Want to Work More Efficiently? Develop Each Other

Internal Competence Development as a Tool

Sending employees to external training can cost more than it yields – both in terms of time and money. This is something Jeanette Almberg Paravati, responsible for competence development, leadership, and video streaming at Sveriges Radio, agrees with:

– Sending an employee to a course is rarely a good investment. The employee is often away from production, and it’s not certain that the person attending the course has actually learned anything. It can be somewhat unnecessary, she says.

Furthermore, Jeanette argues that the lack of time is the biggest culprit and that instead, one should focus on building a culture where learning becomes a natural part of everyday life.

– The time for learning doesn’t exist today. Instead, it’s about building a culture where everyone contributes to each other’s learning by sharing their skills and experiences in daily life. You are responsible for developing each other, not just yourself.

Jeanette runs the SLA-podden podcast together with Rebecka Thulin, who works with learning and leadership development at Handelsbanken. In the episode on team learning, we learn about how internal competence development can be applied in a workplace through employees sharing knowledge with each other.

The Most Important Way to Learn is to Learn in Everyday Life

We also had the privilege to speak with Rebecka about internal competence development. She believes that the best way to learn is here and now – and to apply it directly in your work.

– The most important way to learn is to learn in everyday life. It’s in daily work, when we face challenges and problems, that we have the best opportunity to learn and grow, she says.

With the philosophy that “those who can, should teach,” they constantly elevate internal competence. At Sveriges Radio, they work similarly, and Jeanette states that they learn from and with each other all the time:

– We have moved away from a culture where one sends a person to a course to instead allowing learning to happen human to human. We don’t usually call it education, but learning activity, she says and gives examples:

– It can involve recording short podcasts, listening, or discussing in groups. We have a digital toolbox for team development with, for example, short films.

Interpersonal Skills

When Rebecka looks to the future, she believes that AI will integrate more into internal competence development. She thinks that technology will play an increasingly significant role in learning and development.

– I think AI will affect the future, of course. It’s much about building collective intelligence, training collaboration skills, and working cross-functionally. We’re not used to that.

She poses the question of what humans should do if most answers can be obtained from AI. She answers it herself:

– Build effective teams and support each other. I see quite a significant competence gap between leaders and employees. So, how do we collaborate and get people on board? It’s about using AI as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, human competence. Instead, we need to continue working on improving our collaborations and developing our soft skills.