In 2019 our team was chartered to support the strategic priority of attracting, growing, and retaining the best marketers & communicators in the world. We were a newly formed team of marketing professionals, and we needed to build the foundation and establish a culture of learning for our community. So I got involved with AEF to learn, collaborate, and share best practices with talent development professionals who have deep expertise in this field.
Although it’s been a challenging time for our country, with all of us having our lives impacted on some level due to Covid, a bright spot has been the acceleration of platforms and tools to empower virtual learning and skill development. It’s exciting to see all of the innovation happening across the learning and development landscape. It’s brought to the forefront that employees are the most critical asset. They have proven their resilience, as we’ve had to adapt and pivot on an unprecedented level to serve our customers, communities, and shareholders.
There is a quote from our former CEO, Brad Smith, which resonates with me. “A leader’s job is not to put greatness into people, but rather to recognize that it already exists…” It’s a good reminder that your role as a people leader is to empower your team to bring their unique strengths to the work they own. Align on the ‘what’ (business outcome) and give autonomy on the ‘how’ (flexibility for the person to approach the work based on what’s conducive to their own best performance).
The team! I work with amazing and talented people who I learn from every day. Our team is passionate about our customers (fellow marketers & communicators at Intuit) and making it fun to learn and grow their skills. I am grateful that the work I do is making a positive contribution to their career mobility. I am also thankful for having a senior leadership team and CMO who is passionate about building a learning culture.
Go deep with your customers, understand their challenges and needs relating to their career growth and development. Have a test and learn mindset and be ok with pivoting as you go. Go small before you go big; make sure your offerings are meeting customer needs and that you can measure impact before you scale. Learning should be fun! Consider ways to build gamification into your learning experiences and ways you can recognize learning achievements.
