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Why learning is part of life at StrategiQ

8 min read by Sarah Smith 20 May 2021

We all have the opportunity to learn something new every day, with information, insight and knowledge available at our fingertips 24/7. In fact, many of us do learn, but we don’t always realise it!

The brilliant thing is, when we channel the information we are receiving into meaning and purpose, it can have a positive impact on our lives, both professionally and personally. 

In celebration of Learning at Work Week, I thought I’d take an opportunity to share why StrategiQ has embraced learning in the workplace and why we believe it is so important. 

Why is learning so important?

Quite simply, it’s part of our DNA and intertwined with our business values: fuelled by ambition, genuinely caring, championing expertise and being commercially minded. Without training and development we couldn’t bring our values alive to the extent we do. But I believe it is more than this:  

  • Our people are the biggest asset to our business – so why wouldn’t we want to invest in them? A team that is able to learn and develop is more likely to help the company grow. If individuals are growing and becoming more skilled they are more likely to achieve their career aspirations.  
  • Career development is important – I love nothing more than seeing team members develop their careers, not to mention the reward and recognition that comes with it. My role as Chief People Officer now brings me even closer to the team to ensure that everyone has a plan of where they would like to go within the company, with clear goals that they are consistently working towards, and a training and development plan to support it.
  • You can improve team retention – If you don’t invest in your people, there’s a good chance they will find a company that will! Invest in training and development and your team will feel valued and that they are contributing towards the growth and success of the company.  
  • It’s a 50/50 exchange – We are constantly working with the team to ensure we have the balance right. That means a 50/50 relationship with our team, which starts at the point of signing of contracts. We commit to providing an environment where clients have access to a team of experts who are committed to sharing knowledge.  We also invest in training in the form of conferences, expert speakers, courses, etc . What we expect from the team in return is the ambition to hone skills and become better versions of themselves.
  • We can grow together – The investment we make in our people is what sets us apart and is often one of the main reasons people decide to join the business. We will soon be launching our own academy, which will look to attract those at the start of their careers and will mean we continue to develop and promote from within.  

Learning at work is a key part of StrategiQ’s culture, and we feel strongly that we all need to build our knowledge and competencies to expand our skill set and develop opportunities to invest in ourselves professionally and personally, allowing us all to reach our full potential. 

The positive impact is that it helps us all keep relevant and up to date with the latest marketing trends and business thinking, it generates ideation, challenges perspectives, boosts confidence and helps us prepare for the unexpected. 

So how do we do it?

We offer a varied mix of training and encourage all team members to allocate time for learning throughout the month, showcase what they have learnt and identify how they can implement it into their lives by completing their individual training records, which are showcased on our intranet. It gets rather competitive!

So far this year, the team have logged a whopping 1265+ hours of learning. 

And the way we learn can take shape in a variety of ways…  

Every Thursday, we have a 45-minute ‘learn with the team’ session, which gives a member of the team an opportunity to share advice, insights, impact and best practice with their colleagues.

We have a weekly Monday Morning Meeting, where we all have the opportunity to showcase the ‘good news’ from the week before and to share visibility of business activity during the upcoming week.

Power Up – Our fantastic designer Be introduced a monthly ‘learning club’ that gets together to read books, listen to podcasts or watch webinars about anything marketing, business or culture-related, with the learnings and outcomes being shared regularly via our blog.

Insight Profiling – We are proud of our new starter induction process, which includes a behaviour profile. This helps us learn and understand how a new team member behaves, thinks and reacts, ensuring we communicate and engage effectively across the team. This tool is as much a learning opportunity for the new team member as it is for us, and often is a good starting point for personal development plans. 

External Training – We bring experts into the business, like Mark Robb at Positive Reframe and Sue Firth, to deliver learning sessions that help us develop as people, not just marketers. Topics have included how to give feedback, how to listen effectively, the art of a good presentation and reading body language in a meeting. 

Individual coaching – We ensure everyone has the opportunity to grow as professionals, with dedicated coaching and development plans to guide and motivate team members, whatever stage of their careers they are at.

It goes without saying that we ensure learning is varied, motivating, engaging and effective. 

What do the team think about learning?

Jordan Bambridge – Account Manager

“One of the key aspects I’ve taken throughout my career is being curious. If you are not curious to learn, grow and develop you will never reach the potential you can. Marketing is such a big space, but by keeping on top of industry news, developments and strategies it keeps us thinking one step ahead. StrategiQ really does support a culture of training and development and to be the very best you can. We have so many great people to learn from here; every day really is a school day!” 

Poppy Mace – Senior Paid Media Specialist

My training and mentoring programme with Sam Noble has not only provided a significant growth in my paid media knowledge, but I’m more motivated than I’ve ever been. From just the first few sessions, I have identified a number of additional opportunities for myself, the clients I work on and how I can support others within the agency. I’m really excited to reflect on the journey in three months’ time to see just how far I’ve come. I feel as though my expertise and confidence will skyrocket!”

Keiran Buchanan – Designer

“Research and training is something that I’m really passionate about. I love the feeling of being in control of what I want to learn and how I’m developing myself both personally, professionally and practically. My motion design course will not only teach me technical skills to take my animations to the next level, but will also help me communicate, collaborate and be more commercially aware of what I can do through motion design with StrategiQ.”

As the saying goes, everyday is a learning day. And it really is! I am so proud of the focus we have on learning at work and how well it is embraced by the team to keep ourselves fresh with knowledge that we can use to drive ideas and develop ourselves and the business. 

If you would like to learn, are driven by core values, are talented, are ambitious and looking to make your next career step, get in contact with us to start a conversation or check out our careers page to see how you can be part of it all! 

 

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