At City Innovation Labs, we are continually learning. As a startup, we don’t have time to be content with our positioning as a company. We constantly want to find new ways to engage potential customers. We often wear many hats, allowing us to fill gaps within our company and make forward progress to reach our goals.
Each employee creates a development plan. Development plans include personal and professional goals and we are held accountable for achieving them. An area of focus that is very natural for our CIL team is our passion for learning and it plays a vital role in our company. Here’s how and why we do it:
1. Learning keeps us relevant
In this ever-changing world, it is so easy to get left behind! To ensure that we stay connected to our industry and our customers, we strive to keep up to date with trends and continuously adapt our skill set. Our individual, professional and personal development plans allow us to explore and learn new things outside of our company.
2. Learning sparks new ideas to help us pay it forward
Continual learning isn’t just about you. Lifelong learning helps develop your leadership skills, which translates to fostering lifelong learning in other individuals. We offer internal bi-weekly training during our “Business over Breakfast” where employees present to the team and brainstorm ways to improve how we function to break the norm.
3. Learning aids in our competence which leads to confidence
Through education and continual learning from others on our team, we are better equipped to help potential customers. We can help clients feel more confident in their decision allowing CIL to work side-by-side with them to provide innovative changes to THEIR company!
Ways set yourself and your company up for continual learning:
– Make a habit of reading, schedule it into your day!
– Build a network of go-to experts and ask questions (a lot of questions!)
– Learn by teaching.
– Observe what’s happening around you, evaluate and reflect on what you’ve learned.
Promoting a culture of curious minds provides engagement in the workforce and empowers employees to seek skills that will significantly benefit both the company and your employees.
Experiment, be inquisitive and keep learning!
Many of our episodes on our Ask An Innovator podcast explore how continual learning helps shape roles and even companies – check out some favorites here.
