Why we dedicate two days a month to L&D

L&D is a big deal round here. Every other week, each S8 teamie gets a full day to focus on personal growth. Here’s why we think dedicated L&D days are the way to go.

It’s easy to talk the talk when we say we’re creating a culture of continuous learning. But L&D days really do help us do just that. Personal development isn’t put on the back burner or forgotten about until annual reviews roll around – it’s front of mind for all of us. We’re building better habits when it comes to learning new things, challenging ourselves and expanding our skill sets. And that can only be a great thing, right?

L&D shouldn’t be left for ad-hoc downtime. By putting two full days in the diary every month, we give ourselves a realistic amount of time needed to study, practice and learn. But most of all – we make our L&D more purposeful. Having that dedicated time makes setting (and smashing) SMART objectives way easier than if we were picking up the odd hour here and there. And seeing progress only spurs us on.

Back in the day, we’d spend the last four hours of the week on L&D (RIP 50/50 Fridays). But nowadays, each of us gets a whole day set aside in our schedule instead. We switch our Slack statuses to ‘Do not disturb’ for the day, say no to things that aren’t urgent, and generally just get our heads down. Try it – you’ll be amazed at what you can get done with a whole day of focus time.

L&D isn’t just reserved for junior teamies, or those who have the luxury of a little more time on their hands. Project managers, designers, copywriters, developers – we should all be allowed to learn new stuff. No matter how busy you are or whatever your personal goals may be, we all get the time we need to develop in our way. And the more we can learn from each other in the long run, the better our work will be.