Best Practices for Employee Skill Assessments

This week, I facilitated a manager workshop on how to grow and develop people and teams. One question sparked a great conversation: “How do you develop your people outside of formal programs?” It’s a great question. IMO, one of the highest leverage actions a leader can take is making small, but consistent actions to develop their people. While formal learning experiences absolutely a role, there are far more opportunities for growth outside of structured settings from an hours in the day perspective. Helping leaders recognize and embrace this is a major opportunity. I introduced the idea of Practices of Development (PODs) aka small, intentional activities integrated into everyday work that help employees build skills, flex new muscles, and increase their impact. Here are a few examples we discussed: 🌟 Paired Programming: Borrowed from software engineering, this involves pairing an employee with a peer to take on a new task—helping them ramp up quickly, cross-train, or learn by doing. 🌟 Learning Logs: Have team members track what they’re working on, learning, and questioning to encourage reflection. 🌟 Bullpen Sessions: Bring similar roles together for feedback, idea sharing, and collaborative problem-solving, where everyone both A) shares a deliverable they are working on, and B) gets feedback and suggestions for improvement 🌟 Each 1 Teach 1:  Give everyone a chance to teach one work-related skill or insight to the team. 🌟 I Do, We Do, You Do:Adapted from education, this scaffolding approach lets you model a task, then do it together, then hand it off. A simple and effective way to build confidence and skill. 🌟 Back Pocket Ideas:  During strategy/scoping work sessions, ask employees to submit ideas for initiatives tied to a customer problem or personal interest. Select the strongest ones and incorporate them into their role. These are a few examples that have worked well. If you’ve found creative ways to build development opportunities into your employees day to day work, I’d love to hear what’s worked for you!

On Monday, I had a moment that made me realize that the responsibilities of L&D professionals will continue to evolve rapidly. I recorded a walk-through video using Google Gemini 2.0. It helped me insert a video into Camtasia, which is not too bad for performance support. Today, I asked Gemini to create a five-minute training lesson. Listen to the interactions. (Thanks, Marjan Bradesko, for the inspiration!) What happened next was a glimpse into the future of corporate training. Google Gemini understood my context, provided visual guidance, and adapted its instructions based on my responses. More importantly, it showed me how close we are to AI-powered training systems. Imagine this scenario scaled up: Your employees need to learn a new software platform. Instead of traditional eLearning, they interact with a multimodal AI that: ◾Watches their screen interactions in real-time ◾Listens to their questions and frustrations ◾Generates custom tutorial videos on the fly ◾Provides hands-on practice scenarios ◾Adapts its teaching style based on their learning patterns The core technology exists today: ◾Real-time screen analysis ◾Natural language understanding ◾Dynamic content generation ◾Behavioral pattern recognition ◾Adaptive learning algorithms What's missing? Gemini controls the screen to highlight areas/objects, create practice assets on the fly, automate lesson scheduling, and connect to platforms to coordinate and track these activities. But those barriers are falling fast. This means L&D professionals need to start thinking differently about their roles. We're moving from content creators to human/machine performance analysts. SLOWLY. Our value won't be in creating standard training materials but in designing the frameworks and scenarios that AI will use to generate personalized learning experiences. The implications for corporate training are enormous: ◾Just-in-time learning that works ◾Truly personalized learning paths ◾Real-time skill assessment and adaptation ◾Immediate application of knowledge ◾Continuous performance support that evolves into deeper learning I've spent 30 years in L&D, and I've never been more excited about our field's future. The tools we're seeing today are just the beginning. What do you think? How are you preparing your L&D strategy for this shift, or is it more of the same for 2025? Are you already experimenting with AI in your training programs? Drop a comment below. ---------------------------- Want to learn how to implement this multimodal functionality? I'm holding an AI Intensive program at the end of January. Link in the comments.

