What inspires internal experts and why do they leave the role?

Contents:

• Motives that motivate employees to share knowledge with colleagues
• What challenges and pleasant surprises do internal experts face
• Reasons that motivate internal experts to share knowledge with colleagues
• What kind of help do internal specialists need?
• Emotional experiences of internal experts during the training process
• Reasons why specialists are thinking about leaving teaching
• The evolution of specialists' views on their own functions

Internal Experts are employees with specialized knowledge and skills in a specific field who, in addition to their primary responsibilities, help train colleagues. For example, this could be an experienced engineer teaching TRIZ methods, or a project manager sharing their secrets of effective project management. Another example of an internal expert could be a successful sales manager who shares both effective and ineffective approaches to interacting with clients. Many organizations actively invest in the development of their internal specialists. This is especially relevant in situations where there is a high need for training, but resources are insufficient, or when training concerns highly specialized topics for which external courses are not available. However, corporate training professionals are well aware that convincing those with valuable knowledge and experience to share it with other employees, and to do so regularly, is no easy task. The training company "Training Institute" decided to find out what motivates and supports internal experts, as well as the challenges they face. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 internal specialists. Based on the responses obtained, questionnaires were developed for a survey, which ultimately involved 135 respondents from 56 different organizations. All of them had at least a year of experience training colleagues.

At a webinar held by the Digital Learning community, Anna Gribanova, Director of the Training Institute, and Anna Turlaeva, Head of Innovation Projects at the same institute, presented the main results of the study. We will briefly outline their main points, and the full presentation or report can be found on the Training Institute website.

Motives that motivate employees to share knowledge with colleagues

According to the study, the greatest number of employees become internal specialists for two main reasons: 38% of respondents note that it benefits the organization, and 36% see a benefit in it for themselves. Additionally, 20% of survey participants mentioned that they are motivated by the desire to help their colleagues. Only 6% of respondents cited the lack of opportunity to refuse this role as the reason for their choice.

During the interview, the reasons for undertaking this task were explored in more detail. One specialist shared an interesting story: he is a manager, and another employee had previously handled training for his team. However, the other employee consistently lacked time for these activities, which negatively impacted training results.

Therefore, the respondent took on this responsibility. One interviewee shared that an accident at their production facility was caused by one employee's lack of knowledge. To avoid similar situations in the future, he decided to organize training himself.

Another specialist decided to organize centralized training for his colleagues to facilitate his own work. The problem was that employees were constantly asking him the same questions, and he realized it would be much more convenient to streamline the process.

Perhaps the most compelling finding of this study was that even among the few participants who said they began training their colleagues because of circumstances, they ultimately still found it personally meaningful, engaging, and even enjoyable.

In response to the question about what personal benefits they expect at the beginning of their expert careers, survey participants could select up to five options. The most popular answer was the desire to share their knowledge, noted by 68% of respondents. In addition, many expressed a desire to improve their professional expertise (51%), develop their skills in teaching others (49%), and gain public speaking experience (48%). Also, 47% of participants mentioned the need to structure their knowledge and experience.

The survey results demonstrated that the actual personal benefit almost completely corresponds to the expected results.

How to provide support: Anna Turlaeva recommends that training and development specialists and managers emphasize two motivations for engaging employees as internal experts: the organizational benefits and the personal advantages. It's important to convey to employees that participating in such initiatives will allow them to diversify their professional activities, improve their skills both in their current field and in adult learning, and develop various soft skills.

What challenges and pleasant surprises do internal experts face?

Any new initiative brings with it both discoveries and unexpected moments that may not be obvious at first glance. This fully applies to the role of an internal expert. According to a survey in which respondents could select multiple answers, 60% of participants did not expect that by sharing their knowledge and experience with colleagues, they would become involved in continuous learning and development. Furthermore, 37% of respondents were pleasantly surprised that they were able to train people in more senior positions within the organization. The same number of internal experts noted that they did not expect to receive such a significant amount of positive feedback from their students, and 27% highlighted the support they receive from course participants.

Half of the respondents were surprised that the same information can be perceived and interpreted differently by people. In addition, 29% of study participants were surprised that colleagues begin to interact more actively and share experiences with each other during training.

Some survey participants came to rather unpleasant conclusions:

• According to the data, 42% of respondents believe that the work of an expert requires significantly more effort and time than they initially expected.
• According to observations, students assimilate significantly less educational material than expected, accounting for 26% of expected. In addition, 25% of them complete homework only formally or ignore it altogether. Also, 21% of students miss scheduled classes.

