It’s important to get to know each person in your team by taking the time to understand them as people first and employees second. I organised a team event where each person had time to talk about their career, their achievements and to share something that no-one would know about them.

Not only did this provide me with a great understanding of the skills I had across my team, it also allowed each team member to understand their colleagues better too. I then followed up with detailed conversations to provide me with an even deeper understanding of each person’s unique skills.

I treat each person as an individual, so I am aware of their unique strengths and motivations. By providing opportunities that allow people to excel, I think people feel more engaged and valued. People come to work to be successful and I see it as my job to make that happen. This means empowering people by delegating activities aligned to their strengths as well as providing opportunities that are outside of their comfort zone to challenge them and help them grow in the short term and for the longer-term.

I connect at least once a month with each team member where I spend time in getting to know the person behind the work. This makes it easier to identify an individual’s skills and it also builds trust and confidence for them to demonstrate their skills in day-to-day activities.

I encourage people to use their skills by giving them challenges where they can excel. That’s very important. At the end of the year, as part of the overall review process, I will highlight the skills I have identified during the year. In my view, it is all about trust and communication within a team that creates the platform to identify and build skills.

Every year I look at the various tasks for the team and I shuffle them around so that each team member gets a chance to work in new areas. This provides the opportunity to learn and develop within a safe environment. I encourage everyone in my team to have a development plan for the year and if someone has done something interesting, they can set up a knowledge sharing session for the whole team so we can learn together.

I've been part of this team for quite some time, as have many of my employees. Among them, two have over 30 years’ service, while three boast over a decade. This longevity has afforded me the opportunity to familiarise myself with their individual strengths and areas for development over the years. I often remind my team that they are the true experts in their respective roles. Nevertheless, through their guidance and training, I've gained a depth of knowledge that allows me to be quite effective in supporting them. They've trained me well.

I do my best to empower my team by giving them the autonomy to carry out their responsibilities without unnecessary micromanagement. However, I make it clear that they can always rely on me for support, especially in challenging situations. While I remain attentive and ready to assist when needed, I now prioritise giving them the space and trust to execute their roles effectively.

I ask team members what they feel their skills are and also to identify what they enjoy most about their role. I learn about team members using ice breakers, fun quizzes and questionnaires. It’s also about good observation and asking people to self-reflect to reveal how they can use their strengths and discover their unique talents that can help achieve their professional successes.

By acknowledging the strengths of team members, it’s possible to customise their work assignments to align with their individual skills. This approach fosters greater cohesion within the team as tasks are completed by leveraging each person's strengths and allowing team members to complement one another. When people can use their strengths, they tend to engage in activities that are both challenging and meaningful, leading to a sense of empowerment and enthusiasm for working in areas where they excel. I also work closely with each team member to assist them in identifying new areas for personal growth and development that align with their own goals.

I review my team members' strengths with them, identifying areas where they excel or may require additional support. Additionally, I actively seek feedback from our internal customers and engage in one-to-one discussions to understand their perspectives on their own skills.

One approach I take to make good use of skills is to allow my team to work on projects that interest them from a growth and learning perspective, in addition to tasks that need to get done. I’ve found that allowing a portion of their time to be spent acquiring new skills or honing existing ones can keep them motivated and interested. For senior team members I feel it’s important to just stay out of their way and provide feedback or encouragement as appropriate.

In addition to encouraging my team to work on projects they are interested in, I work with them individually to assign tasks that may be outside their comfort zone. My team also has an annual objective to take a training course that is directly relevant to their job, but outside their current skillset.

Managing time is incredibly important. People may not like all of their day-to-day tasks but if people manage their time well, they can always make room for tasks that may leverage their skills. It’s also important to be uncomfortable some of the time. Whether it's taking on a new project, giving a presentation, or pitching a new idea, stepping outside of your comfort zone forces you to challenge your limitations and grow in new ways.

I enjoy reading and learning from RELX's free development resources. I try to attend them whenever I can and suggest them to my team members if they match their skills. I simply use everything that’s free across RELX. Additionally, as a functional supervisor, I acknowledge that I can’t do everything to develop peoples’ skills. However, I see it as an advantage to empower them to be independent. With my guidance and support, I encourage them to discover new skills, volunteer to take on new tasks and think of problems that they can solve which can help improve the team’s efficiency.

You can’t determine where improvement is needed without knowing where you stand. When I first transitioned into my current role, we performed an exercise to assess the level of knowledge and proficiency with various technologies critical to our line of work.

Once you know the strengths of your team, you can figure out how best to use them. The folks I work with have varying levels of expertise in information security and technology as well as distinct familiarity with the myriad of regulatory frameworks we audit against. When we develop our annual audit plan, we are careful in selecting the right mix of individuals that will provide value to the audit and ultimately to the business. Of course, I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded with talented people that have diverse skillsets and backgrounds. I would advise others to avoid falling into the trap of recruiting candidates with too similar resumes and experiences. This is especially important when you’re backfilling positions on your team or expanding.

It is critical our team demonstrates the skills of organisation, ability to prioritise and openness to be coachable. Each of our salespeople possesses unique skills like social selling, key account management, digital sales and critical problem solving. We know our team, we are involved with our team, and we understand their individual skills so we can leverage these skills to benefit the wider group.

Prioritise your team, be available for them not only through scheduled meetings but informal catchups. Listen to them and take notes, just as you would with your customers. Take advantage of the time you spend with your people. Doing this will create opportunities, support your team’s growth, and drive success.

On an individual level we have team members who aspire to grow and learn new skill sets. We will work with them to gain an understanding of what they need and help co-create an individual plan that puts them in a position to learn, be challenged and grow.

The best way to understand people’s skills is through transparency - where we sit together to develop a coaching plan where we align not only their development areas but also their high-level skills where they can help the team. The key point is having their trust that you are there to help them on their job and career.

We work as a single unit using the best capabilities of each other not only to equalise knowledge, but also to perform better. My team meetings are based on collaboration and mapping their skills is essential for understanding where I can guide them to help each other based on individual talent. I believe that a positive environment and people feeling safe to talk will give a leader the necessary tools to learn what skills are available and map them to the most appropriate activities. A leader needs to have a deep knowledge of how their team acts in different kinds of situations and what personal resources and limitations you have as a leader to guide them through them. Therefore, not only do I need to improve my own skills to help them but having a deep knowledge on what internal partners and resources can be useful too.

To gain an understanding of the skills within my team I simply ask and observe. There are measurable technical skills such as programming proficiency and domain expertise that can be evaluated, and there are also interpersonal skills such as communication, problem solving and critical thinking that are not easily measurable but are just as important.

While I try to ensure people are in an environment that can make good use of their talents and have the tools and resources to be successful, I also assign team members to new projects, cross-functional teams or a different type of task than what they are used to so they can develop their collaboration, communication and problem-solving skills. This can also help identify hidden talents and strengths that may not be evident in their regular roles. As a people leader, it's our job to look into the future and put ourselves in the best position to understand individuals' skills and identify gaps between the team and future business needs.