If you’re looking to help team members grow and don’t have funds, why not invest your ambition? Speak with your team members and set stretch goals together: ones that will stretch their capabilities in a way that inspires and supports them. And support your people in turning these ambitions into reality!

2. Have Coaching Conversations

Mindtools’ Building Better Managers report found that coaching is one of the 12 key capabilities for good managers to develop. You can create a coaching culture within your team without spending funds, and one key part of this is having coaching conversations.

Coaching conversations can be part of a formal coaching process, or they can be more informal – one-time dialogues that help team members to work through an issue they’re facing. You can facilitate coaching conversations focused on your team members’ individual experiences and skill building. It’s a great way to support them through challenges they’re facing and help them to develop in their careers.

So, how do you do it? Be intentional with your conversation – think about what you’re going to talk about. Focus on your team member, including their challenges and strengths, and guide the conversation toward growth and change, rather than giving advice.

Prepare for your conversation beforehand, such as taking a few quiet moments ahead of time and being curious about your team member’s situation. This will help you to fully focus on and be present for the conversation.

Be clear about the conversation’s purpose and ask open questions to explore your team member's challenges in depth. Rather than “yes” or “no” questions, open questions can look like:

• What’s standing in your way?
• Can you tell me more about this?
• What do you value about this?

Finally, practice active listening, paying attention and paraphrasing your team member’s points to check for understanding.

3. Try Peer Coaching

Build your coaching culture further – without spending a penny – by facilitating an environment of peer coaching on your team. Peer coaching is confidential and involves people at similar levels (such as colleagues) sharing knowledge and experiences.

Along with having coaching conversations with you, your team members can use peer coaching to learn from and support each other.

Peer coaching can take place in informal or structured ways. Here are a few approaches to try:

• Pair up colleagues for peer coaching sessions. They can take turns coaching and being coached. The peer coach listens actively and nonjudgmentally, reflects, asks questions, and supports the coachee in deciding on an action.
• Create a coaching triad. In addition to having a coach and coachee, the third person acts as an observer who watches the coach’s performance, takes notes, and offers feedback. As with pairs, give everyone an opportunity to act in all roles.
• Group coaching can work for discussing issues together that are important to either individuals or to the entire group. Together, the group decides on actions at the end of the session.

4. Invite Team Members to Lead Workshops

Another good way to develop your team members’ skills for free is to invite them to lead workshops. This can be a great way for them to practice stepping into a leadership role and sharing their knowledge. What better way to learn than to teach?

Workshops can be internal, such as company lunch and learns or presenting on your team’s efforts at meetings. Or they can be external, such as presenting on a topic to clients. Consider individual skills and knowledge and match team members with the right presentation opportunities – something they know about and have some comfort level in – that will also stretch them beyond what they’re already comfortable doing and allow them to grow.

Depending on their experience level, you can offer your team members support in developing their presentations or facilitate them in coaching and supporting each other. They can also work in teams if appropriate.

5. Seek Out Free Learning Opportunities

Many professional development opportunities can be found for free if you’re resourceful. Consider looking into free courses for your team members if you don’t have funds to invest in paid learning opportunities. There are many resources available (including some offered by Mindtools) where your people can learn new skills relevant to their role, or roles they hope to grow into, without paying.

Along with courses, look into free exhibitions related to your industry instead of investing in conference passes. Consider free conferences and webinars, too. These could be related to your industry directly, or to new skills and learning areas that can stretch your team beyond what they already know. If you’ve set stretch goals with your team members, search for learning opportunities that support them.

Next Steps

If you’re managing a team with little to no budget, it can be frustrating to see growth opportunities that your people would benefit from but that you know you can’t afford. Fortunately, there are a lot of creative ways to invest in your team without spending money – and I’m sure you can think of more than those listed above!

See our articles Supporting Your People and Top Tips for Empowering Your Team for more strategies to support your team effectively.