🛠️ Contribution Analysis & Talent Capability: Unleashing Potential 🚀 I remember diving into our team's performance data and realizing how crucial it is to understand contribution patterns and talent capabilities. This insight can truly transform team management and development. 📊 Using Backlog Tools to Reveal Trends By leveraging tools like Azure DevOps (ADO) / Jira, I normalized our data, uncovering trends and setting clear expectations. This approach provided valuable insights into our team's strengths and areas for improvement. 🔍 Setting Clear Expectations Analyzing contribution data highlighted our strengths and areas for improvement. This clarity ensured everyone knew what was expected and where they could grow. 📈 Identifying Upskilling Opportunities The data revealed gaps in our skills. I aimed for a “diamond” proficiency distribution. 💎 Diamond Proficiency Distribution 🥉 Novices: Fewer in number, focusing on foundational skills. 💠 Mid-Level Pros: The majority, driving core productivity and innovation. 🥇 Experts: Providing deep expertise and mentorship. In my experience, this approach enhances performance and boosts morale. For instance, normalizing data and focusing on upskilling led to a 25% increase in team efficiency. 🚪 The takeaway? Use tools like ADO to analyze contributions and identify talent capabilities. Aim for a balanced proficiency distribution to build a strong, dynamic team. Curious about how to implement these strategies in your team? Drop a comment or connect with me! Let’s drive productivity together. 🤝 #SoftwareDevelopment #Productivity #TalentManagement #TeamEfficiency #SkillDevelopment

How dispensaries train employees is changing. Since forever, retail and education leadership have been left in the dark about how employees perform and what they can do to help. Data visibility makes the difference here. Retailers can leverage their own historical data to understand where to improve employee performance. Here’s how Seed Talent does it today: 1. Analyze Analyze current qualitative and quantitative data to identify employee gaps in performance where supportive resources are needed. POS data is the key to retailers knowing whether or not employees are effective in their roles or may need additional sales or other supportive training! 2. Assign & Alert Automatically assign and alert employees of supportive training resources to address their performance gaps. Once the employee receives an alert, they have a set amount of time to complete their courses before sequential reminders are sent, helping managers stay on task. 3. Report Set up your KPIs and track progress against training after implementation. You can use your store dashboard to understand the direct business impact of upskilling your team. These reports will ultimately help you enable your team and make better strategic decisions about the role of training at your dispensary. Being able to measure the impact of resourcing and training your teams changes the conversation from box checking courses to actions that measurably drive your business forward!

Your people want to grow… But you’re not listening. Employees crave development, not just feedback. Leaders miss the bigger picture: ↳ Skill gaps and ambitions. Otherwise, employees feel: 1. Unheard 2. Undervalued 3. Stuck Without growth, engagement drops. Turnover soars… You need more than feedback. You need an actionable strategy. Here’s how: 1. Use Structured Frameworks. - Standardized templates reduce personal biases. - Blend metrics with narratives for actionable insights. - Structured feedback eliminates guesswork. 2. Focus On Future Goals. - Set SMART goals to make development clear. - Shift feedback from past to forward-looking progress. - Align team growth with your company’s goals. 3. Listen To Employees' Voices. - Surveys uncover ambitions often left unspoken. - Safe spaces allow employees to share openly. - Listening fosters trust and deeper engagement. 4. Bridge The Gap For Future Success. - Use benchmarks to prioritize critical skill gaps. - Compare current skills to those your future requires. - Prepare employees today for tomorrow’s challenges. 5. Empower Growth Ownership. - Prompts like “Where do I excel?” spark reflection. - Encourage employees to own development paths. - Regular discussions keep growth consistent and visible. 6. Collaborate On Development Goals. - Build trust with safe, judgment-free feedback spaces. - Visualise their goals, showing progress and alignment. - Collaboration ensures both clarity and accountability. When growth is intentional, businesses succeed. Focus on development now to avoid turnover later. Invest in your people to future-proof your business. Follow Jonathan Raynor. Reshare to help others.

