Why agencies need to adopt a continuous learning mindset

In the 20 years we’ve been in business, our agency has experienced the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, the SARS crisis in 2003, and more recently, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. Thankfully, each time, we’ve emerged stronger. 

The COVID-19 pandemic puts all prior crises in the shade: it’s a metaphorical meteor strike that’s hit almost everything at a global, national, industry, work and personal level. Fortunately, our agency has been spared the worst of this crisis (so far). One reason is that the industries that we serve – B2B, Technology and Health – have either remained relatively unscathed, or received a fillip from the current environment. But just as importantly, everyone in our agency – from the PR specialists to the digital marketing team, and from the social media analysts to the content creators – have rallied heroically to give our clients as much certainty as they possibly can in an uncertain world. 

Yet, this doesn’t mean that we can be complacent. The world economy is deeply interconnected in many complex ways we can’t always see. No one knows how this will eventually play out. COVID-19 could disappear tomorrow, or it could stay with us for many years. Another debt crisis could flare up, or unrest break out in major economies. Worse, entire industries could be rendered obsolete. By all accounts, we are only in act 1 of a long drawn out play.   

Continuous learning as a strategy for uncertainty

As an integrated marketing and communications agency, the only competitive asset we have is our goodwill, painstakingly built up over time by our people consistently providing clients with value exceeding their expectations. The question is: how do we exceed expectations when we don’t know what to expect in the next few months, or the next year?

When we know what to expect and we’re prepared for it, we’re in Practitioner mode. We’re good at our work not only because we have the skills for it, but also because we have reasonable expectations of our external environment –  our clients, our partners, our industry, and the platforms we work with. If we don’t have the right skills, a rational response would be to design a structured approach to find and imbibe in the right knowledge; this could be in the form of a roles-based development program, or on-the-job training. 

The problem with structured programs is that it lacks the flexibility to adapt to rapid changes in an unknown environment. A six-month career development plan for a communications professional could be derailed because of new regulations, retrenchments or reallocation of resources. The single best way that I know of to avoid becoming a statistic in an unknown, volatile future, is to adopt the mindset of Continuous Learning. 

Defining continuous learning in our agency

What does Continuous Learning mean in the context of our agency? Generally, we think it should display the following attributes:

1. Everyone in our agency needs to learn new skills and acquire knowledge on an ongoing basis
2. We need to learn in many ways, from formal courses to casual social learning; whether it is watching a Youtube video, attending a 30-minute webinar or having a coffee with friends who have something to share
3. The agency, teams and individuals will need to collaborate on learning, since no single person or organization will know it all
4. Individuals will need to be proactive in exploring and proposing new learning pathways, and not just wait for employers to develop one 
5. Continuous learning will be driven by personal interest as much as by work requirements

If I were to describe the ideal communications professional who internalizes the continuous learning ideal, he or she would probably: 

• Be insatiably curious, always desiring to seek new knowledge
• Adopt a growth mindset, always thinking about how we can do the right things, or do things right 
• Be open minded, and readily accept new data that requires us to throw away old beliefs and assumptions
• Be social, because learning works best when you have access to different perspectives and experiences
• Be generous, because we all learn best by teaching others 

In the last few weeks, we’ve reviewed our company’s development policy - to change our focus from one that takes a more traditional training-based approach, to one that encompasses key elements of continuous learning. I’ll share the changes we’ve adopted in our next blog post. 

For now, I’d just like to leave you with a quote from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. When asked if he believed how much innate capability is responsible for a person’s success, he answered (and I’m paraphrasing): “Take two kids at school: one of them having more innate capability but is a know-it-all, while the other person has less innate capability but is a learn-it-all. The learn-it-all will do better than the know-it-all.”

So that’s my hope for every one who travels with our agency. Don’t be a know-it-all. Be a learn-it-all. If we internalize this mindset, I’m certain that the company, and each of us individually, will be as prepared as we can be for the uncertain times ahead.