Tip of the Week

Mindful Reflections and Being Present

By Gary Ellis, Mindtools Content Editor and Writer

“Be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the moment,” to paraphrase the wise words of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. But I like to think this works when thinking about the past, too.

It’s easy to dwell on the past, especially when it comes to mistakes made by us or others. We ask questions like “Why did I have to do that?” or “What will they think of me now?” Other times, we can’t stop thinking about an action or a statement from another that upset us.

But when we stop and think about it for a moment, is such a pattern of thinking actually useful? Or are we causing ourselves unnecessary hardship?

When it’s framed this way, you’re more likely to see it as an unhealthy habit. However, it’s a cycle you can break.

Modern psychology calls this type of thinking “rumination,” understood as a persistent dwelling on negative thoughts, emotions and experiences.

Experts in the field suggest that the first step is being aware of when such thoughts start, as this will help to identify trigger points.

Once you’ve identified trigger points, it’s time to dig a little deeper. One popular form of psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), teaches us to identify and challenge the underlying beliefs that make rumination happen by shifting perspectives and taking a more fact-based approach.

This isn’t to say we shouldn’t think about the past at all. Instead, it’s about striking a balance between learning from the past and not dwelling, or ruminating, on negative experiences.

In other words, be mindful of the past, but not at the expense of the moment!

Read our article on Mindfulness in the Workplace to discover more tips.

Pain Points Podcast

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Video of the Week

Debra Kurtz, How Can I Develop My Self-Awareness?

Organizational psychologist Debra Kurtz believes that self-awareness is a defining factor in leadership.

In this video she explains why, and outlines her advice for becoming more self-aware from today.

Watch Now

News Roundup

This Week's Global Workplace Insights

Connecting the Dots

A team of neuroscientists at Harvard have found that the brain processes isolation and loneliness in the same manner as hunger, thirst and tiredness.

The processing occurs within the hypothalamus, the critical link between the nervous and endocrine systems where basic needs are regulated.

These recent findings tell us that loneliness and isolation are more than just emotional inconveniences. They’re signals telling us we need to fix something, just like thirst tells us we need a drink, and hunger tells us we need food.

Ding Liu, the team leader, said, “Neuroscientists already know a lot about the neural basis of physiological needs, like the needs for food, for water, and for sleep. But very little is known about how social need is controlled and regulated in the brain.”

This isn’t to say that loneliness and isolation are the same, though. Loneliness is the feeling of being disconnected from others, even if you’re in their presence, whereas isolation relates to being physically separated from others.

So, if you’re feeling lonely, then there’s no shame in seeking deeper and more meaningful connections with others. And if you feel separated from others, why don’t you seek a social activity that would create social engagement opportunities? Consider joining a club, for example.

To learn more about how to beat loneliness in the workplace, either for yourself or for others, check out our resources, such as this video and article.

Playing Games With Company Time

Taking a short break between tasks during the working day is no new phenomenon. Time management methods such as the popular Pomodoro Technique (which I’m using as this is being typed) state that small intervals not only benefit you, but also your productivity.

Workplace breaks are shown to make people feel more energetic, engaged and enthusiastic while also creating opportunities to reduce exhaustion.

Those breaktime opportunities appear to include playing games which, according to an article in The Conversation, could have wider benefits.

Taking Wordle as an example, the phone-friendly word guessing game that became a hit in 2020, the benefits range from potentially “exercising” our brains and improving problem solving to improving team dynamics.

As the article states, Wordle set off a modern workplace watercooler conversation as the world transitioned to remote work. And such conversations are thought to improve professional culture and collaboration between colleagues.

These Wordle-based conversations can take the form of friendly competitions for the quickest solves or sharing hints. Potential outcomes of these conversations include improved communication and the ability to solve problems together.

So, the next time you’re tempted to play a quick game during your Pomodoro break, don’t be afraid to do so!

See you next week for more member-exclusive content and insight from the Mindtools team!