How to provide assistance: It is necessary to inform novice specialists not only about the benefits they can receive, but also about the potential difficulties, reminding them that teaching requires a significant investment of time and energy. In addition, experts who have no experience in teaching others may have distorted ideas about the learning process, and it is important to help them see the real picture. Anna Turlaeva recommends providing experts with methodological support - for example, providing them with reminders that will simplify the planning and delivery of lessons, as well as templates for training presentations and tips on calculating the time required to prepare a presentation.

Reasons that motivate internal experts to share knowledge with colleagues

The study discovered seven main factors that contribute to the fact that internal experts continue to teach their colleagues over a long period of time. Anna Gribanova noted that these motivators were not ranked by importance, as interactions with participants demonstrated that each was equally relevant:

• Participation in the company's overall success and progress. Professionals understand the importance of training for improving business efficiency, optimizing processes, and achieving better results.
• Achieving personal goals. Teaching serves as a means by which professionals cope with professional challenges and realize their career ambitions.
• Self-development is the process by which an individual improves their skills and knowledge, and enriches their worldview by teaching others.
• Educational activity is the desire to share accumulated experience and knowledge to achieve general development and improve the quality of life, with the goal of changing the world for the better.
• Supporting others has much in common with educational activity, however, as Anna Gribanova noted, in this case the emphasis is on improving the lives of individual employees, providing them with assistance in more successfully fulfilling their professional duties.
• Emotional reward. Education professionals often report that teaching brings them joy, inspiration, and rejuvenation. Financial motivation stems from the opportunity to earn additional income through teaching, organizing lectures, and training sessions. Respondents were also asked to complete the sentence, "I feel inspired by my work when..." by selecting one or more of the options provided. The results revealed that the majority of survey participants (87%) draw inspiration from the tangible successes of their students. Many people draw inspiration from the teaching process because they feel like professionals from whom others are willing to learn (65%). Furthermore, they receive recognition not only from students but also from management (62%). More than half of respondents are inspired by their personal development as experts (58%), the opportunity to engage students with their ideas (56%), and improving their teaching skills (55%).

How to provide support: According to responses about motivational and inspirational aspects, internal experts need to observe the results of their work—what their colleagues have learned, how their methodology for solving work problems has changed, and how this has affected them and the organization as a whole. Therefore, training and development specialists should carefully consider how to present their achievements to experts.

Anna Gribanova acknowledges that this can be quite a challenging task. A specialist training their immediate team and witnessing, for example, how salespeople improve their customer service skills or assembly line operators become faster at setting up equipment is different from training colleagues with whom the expert has no direct contact in the office or on the production floor.

In addition to the immediate results obtained upon completion of training, it is also important for experts to focus on the long-term impact of the educational process on students. Therefore, learning and development (L&D) specialists should collect feedback several months or even years after the completion of courses. They can ask employees questions about how the acquired knowledge and skills have impacted their professional performance, what changes have occurred in their work, and what value they perceive after a certain period of time.

What kind of support do internal specialists need?

Support from the organization helps engage internal specialists in the educational process and also allows them to save time and effort. This, in turn, helps experts remain interested in their role for a long time.

Specialists from the Training Institute identified eight categories of organizational support and asked study participants to rate both the importance of these types and their satisfaction with the support they received. Based on the responses received, the researchers placed different types of support on a matrix consisting of four sections:

Emotional experiences of internal experts during the training process

In order to analyze the dynamics of the emotional state of the experts over time, they were invited to share their current feelings about the teaching process, as well as to recall what emotions they experienced at the beginning of their teaching careers.

In most cases, survey participants noted emotions such as inspiration, interest, and curiosity. Over time, according to the responses received, experts experience these feelings less frequently, although the decline is slight. In this context, it's worth noting that calmness has shown a significant increase, while worry, anxiety, and fear have shown a negative trend. Anna Gribanova notes that this indicates that early in their teaching careers, experts often face uncertainty, which generates negative emotions. Over time, as they gain experience and receive positive feedback, initial fears and worries tend to diminish, and they begin to feel more confident.

What specific factors cause anxiety among internal specialists? As a result of the interviews, the researchers identified several common concerns:

• fear of public speaking;
• fear of asking questions and resistance from listeners;
• fear of demonstrating a lack of knowledge;
• fear of being unnoticed and feeling worthless.

