Attributable to Tamara Ting, Head of Marketing Strategic Partnerships at ANZ

One of my favourite things about work is learning and developing skills – an essential pursuit when working in the ever evolving marketing industry.

I have worked at ANZ for nearly nine years now and it’s been consistently fascinating to continuously learn and ask questions alongside my teams.

How do you harness technology to deliver great customer experiences? How can teams seek to deliver today, while building for tomorrow? They are difficult questions managers have grappled with for many years and there are numerous examples of businesses that suffered from being ill prepared. People who hold a mindset seeking to continuously learn and develop are respected for their want to challenge themself, receiving recognition for their developing and growing skillset.

As you evolve and progress throughout your marketing career, you should endeavour to continuously grow and develop in your new roles. You’ll naturally absorb information and methods you’ve seen other people employ along the way. Identifying areas that need development is a great way to help support your career progression. It can be daunting planning and seeking this initially, but you’ll soon embrace the challenge. You should be invested in your own career, your developmental milestones – make it part of your job!

I’m fortunate to take part in the Marketing Masters program at ANZ, designed to support and develop our marketers to be the best they can and have the skills needed for the evolving marketing space. Any organisation can implement its own internal or external training system, it helps show a commitment to its staff and the want to be a high performing team.

There are a few key elements this training should include. One is to help team members identify areas of improvement within themselves. It is highly valuable to identify and forward plan what skills your team is lacking and how you will secure them, whether through training or future recruitment. Ultimately, you want to set up teams that are high functioning, consistent, and who continually seek to improve themselves along the way.

It was a shock and honour to be named winner of ANZ’s Master In Leadership award as part of the Marketing Masters program, but I did not get there alone. Plenty of amazing colleagues and leaders helped me along the way, and they taught me valuable lessons. That includes providing support and direction when mistakes are made, seeking continuous learning, and working with a variety of leaders before becoming a strong leader yourself.

It is inevitable there will be opportunities to support and encourage your team members, moments where they can grow and develop. I truly believe anyone can achieve, but keep in mind the kind of help your team may need. This encouragement can get them started and on the way to a continuous learning mindset for the rest of their career.

For instance, some people might be capable, but unsure of long-term and bigger career goals. To help them answer this, invite them to explore the possibilities and set up those goals, perhaps with the help of a mentor. Sometimes a subtle nudge in the right direction is all they need.

Overall, taking these opportunities to learn and grow as a marketer is something I find inspiring. Continually learning really boils down to keeping your mind and eyes open as much as possible each day, adopting and developing skills and techniques in everyday ways.

I always wake up excited by what the day might bring, our dynamic industry giving us such variation day by day. You never know what you may discover about yourself, your colleagues, or your industry.