The Data and Marketing Association (DMA) is calling on senior managers across the UK to address the growing skills gap within the creative industries by pushing for continuous learning.
It follows the release of a critical report by the House of Lords which implores the adoption of a new approach to these shortages, by empowering people with a blend of both creative and digital skills.
In a bid to address these shortcomings, the DMA has recently worked with 16 international brands, charities, SMEs, and agencies on a pilot scheme to better understand how so-called ‘micro-upskilling’ can help fill in these learning gaps.
The pilot’s main objective was to instigate a cultural shift towards building-in dedicated periods of learning, with a target of one hour spent on flexible, bitesized e-learning and professional development each week.
The DMA found that introducing a culture of continuous learning was key, with 60% of learners citing lack of time as key barrier to up-skilling, and 55% adding that they simply had too many ‘competing priorities’.
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“Direction, support and structure are essential building blocks of a learning culture yet are also the main barriers to professional development,” DMA managing director, Rachel Aldighieri said.
Involving major companies such as Experian, RSPCA, Golden Charter, Visit Scotland and PETA, the pilot notably found that employees at companies that actively participated in and encouraged their continuous learning were more likely to remain with that organisation long term.
Aldighieri added: “Our micro-upskilling pilot findings are really encouraging – demonstrating to businesses how they can develop these building blocks to supercharge skills acquisition in the short term, while instilling long-term learning habits across their organisation that benefits the employee and employer.”
“The DMA will now work with our wider community to introduce micro-upskilling as a key element of membership. A pledge will be introduced requesting member organisations to commit an hour a week to all staff’s L&D in our new People Pillar of the DMA Code. We aim to make continuous learning synonymous with the DMA community, so our marketers are regularly enhancing their skillsets and helping to drive responsible business growth.”
