When someone finds out that I used to work at BuzzFeed, they usually end up asking me: What made that place so special?
I typically give them the short answer: BuzzFeed did an exceptional job of hiring people — people who were funny, smart, hard-working, and unusually curious. When you hire amazing people, and give them the freedom to do great work, you get a place like BuzzFeed.
But there’s a second thing that BuzzFeed did incredibly well, and I don’t mention it often enough: BuzzFeed invested in its people.
At BuzzFeed, there was a Learning & Development team that helped power everything we did. (A big shoutout to Regis, Annie, Michelle, Kris, and everyone else who did such great work on L&D!) Most BuzzFeed staffers were young — in their early-to-mid 20s — which meant that our staff was talented but inexperienced.
That’s where the L&D team came in. They put together classes and learning opportunities for everything. There were classes to help new managers learn how to manage a team, and classes to teach them how to hire someone new. There were classes for employees to learn how to communicate more clearly. There were classes to help with the little details — how to come up with story ideas, or how do more with Google Sheets — and the big picture stuff — how to be persuasive, how to give a great presentation. The L&D team would bring in coaches to work one-on-one with staffers, or invite college professors to speak about their areas of expertise.
What it meant was that BuzzFeed built a culture of learning. You were expected to learn new things, to push yourself, and to take advantage of these opportunities — that was part of your job. It was OK to not have all the answers, because there were always new opportunities to keep learning.
By investing in these L&D opportunities, BuzzFeed sent a pretty clear signal to its employees: We care about you and your growth, and as long as you’re here, we’re going to give you opportunities to grow into new roles. There’s a reason why so many of my co-workers stayed years at the company — even in a climate where many in media seem to switch jobs every year.
If you’re in a leadership role at a company, you should be asking: Does my team have the tools to do their jobs well? Are they learning and growing in their roles? Are we challenging them?
You may discover that you’re not doing that well enough — or at all.
Go out and invest in your people. Get them the coaching and the learning opportunities they need to grow. In turn, it might help you build a truly amazing team.
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That stock photo at the top comes via Unsplash.