How to help: Anna Gribanova advises paying attention to the emotions that experts experience at the beginning of their teaching career, as well as working with the causes of their anxiety. In her opinion, this is especially relevant in cases where a specialist cannot abandon the role of a teacher - for example, if he is the only employee with unique, highly specialized knowledge or a manager who needs to independently train his team. In such situations, it's important to provide them with all the necessary support, including methodological support—helping them plan their presentation, prepare for questions from the audience, and share student engagement techniques and other useful tips. This will help reduce anxiety and increase the chances of successful results, which will serve as the foundation for the expert's future work. Anna Gribanova noted that it's crucial that the first experience with students be successful—it's this experience that can spark interest in learning and bring satisfaction to the teaching profession.

Reasons why specialists are thinking about stopping teaching

According to the survey results, 35% of participants felt the desire to stop teaching their colleagues. The main factors contributing to this include the emergence of other priorities (45%), lack of time for teaching (40%), significant resource expenditure on creating and refining educational materials (36%), and lack of interest on the part of students (36%).

How to provide support: Anna Gribanova emphasizes that a systematic approach should be taken to effectively develop internal specialists within a company. First and foremost, training and preparation should be perceived by all participants—both the experts themselves and their management—as a justified part of their work, for which sufficient time should be allocated, and not as an additional burden. Furthermore, it is important to provide methodological support to new experts to facilitate their work processes.

Thirdly, even if a specialist is successfully fulfilling their responsibilities and expressing no complaints, it is important to periodically show interest in their well-being and offer support. It often happens that a conscientious worker carries out all assigned tasks without further ado, but at the same time may be at the limits of their capabilities and consider leaving their expert position.

The Evolution of Experts' Views on Their Own Roles

Some interesting conclusions were reached by scientists when they interviewed experts about how they previously viewed the role of a teacher and what their views are now, after they have gained some experience in teaching their colleagues. The most noticeable changes concern six key aspects:

• a shift from individual presentation to collective discussion with students;
• from the desire to convey as much information as possible to an emphasis on the most important essence.
• from the use of specialized vocabulary to the ability to express thoughts in an accessible and understandable language;
• from an intuitive presentation of information to a structured and consistent logic;
• from the transmission of theoretical knowledge to an emphasis on practical skills and abilities;
• from doubts about their skills to an awareness of the limits of their qualifications.

Ways to support novice experts: according to Anna Turlaeva, understanding how new specialists perceive their responsibilities opens up opportunities for more targeted assistance in helping them form a deep and precise understanding of their role as teachers. This also allows for more effective support for them in the development of pedagogical skills. For example, it is important to create situations for experts that promote self-reflection, which will help them understand their progress in this role, and therefore contribute to increasing their confidence and calm.

Read also:

• Situation: How to prepare employees to create and deliver training programs for their colleagues.
• How to create an atmosphere conducive to learning in an organization: three examples and several recommendations.
• In recent years, Russian companies have seen a significant evolution in both the structure and tasks associated with employee training. Here are five key findings about these changes.

  First, the emphasis on an individual approach has become more pronounced. Companies have begun to understand that each employee has unique needs and learning preferences. This has led to the need to develop personalized programs that take into account the characteristics and goals of each employee.

  Second, the introduction of technology has significantly changed the learning process. Online courses, webinars, and distance learning platforms have become an integral part of the educational process. This allows employees to gain knowledge at a time convenient for them and in a comfortable environment, which, in turn, increases the effectiveness of information absorption.

  The third important aspect is the change in training objectives. Previously, the focus was primarily on theoretical knowledge, whereas now the emphasis is shifting to practical skills and competencies necessary for performing specific tasks. This allows employees to more quickly adapt to changes in the business environment and market demands.

  The fourth conclusion is the growing importance of mentoring and coaching. Companies are increasingly using the experience of more qualified employees to train newcomers. This creates not only opportunities for knowledge transfer but also contributes to the development of team spirit and corporate culture.

  Finally, the fifth conclusion is the attention to continuous learning and development. Companies have realized that training should not be limited to initial induction, but should become an ongoing process that accompanies employees' career growth throughout their professional lives. This allows not only to maintain the level of qualifications, but also to develop new competencies in accordance with dynamic changes in the market.

• Six recommendations for non-material motivation of employees to train their colleagues.