Last night the Founder/CEO of a Series A hyper-growth startup called me and asked why his salespeople aren't getting better. It took 1 minute to diagnose. I don't care how much training your VP Sales or Sales Trainer provide to the team, there's one thing that's always most important, yet often missed. That's Peer-to-Peer training (I call it P2P for short). P2P training should become your greatest knowledge sharing practice on a weekly basis. This makes sense when you get to the point of scale where you have top reps on the team who are crushing it. At a certain point they'll ultimately know more than your VP Sales or even trainer, because they're on the front lines every day. --- Here's how it works (super simple): 1. Schedule weekly team meetings that have only one item on the agenda; Peer-to-Peer training in open dialogue format 2. VP Sales, Director, Manager, or Trainer should host the session but the real magic is coming from the team 3. Everyone prepares in advance by bringing 1-3 scenarios to the table that they either need help with (or) want to teach to the team 4. Each rep shares their scenario (describes it, or plays a video, or shows the email dialogue) and either teaches the team what worked (or) asks the team what they would do in this situation 5. An open dialogue takes place, some debating, and eventually some consensus (if no team consensus, the leader provides it) 6. The VP Sales (or whoever runs the meeting) documents the agreed upon best practices and distributes to the team afterwards by updating scripts, objection playbooks, etc. --- By taking a proactive approach to facilitating P2P conversations each week you enable a massive amount of knowledge sharing that otherwise wouldn't happen. By requiring everyone to bring 1-3 scenarios to the table you push salespeople who would otherwise be less inclined to ask for help (or offer it) and the culture of the team becomes one of growing and learning together. As a sales leader, you'll be absolutely shocked at how productive these sessions become and how much YOU actually learn from your team. Don't just wait for questions to come to you... you have to facilitate these conversations on a regular basis. This is EVEN MORE important for remote teams who don't have the luxury of asking the person sitting next to them for help. How many of you have participated in sessions like this? If not... suggest it to your leader today. It's the one team meeting that's actually worth having on the calendar.

Peer-to-peer opportunity reviews are like giving your reps X-ray vision. While managers inspect deals through process lenses, peers spot the real gaps. They ask the questions you won't think to ask: - "Wait, you've never talked to procurement?" - "How do you know the budget is real?" - "What happens if your champion leaves?" Because they're living the same buyer conversations daily. Here's the framework that's working across the leaders we work with: 1. Pair reps strategically. Match complementary strengths: - Hunter with relationship builder. - Technical seller with commercial closer. - Veteran with rising performer. 2. Structure the review sessions. 30 minutes with a clearly focused agenda: - Deal overview (5 minutes). - Risk assessment (15 minutes). - Action planning (10 minutes). Just tactical problem-solving. 3. Focus on blind spots rather than validation. The goal isn't to be a cheerleader: - "Your timeline feels optimistic given what you've shared" - "Have you confirmed this with anyone besides your main contact?" - "What's your backup plan if legal pushes back?" 4. Track forecast accuracy improvements. Measure before and after: - Stage progression consistency. - Timeline prediction accuracy. - Close rate by confidence level. The data shows peer reviews catch 40%+ more forecast risks than traditional manager-led sessions. Why? Because reps DEFEND their deals to managers. They PROBLEM-SOLVE with peers. So, what should your managers do? Well...just facilitate these conversations. Don't dominate them. Sometimes the best coaching comes from someone in the next cubicle.

Work is Happening. Development Isn't. Here's Why. Yesterday, Lisa Lie summed it up perfectly: "WTAF?" And today, I want to add my own insights on this classic WTAF moment—because when engagement scores are low on training, learning, and development, it’s probably not for the reasons you think. Matt Gjertsen made a great point: LinkedIn Learning (or any platform) can’t train your managers. And that’s exactly the problem. You can roll out all the workshops, buy every training subscription, and load up your LMS with thousands of courses— but if these TWO THINGS are not happening, none of it will matter. 🚨 The Two Biggest Missing Pieces: 1️⃣ How work is assigned – If work is always assigned to the person who’s best at it, can do it the fastest, or simply has bandwidth (this is the worst one BTW), people don’t experience growth and development. 2️⃣ How work is discussed – If leaders aren’t explicitly connecting work to development, employees don’t recognize the learning happening every day. What’s missing? Most of us were conditioned to think about learning as something formal—a class, a workshop, a structured activity. But in reality: 👉 Most learning happens through real work and meaningful experiences. 🚀 The real magic happens when you combine organic learning with proactive coaching and intentional conversations. The biggest red flag that this is an issue in your organization: 🚩 Work is assigned based on efficiency, not development. The fix? ✅ Assigning work differently AND ✅ Leaders having these conversations in their 1:1s: ✔️ New Project – “I’m assigning you this project because I know you’re working on X skill, and this will help you grow in that area. Let’s talk through how.” ✔️ Current Work – “You have three big projects—how can you intentionally practice X skill while working on them?” ✔️ Teaching Others – “You’ve built strong expertise in X. Let’s take it further by having you guide others in this area.” Because if these conversations aren’t happening, people don’t see their work as development—even though they’re learning every day. This is a big topic (bigger than just a Wednesday post), so I’m dedicating next week’s Side Door Newsletter to unpacking this further (link in comments). ........................................................................................................................................ 👋🏼 Hi, I’m Michelle and I write about challenging the status quo and redefining how we think about work. #Manager #EmployeeEngagement #HumanResources

