Learn how to embrace your learning style and fuel career success

Crafting your learning blueprint: Strategies to flourish in the world of professionals

Our CEO and learning champion, Stephanie Heusuk, is the author of this blog post.

I’m packing up my oldest kids this week for their first year of college. Excitement and emotions aside, it provided me with an opportunity to reminisce about what I learned during my college years. More importantly, it was a great trip down memory lane to reflect on how my learning evolved and grew into one of the most important priorities I commit to as business leader.

In today's ever-changing world, it is more important than ever for professionals to be lifelong learners. Being able to demonstrate curiosity, share experiences and try bold new initiatives are all signs of a great professional, manager and leader. And lucky for all of us, we have amazing ways to be an always-on learner at our fingertips if we understand our personal learning style and open our aperture to the variety of learning available in today’s connected society.

HOW LEARNING CAN HELP YOU GROW PROFESSIONALLY

You got the job. You earned the promotion. You want to change your career course. Where do you go from here? Not far if you don’t demonstrate professional growth. Here’s how being a constant learner can help:

• Increase your knowledge and skills: Our responsibilities and the skills required to be successful are ever-changing. Participating in professional development gives you an idea of how your role and/or industry is evolving and discover ways you can best advance your skills using learning modes best suited to you.
• Stay ahead of the curve: Professional development is not only learning new skills, but understanding what is coming in your field and how to best tackle that evolution.
• Improve your problem-solving skills: Some modes of professional development teach with stories, experiences and role-playing. This shows you similar challenges others have faced and what soft skills were critical to a positive outcome.
• Boost your confidence: The ideas and experiences gained via professional learning provide you with the ability to engage, contribute and empathize in the workplace. Even if you don’t know the answer you can feel confident your contributions come from an informed perspective.
• Expand your network: As you experiment with new learning types, you will undoubtedly find others seeking to learn the same thing and have opportunities to connect with thought leaders. No matter what role they play in your learning experience, they become a resource in your network for future needs.

KNOW YOUR LEARNING STYLE(S)

Thankfully, gone are the days when learning was a rote experience. And for good reason: not everyone learns in the same way. Some people are visual learners, while others are auditory learners or kinesthetic learners. It's important to know your learning style so that you can choose the methods that are most effective for you.

There are many different learning style assessments available online, but VARK, the industry standard, can help get you started. VARK stands for the four modalities – Visual, Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic – sensory modalities used for learning information. VARK-Learn offers a brief quiz to determine your learning preference and understand ways to match your style.

Once you know your learning style, you can seek out opportunities that align with your preferred learning method. For example, if you are a visual learner, look for online courses that include videos or infographics. If you are an auditory learner, choose podcasts or audiobooks. And if you are a kinesthetic learner, hands-on workshops or classes are best.

Importantly, you will also realize what styles don’t resonate with you.

CHOOSE LEARNING RESOURCES THAT MATCH YOUR STYLE

With a clear understanding of how you best learn, you can start curating your learning resources. When leaning into your learning mode, you will quickly see opportunity everywhere! Podcasts, documentaries, webinars, volunteering, white papers, online certifications and online forums are just a few examples. Each of these examples, when viewed through the lens through which you best learn, will contribute to what you hear, retain and (even better) share with your peers.

Seek out thought leaders in the platforms that best serve your needs. For example, LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) enable you to follow the ideas of individuals and organizations. Find podcasts about the topics you are most interested in and add them to your library. Have a go-to list of websites that routinely present webinars and whitepapers. Follow content creators on platforms like Reels or TikTok that regularly post on topics you want to better understand.

Personally, I keep many resources at hand that complement the way I like to learn (I’m multimodal) and give me the flexibility to learn no matter where I am or how much time I have. For example, I use apps and podcasts on my phone provide quick snacks of information. I routinely check (and share) webinars that discuss topics important to the entire agency. Flexibility and variety give me what I need when I need it.

CREATING A LEARNING PLAN

Some people prefer to independently manage their professional development. Others receive development goals from their employer. And some people have goals that differ from their employers’ goals. Regardless of your approach, it pays to be strategic with your professional development.

You don’t need to start with a blank piece of paper. Use your employer as a resource or look online for guidance. Kacie Walters, consultant and author of the weekly blog “Corporate Safari,” published an informative blog on organizing your development plan. Kacie offers perspective and sound advice that builds upon your learning style, and guidance on sharing your growth with others.

The time you take to frame your personal goals and identify resources is well spent. It becomes a platform for you to communicate your growth to your current (or future) employers. 

HOW DO WE KNOW IT WORKS?

Professional development is embedded in our agency culture at Rhea + Kaiser. Here are a few ways we monitor and celebrate professional development:

• We share the goal: We ask our team to spend at minimum 40 hours per year on professional development – with 1/3 Company-Guided, 1/3 Supervisor-Guided and 1/3 Self-Directed. How each employee meets their goals is largely up to them; we trust they will identify methods that resonate with their learning style.
• We capture progress via performance reviews: We record our 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 approach to training in annual performance reviews, and check back periodically to ensure each goal is being met.
• We always ask for share outs: When a team member completes a learning, we ask they share 3-5 key takeaways on our Teams Training Channel.
• We host Thought Leadership Thursdays: We dedicate time every other Thursday for team members to share bigger picture learnings they have gained with the entire agency.
• We prioritize Summer School: Every year June – August we replace Thought Leadership Thursdays with “free” time to achieve certifications. By the end of the summer, every employee has earned a personal digital certification that collectively elevates our entire team’s knowledge and ability.

Learning is what keeps our team sharp and our work rewarding. It provides a way for our team to demonstrate our company values by expressing their curiosity and boldness. Our work for clients is better. Everyone wins when we each expand our thinking.

Personally, I loved college and get excited knowing everything my kids are about to experience. But I have come to realize that my professional development journey provided a “degree” that you can’t get in school. It has equipped me with invaluable tools and an open-minded perspective. Take big and little opportunities to grow professionally. The journey is fantastic.

Want to know more about our professional learning practices at Rhea + Kaiser or some of the industry insights driving our client’s success? Check out our case studies.

If you need help reaching your business goals, drop us a note.