Sustainable Upskilling: Tips for Startups & Entrepreneurs

Running a startup is a whirlwind. Between client meetings, cash flow and pitching presentations to investors, it can feel like you’re playing an endless game of Whack-A-Mole. Amidst the chaos, it’s easy for founders to let their own growth take a back seat.

If you don’t make the time, the skills that used to get you ahead of the curve will level out. At the same time, your startup’s success depends on upskilling as a team. Culture is cultivated through shared experiences, and that includes learning.

Founders need to develop fast, but at some point, they often find they’re overstretched if they try to upskill without careful consideration. Upskilling and reskilling as a startup need to be tactical. To scale sustainably, your team must continuously invest time and energy into learning new skills. The hard part is finding the time to do that.

It’s possible though. Here are some easy ways you can upskill and reskill without draining your already limited resources.

Taking Online Courses

One of the most convenient ways to upskill is through an online MBA program. This gives startup founders and other team members the opportunity to learn and develop their skills without taking time away from the day-to-day operations of their business. Online programs differ from courses you might find at a university in that they are self-paced. So whether you are in the middle of a client meeting or need to sit in on a project deadline, you can always work your studies around your daily schedule.

You can also upskill in other areas relevant to your career goals. For instance, if you want to specialise in marketing, finance or even coding, there is an online course for every skillset you are looking to develop. Learning how to code is one of the most popular routes for startup founders to take, as a basic understanding of computer science allows non-technical founders to have more informed discussions with their development teams. Another option is to take a targeted course on marketing, helping you drive growth for your company.

Moreover, many online course platforms allow you to spread the learning throughout your team. Sites like Coursera and Udemy allow you to purchase ‘institution’ plans that allow multiple users to study online, so you don't have to pay full price for each employee who wants to take a particular course. Make learning available to yourself and the team, and the company as a whole will benefit.

Seek Mentorship 

Being a startup founder can be lonely, especially if you’re doing it on your own. Running a business solo also means that you need to learn on the fly and solve problems independently and oftentimes without the support of a team or even your company stakeholders. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t seek advice from those who are more experienced than you. 

The best way to find business mentors is to reach out to people in your own network. If you've been working for a while, you probably know a few people who've tried to go it alone and start their own businesses. Invite them out for coffee and see if you can create some sort of sustainable, long-term mentorship arrangement. 

Another way to find business mentors is through networking events. Try to attend events that are specifically geared towards founders, and build connections with more experienced business owners. There's a lot of good advice you can glean from those who've been in your position before that you won't find in any book or online course. You might even find an experienced growth partner at one of these events, which can be a tremendous boost to your business.

Learn by Doing 

They say that the best way to learn is just by maintaining a hands-on approach to your learning. This is as true in business as it is anywhere else. If you want to pick up a skill like coding or graphic design, the most effective way to do so is to actually get your hands dirty, even if you make a couple of mistakes along the way. 

Learning by doing shouldn't be confined to yourself or your fellow co-founders. What sets successful startups apart is that most of them have a culture where everyone, from managers to interns, is encouraged to try new things, make mistakes and get things done. While this culture of learning should start with you, it's also crucial to work with managers who know how to create a safe space where those under their charge feel like they have the freedom to learn on the job.

Practical learning is especially important in this day and age, where new developments in artificial intelligence and other emerging fields are happening every day. There's no instruction manual for these cutting-edge fields, so it's crucial that you and your team be willing to learn on the fly.

Encourage Interdisciplinary Learning 

It can be all too easy to fall into the trap of overspecialisation. We find what we’re good at and hone in on it. But in reality, there's plenty of value in developing a broad skill set, both for startup founders and team members alike. 

As an entrepreneur, however, it's especially important to have a wide range of skills. Even if you hire specialists, you'll still need to know about all aspects of your business in order to make big-picture decisions. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and pick up skills you previously knew nothing about.

Multidisciplinary learning shouldn't be confined to founders. You should encourage your team to learn different skills from co-workers in other departments. A well-rounded team is the key to building a flexible business, especially when you're just starting out and can't hire a specialist for every need.

Track Progress and Monitor Outcomes

Upskilling and reskilling are important, but what good is learning if you can't see the outcomes? You might have someone on your team who has just completed a course or training in digital marketing, but are they really using the strategies and tools they learned in campaigns? Are you seeing an uptick in engagement or sales as a result? 

One way to track progress here is to set up simple dashboards that are shared with your team. This could be anything from a project dashboard or a sales funnel that highlights new tactics in action. Even quick weekly team check-ins can do the trick.

Tracking progress is another critical tool for founders themselves. It allows you to identify any gaps in your team’s skills before they become a problem. Say, for example, someone has learned a new software tool, but isn’t quite sure how to integrate it into your daily operations. Catching that early on means you can supplement their training or provide additional support before it’s too late. 

The more you track and review, the more ingrained this culture of continuous learning becomes as a quantifiable part of your startup’s development. It’s also encouraging to see real, tangible progress!

Sustainable Growth Through Continuous Learning

Running a business can be a never-ending task and leave you with little time to acquire new knowledge. Luckily, with the resources we have now, you can learn faster than ever and grow both personally and professionally.

If you follow the above steps and guidance, you can create an environment where you and your team are constantly learning and improving. Small daily steps will eventually lead to big results and make your startup more efficient, more adaptive, and better prepared to face any obstacles. 

If you make learning a priority, you will not only enhance your own skill set but also set up your team for long-term success.