We are living in an era of digital transformation, where change happens too often. Accordingly, some traditional signs of effective leadership are losing relevance. The time when the main advantage of a leader was his accumulated experience of an expert making key decisions is long in the past. Today it is much more important to be adaptive.

To be ready for changes, the leader must, first of all, perceive everyday tasks as an opportunity for potential growth, looking at as many faces in one situation as possible. It can be communicated with a colleague or solving an urgent, sudden task at work. In fact, this is what is called "flexibility in learning."

Marketers and digital specialists deal with change all the time, so for them, flexibility in learning is an extremely important feature, as a whole being a predictor of their academic performance and long-term success. They have to be in a state of constant rethinking. That is why the leaders of these areas have a high tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to remain calm before difficulties, and most importantly - the willingness to challenge the status in search of new experience and knowledge.

Study? How's that? 🤔

Unfortunately, the experience gained over the years by many organizations can lead to flexibility in learning from today's leaders. This is due to the fact that when solving an important case, they mainly seek to solve it in a known way, based on previous successful experience. Very few people try to find the answer to the question as already there are "correct" answers. We were taught to use already proven tools, but not taught to find them yourself. There are several ways we know that can stimulate continuous learning:

• Don't be afraid to ask questions: real leaders who work in the digital age should stop behaving like experts and start acting like investigators. Experts know the theory. A distinctive feature of the investigator is that he knows the right questions. You may not know the answer, but now you know exactly how to get it.

• Imagine yourself in new situations: flexible learners seek new experiences and consciously put themselves in difficult situations because they are open to learning. It also means that they will be open to information from a variety of sources without fear of getting their hands dirty. This means cooperation with experts and agencies, which will contribute to a deeper understanding of digital technologies.

• Take time to think: leaders who are continuously engaged in self-education are forced to conduct a self-analysis. Therefore, they tend to draw lessons from their experiences that they can use to meet new challenges. On the way to open thinking, do an overview of the events at the end of each work week, as well as instant introspection at moments when the tension in the head reaches a peak.

• Know what you need: it is important for a leader to understand the ultimate goal, as well as all the stages on the way to achieving it, to avoid procrastination over uncertainty, and to process new information faster. Some may need to answer 20 questions before making a decision; others will prefer to grieve and talk about difficulties; while the third is more comfortable walking into a new one without a safety net. When you understand your needs, you can easily take on changes and new information.

• Treat everything as a test: when we talk about lifelong learning, it can seem overwhelming. We invite you to optimize your expectations in this regard, simply considering each new effort as a process of testing and training.

• Try mindfulness exercises: mindfulness practices, such as breathing techniques or meditation, can be especially useful for increasing your ability to learn. The practice of mindfulness increases our capacity for emotional self-control, which then increases our ability to adapt. And mindfulness is changing the way our neural networks connect and work together, improving cognitive flexibility and adaptability.

• Revise your goals: traditionally, leaders focus on specific results, such as a 50% increase in sales for the quarter or a doubling of social media coverage. It's not a way to learn and grow. If instead, you set the desired anchor that combines some intentions for the future and dissatisfaction with what is happening today, you will get more changes in behavior as well as the training you need.

• Provide yourself with space for possible learning: in a digital environment, it can be difficult to create a space for learning. When we are too busy, the labels we use close our eyes to important knowledge and ideas that can help us in solving future problems. One method of overcoming this temptation - preparation of weekly plan in which it is proposed to consider the usual lessons from a different angle, giving yourself the ability to extract new experience from the old.

• Locate "their" culture learning: the students are capable of learning, are not going to develop in the organization where it all comes down to the maintenance of the existing status or to perform actions on the script, due to the accumulated experience. At the same time, leaders from digital can certainly stimulate a culture of learning in their own functions, they themselves will not achieve much success if a large organization is set up to thwart these efforts. Digital leaders who want to improve their learning flexibility need to make sure they are looking for organizations with the right environment.

Translation and adaptation of the article, Stephanie Overby.