6 ways continuous learning can advance your career

The start of a new year brings a host of resolutions, including a desire to boost personal knowledge and skills. Evidence suggests continuous learning is a resolution you’ll want to keep.

Harvard Business Review suggests that skills-based hiring is increasingly important to corporate recruitment strategies. In an era of constant change, professionals who acquire new knowledge are more likely to ascend the career ladder.

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So, how can you focus on continuous learning? Six business leaders share their top tips.

1. Keep your eyes open

Dave Moyes, partner of information and digital systems at SimpsonHaugh Architects, said the best way to learn new things is to stay inquisitive.

“Be that five-year-old kid that wants to stick your finger in a hole,” he said.

However, acting like a child as a senior professional is easier said than done. Moyes said the key to success is remaining humble.

“You’ve got to look at everything with open eyes,” he said. “Somebody always knows more than you do about something, whatever that is.”

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Moyes told ZDNET that continual learners assume nothing and drop any sense of arrogance.

“You know a lot of stuff about what you know, but somebody else knows an awful lot, too,” he said. “Just learn from them. Talk to them. The world’s a big place.”

2. Set yourself tough targets

Carrie Jordan, global director of program execution at Microsoft, described herself as an avid learner and saidcontinual personal development is critical to career success.

“I try to read two books at a time, one audio and one paper,” she said. “That way, I have no excuse, no matter where I am, to carry on learning. That approach keeps me fresh and learning new things.”

Jordan told ZDNET she sets herself a goal to read the number of books for the year she’s turning.

“This target wasn’t so hard in my early twenties and thirties,” she said. “It’s getting harder and harder every year. However, the goal creates pressure for me to read instead of scrolling social media or doing other things that are not continuously adding to my knowledge base.”

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Jordan has been assigned the position of Learning Tsar at Microsoft, which requires her to spread the knowledge she finds. She also runs a Learning Week for her team.

“For one week every quarter, we cancel all internal meetings, and we repurpose that time to consume training, read books, listen to podcasts, and more,” she said.

“And that approach has been very successful at getting people to repurpose their time toward learning.”

3. Find an interesting place to work

Raymond Boyle, vice president of data and analytics at Hyatt Hotels, said working in an interesting and fast-changing area ensures your knowledge stays fresh.

“Data is everywhere and it’s with everyone, and the organization has to function as a unit in a highly flexible and independent way but with tight alignment around the basics,” he said.

“I think the data space is a fascinating and interesting place, and I’ve always found it a fun area to work within.”

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Boyle told ZDNET that any professional who wants to help their organization use data to stay ahead must continue to learn new things.

“Data is high impact and it changes how the world works. The innovations and the pace of change in the space are pretty broad,” he said.

“How an organization interacts with data can be a powerful competitive advantage. Get it right and your businesses can move faster, be more innovative, and embrace that change securely.”

4. Think critically about new ideas

Roger Joys, vice president of enterprise cloud platforms at Alaskan telecoms firm GCI, is a lifetime learner: “Throw me new stuff and I want to learn.”

Joys told ZDNET that several approaches served him well during his career.

“Read and pay attention,” he said. “And think critically. There are millions of blog posts out there with somebody saying, ‘This is bright and shiny.’ You need to take a look and say, ‘Is this worthwhile to the company?'”

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Joys said thinking critically is about learning how a new idea or innovation might be translated into the current organizational context.

“At the end of the day, the company is writing a paycheck for you,” he said. “Think about how new stuff provides business value.”

Joys said professionals also need to ensure the benefits of the things they introduce through their learning processes are tracked and traced.

“That’s about measuring those efforts to ensure you can say, ‘Here’s a new piece of technology. Here’s how we’ll measure how this technology lines up with our corporate strategy and vision.'”

5. Find problems to solve

Phil Worsley, head of identity and access management (IAM) at the University of Leeds, said he learns best when exposed to a new area.

That situation occurred in his role at Leeds when he took the lead for IAM after creating a solution for virtual working demands during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m new to identity. I find the work we’re doing interesting. There’s always something new coming through. There’s always an issue that needs to be fixed,” he said.

“I like getting things done and seeing the benefits of our work and that desire motivates me to improve my knowledge.”

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Worsley told ZDNET he likes to learn on the job rather than acquire new knowledge in the classroom.

“I’m not a bookish person. I don’t go out and read. I recognize that I need to learn specific things because I’ve got a problem to solve,” he said.

“I’ll learn about it, get the right people talking, and get the solutions underway. Tell me something’s impossible and I’ll tell you it’s not.”

6. Treat your job like a hobby

Keith Woolley, chief digital and information officer at the University of Bristol, said the great thing about his job is that it’s like a hobby.

“I’m naturally interested in what I do. So, I read things around me without realizing I’m consuming other information,” he said.

“If you’re excited about what you do, learning comes naturally because it’s a genuine interest. Then learning happens when you don’t expect it.”

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Woolley told ZDNET he bolsters his knowledge by attending industry events, maintaining contact with people in his trusted network, and monitoring IT trends in business publications.

“You must constantly look for innovation,” he said. “And I’m very fortunate where I work. It’s a learning environment, so it’s one of those places where you always see new things.”