Why Saying “I Don’t Know” More Often Can Increase Your Influence as a Leader

It’s an exciting time to work in Environment, Health & Safety (EHS). We’re seeing a flurry of fast-paced change and innovation. In the last few years, we’ve witnessed the advent of artificial intelligence in decision-making, an increasing focus on mental health as an essential component of workplace health and the development and spread of mobile applications and user-centric software deployment.??

Our global market is expanding, too. In a November 2021 study, Precedence Research found that the global EHS market size is expected to hit US$11.87 billion by 2030, growing with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% over the forecast period 2021 to 2030.?

If you’re a leader in a fast-paced industry like safety or technology (or if, like me, your company stands at the intersection of both industries ), you need to consider the importance of promoting continuous learning. Continuous learning is an essential practice. It provides a range of benefits to organisations and individuals; most notably, it can boost productivity, encourage an innovative mindset and teach employees to adapt to change. On the flip side, if you don’t engage in continuous learning and promote it in your organisation, you quickly get left behind.?

As a leader, you can encourage continuous learning within your organisation in a variety of ways.??

We’ll discuss them in the paragraphs ahead, but as we do, it’s important to remember that the best way to teach continuous learning is by modelling the behaviour you want to see. In other words, you can’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know”.??

When you demonstrate your willingness to learn, your actions will influence the entire team’s attitudes and behaviours. At Evotix, we have a leadership team of curious people who consistently strive to expand their knowledge—and that’s been a key component of our ability to grow.?

Benefits of continuous learning?

Today’s SaaS and EHS leaders can’t rely on the knowledge and skills they learnt ten years ago. As our industries grow and expand, we must work doubly hard to keep up with the pace of change.??

Staying up to date with industry developments, like new regulations, technologies and innovative ideas can provide an important advantage for your organisation and your personal development. In a personal sense, it can help you to maintain and develop a sought-after skill set, explore new perspectives, achieve new or updated certifications, improve your access to resources and develop your network. My management team frequently hear me say: “Look, as leaders in our fast-growing business, every one of your roles is getting 40% more complex every year. It’s an exciting ride. You need to work hard to keep up. Please do that as it is not my favourite job to deal with the consequences if you don’t!”?

In a company-wide sense, keeping up with new developments can contribute to business goals by boosting worker productivity, encouraging an innovative mindset, increasing job satisfaction and giving your workers the chance to adapt to change. It can even keep costs down – as your employees learn new skills, you’ll be less likely to rely on hiring new workers.?

How to embrace continuous learning?

At Evotix, our leaders nurture a culture of continuous learning. This is reflected in a core value: “Be our best selves - be radically candid; give and embrace feedback; act with integrity; recognise strengths; make a step forward every month.” We fulfil this partly through formal training (for example, running a global leadership development program), but it’s primarily through our open coaching culture and through being honest and supportive in the feedback we provide one another.??

We also encourage our entire team to be curious, researching online resources, blogs, podcasts and webinars. Through curiosity, we’ve successfully cultivated a network of experts and online communities that we can reach out to at any point.?

It’s important to remember that, unless your workers buy into continuous learning, just providing access to resources won’t make a difference. You need to create a culture that encourages your workers to embrace the power of confidently admitting “I don’t know”, and then being proactive in doing something about it. That way, they take the opportunity to learn and develop within their roles.?

Overcoming barriers to continuous learning?

While continuous learning can bring a host of benefits, it can be difficult to encourage in the first place. Here are some of the most common barriers to continuous learning and ways to combat them:?

1. Time constraints. One of the biggest perceived barriers to continuous learning is time. Industry leaders are often busy with their day-to-day responsibilities and finding time for training and development can be challenging. Part of the solution is to stop seeing learning as a discrete activity requiring big chunks of time. This is hard to schedule and, in any case, recall is poor. It’s far better to encourage workers to dip in and out of study with small packets of microlearning – updating your skills as you need to apply them. This is now easy to do with the huge range of online resources available. ?
2. Budget limitations. Training and development programs can be expensive, and not all organisations have the resources to invest in them. But, as with the approach to tackling time constraints, perhaps we have the wrong mental model. Low-cost or free learning opportunities are often cheaper and more effective. There are many online resources available like blogs, conferences, podcasts, networking events and webinars. Or for something more structured and substantive, MOOCs (massive open online courses) can provide valuable training without breaking the bank. Leaders can also consider partnering with other organisations or industry associations to share the costs of training programs. In the safety space, we’re lucky that there is no “competition” and we are happy to support other organisations on their journey!?
3. Difficulty finding relevant training opportunities. Personally, I find that this is more of a cultural or motivational issue, rather than a practical concern. Having said that, if you have a number of people in similar roles, it could be a good idea to create a Teams or Slack channel where workers can share relevant resources that they’ve found.??
4. Resistance to change. Unfortunately, some leaders assume that they already know everything. After all, their success has got them to where they are – what more could there be to learn? One way to combat this is to reframe the culture in your workplace so people understand the joy in always having a new skill or piece of information to learn. Call out and celebrate successes. Hold a “lunch and learn” for employees to showcase their most recent explorations.?

In this way, you can create an environment that encourages and fosters curiosity. By providing opportunities to learn, eliminating barriers and demonstrating an open mind, you’ll encourage your workforce to embrace continuous learning.?

So, how do you promote continuous learning in your organisation? Share your thoughts in the comments below!?