For the past few years IAB has been encouraging companies to invest in their employees by encouraging them to take the Sales, Ad Ops and Data certification exams. We’ve been quite successful—over 7,000 applicants so far. But, not surprisingly, we hear objections from time to time.
There’s one particular pushback that makes no sense to me at all. That’s the statement that certification merely increases the risk of a certified employee looking for a better opportunity somewhere else; in other words, encouraging employees to earn a credential that demonstrates professional capability actually hurts the company.
Or, as leadership specialist Peter Baeklund puts it, when someone says: “What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave?” the proper response is “What happens if you don’t, and they stay?”
Doesn’t it make sense that people would prefer to work for companies that invest in developing their capabilities and keeping their skill sets relevant through constant learning opportunities? Doesn’t this type of commitment to the employee foster a commitment to the company in return and contribute to a better corporate culture?
There’s no denying that retention is a major problem during the boom times in our industry, but depriving managers of learning and development opportunities isn’t the answer—and it’s definitely not going to help the company either. The only talent issue that’s greater than retention today is leadership; that is, the lack of training programs that target leaders at all levels, but particularly those in the middle.
Nearly half of all Millennials currently have some leadership responsibilities according to a Deloitte study, yet 66% of the companies Deloitte surveyed reported they have weak capabilities when to comes to providing leadership programs for that demographic.
IAB recognizes that not every company can create the type of leadership program that teaches core management skills, foundational understanding of business functions, and basic business and product strategy. And that is why we have created the IAB Digital Leadership Program. This is a new approach to helping managers not only acquire knowledge, but also the skills required to take on the roles and responsibilities that our fast-changing industry requires. This is a program that’s being developed by industry professionals and subject matter experts for industry professionals. The first semester kick off this fall in both a three-day intensive and one night a week classroom format.
I encourage you—as an individual interested in taking responsibility for your own professional growth, or as a team leader who has responsibility for the growth of others—to review the IAB Digital Leadership Program and consider making an extremely worthwhile investment in the development of your staff. If you have any questions just drop us a line at [email protected], we’ll be glad to answer them.