The outdated vs. modern approach to assessments: Outdated: - Spend $50-100 per employee to take a one-time assessment (i.e., Strengths, DiSC, or EQ) and attend a workshop. - Knowledge never becomes HABIT. - Results are as short-lived as your training. Modern: - Deploy assessments through a behavior change platform (at the same cost). - Reinforce key behaviors until they become habits (use nudges, micro-learning, and live virtual workshops). - Change behaviors that impact your company's bottom line. *** If L&D wants to fix its approach to assessments, it needs to take a more behavior-driven, long-term approach. Behavior change platforms are the obvious answer. *** P.S. Here's an example of how the components of a behavior change platform work their magic: -> Hyper-personalized nudges: take each participant’s assessment results and nudge them to practice the highest impact behaviors. -> Micro-learning + micro-coaching: make learning stick with examples, exercises, reflections, and more. -> Live group coaching and workshops: add the “human touch,” give every learner access to an expert, and create an opp for peer learning.

We spent $200K on training last year. AI replaced 80% of it for $20K. And our employees learned more. Not because AI is magic. Because we finally stopped treating training like a checkbox. Here's 9 ways we use AI to train employees (that actually work): 1/ Personalized Learning Paths That Adapt → AI analyzes skill gaps in real-time → Creates custom curricula for each employee 💡 Reality: Our junior marketer mastered analytics 3x faster with AI-tailored lessons. 2/ Role-Play Scenarios Without the Awkwardness → AI simulates difficult conversations → Practice firing someone, negotiating, giving feedback 💡 Reality: New managers improved conflict resolution skills 67% using AI role-play vs traditional workshops. 3/ Just-In-Time Micro-Learning → AI serves bite-sized lessons when needed → Learning happens in the flow of work 💡 Reality: Retention rates jumped from 20% to 74% when we switched to AI micro-learning. 4/ Real-Time Performance Coaching → AI analyzes actual work output → Provides immediate, specific feedback 💡 Reality: Our sales team's close rate improved 31% with AI analyzing their calls and suggesting improvements. 5/ Peer Learning Networks at Scale → AI matches employees with complementary skills → Facilitates knowledge sharing across departments 💡 Reality: Cross-department collaboration increased 5x when AI started suggesting learning partners. 6/ Language and Communication Training → AI analyzes emails, presentations, reports → Suggests improvements for clarity and impact 💡 Reality: Customer sat scores rose 22% after AI helped our support team improve their written communication. 7/ Simulation-Based Technical Training → AI creates safe environments to practice → Mistakes become learning, not disasters 💡 Reality: Developers ship production-ready code 40% faster after AI simulation training. 8/ Continuous Skill Assessment → AI tracks skill development over time → Identifies when someone's ready for new challenges 💡 Reality: Internal promotions increased 60% when we could actually see skill progression data. 9/ Cultural and Soft Skills Development → AI analyzes team interactions → Identifies gaps in emotional intelligence 💡 Reality: Team engagement scores improved 43% after AI-guided soft skills development. Here's our AI training framework: Start Small: ✓ Pick one department ✓ Choose one skill gap ✓ Run 30-day pilot ✓ Measure actual behavior change Scale Smart: ✓ Use pilot data to refine approach ✓ Expand to adjacent teams ✓ Let success stories drive adoption ✓ Keep human connection central But here's what AI can't do: Inspire. Motivate. Empathize. Build culture. The magic happens when we use AI to handle the what and when of training. So humans can focus on the why and how it matters. How are you using AI to develop your team? Share below 👇 ♻️ Repost if your network needs this training revolution. DM me if you want to discuss how to develop your own AI training plan.