When most people hear “professional development,” they picture heading off to a conference or logging on to a webinar. You learn a few things, and you report back at the staff meeting.
I love all of that. But at REED, we’ve learned professional development can be so much more than an event on the calendar. For us, it’s not a benefit we offer. It’s how we run our agency.
Growth doesn’t happen by accident
In 2022, our leadership team grew fast. I stepped up alongside two business partners to run the agency’s day-to-day operations. That opened up big opportunities for our account team. We wanted to make sure they had the support to grow into those roles, and to do it in a way that would last, so we put a name to it and launched an official PD program.
I championed PD because I’d lived it. I’’d been given great opportunities at the company, and I wanted to pour that back into our team. It turns out that our team wanted it just as much. In performance reviews, PD kept coming up as one of their favorite benefits at REED. That told us we were onto something, and the best way to build on it was to make it part of our everyday culture.
It starts at the top (with a confession)
As I discussed on this week’s episode of PRGN Presents, our PD system is built on leading with a growth mindset. A growth mindset says your skills aren’t set in stone. You can get better at almost anything with effort, feedback and a willingness to try. A fixed mindset says the opposite: you either have it or you don’t. The way I explain it to our team: A fixed mindset really comes down to fear of failure. It’s the hesitation to put yourself out there when you’re not sure you’ll get it right.
The person leading our PD program (that’s me) had a fixed mindset in several areas. I didn’t recognize it until I learned what it actually looked like. Once I did, I could name it and say, “I haven’t done this before, and that’s okay. I’m willing to learn it, right alongside you.”
Looking back, I think that’s a big reason PD works for us. Our team didn’t hear about growth from someone who had it all figured out. They saw it modeled from the top down, by someone working through it in real time. That made it feel less like a program and more like a journey we’re on together.
Feedback is the fuel
Feedback is one of three team norms we developed years ago with our business coach Elise Mitchell. We believe true feedback is the catalyst for growth, so we’re very intentional about it.
For us, feedback is timely, transparent and specific. For managers delivering tough feedback for the first time, we lean on the SBI model: situation, behavior, impact. And on both sides of the conversation, we stay curious.
That curiosity shows up with clients, too. Instead of walking in and acting like we know everything, we ask to learn more about their industry first, then share our expert take. Recently, a longtime client admitted that they weren’t sure what PR was doing for them. Because they were clear with us, we got the green light to take a fresh approach and restrategize the account. Today, our relationship with them is stronger than it was at the start of the year.
The proof
I know what some leaders are thinking: what if I pour into someone and they take those skills somewhere else? It’s a fair question. But when every growth goal ties back to an agency goal, your agency gets stronger along the way. And because you genuinely care about your people, helping them grow is part of the point, not a risk. Whether someone stays five more years or moves on next year, you’re left with better systems than you had before and a better professional out in the world.
That’s the difference between a perk and an operating system. A perk ends when the conference does. An operating system keeps running.
To hear more about how professional development can serve as an operating system for companies and organizations, listen to the PRGN Presents podcast episode here:
