few others in the organization can.

• Managers are the number one reason people stay or go. Depending on who you talk to, somewhere between 65-70% of turnover is directly due to the employee's relationship with their manager. This is particularly true with remote employees, where the only direct line of communication to the organization they're working for is often through their manager. It would be foolish to argue that there is no link between the manager's attitude to training and the long term professional development of their folks. If nothing else, many managers have to approve budget or time off for learning opportunities (which include more than formal, traditional training opportunities).
• We managers are in a unique position to help learners guide themselves. There is no argument that, at the end of the day, the person most responsible for learning anything is the individual themselves. That being said, managers are in very influential positions for a number of reasons:

1. We know the organization and its resources. Many remote employees, especially if they were brought on for a specific project or task may not know all the resources available to them. As managers we jolly well ought to know what learning (formal training, elearning, experts we can call on and more) is available and how they can be accessed. We can't make them drink, but we can certainly lead them to the water.
2. We are giving them feedback on their performance and helping them identify the skills and knowledge areas they need to grow. That means that we heavily influence the choices people make about how (or even whether) they will develop professionally. You are giving them regular, specific, constructive feedback, right?
3. We have a bigger picture view of the organization and team than the individual does. Many workers are so focused on the task at hand, that they don't give a lot of thought to the next step in their careers or what's going on in the larger organization. A true leader gives their people a larger view of where the organization is going, what roles will need to be filled for the company to grow, and what skills or knowledge people might need to fill those roles. Additionally, we often have a more objective view of how people are viewed by others int he organization and can address blind spots we all have about our own talents and abilities.
4. We are the biggest influence on whether skills get transferred and reinforced. Deal with it. Ask anyone why people don't use the skills they learn back on the job and the answers almost always involve the manager. "She took one look at what we learned and told me to forget it and keep doing what I was doing". "He didn't even ask what I'd learned". "They didn't learn this themselves and have no idea what I'm talking about". If you've ever had that experience with a manager in the past, you know how frustrating it is. Why inflict that on your people? Remote teams have an additional challenge with reinforcement because the team members often don't have the kinds of relationships and opportunities to support each other they might have in a co-located work setting.

What are you doing to proactively help your people identify skill gaps and development opportunities?

Read more:

• Departing Team Members: Please Leave Your Brains Behind
• No Budget For Training? Create Team Teachers Instead