{"id":48416,"date":"2020-11-16T07:22:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T12:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=48416"},"modified":"2025-05-08T07:07:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:07:18","slug":"are-you-an-agile-learner","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Have a Long Career? Be an Agile Learner"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Career Longevity Requires Learning Agility<\/h2>\n<p>Want a career that lasts a lifetime?<\/p>\n<p>Our research has long shown that the most successful leaders with the longest careers have the key leadership trait of <em>learning agility<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Those who are learning agile and who understand how to have a long career continue to develop on the job for years, and even decades.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a skilled and agile learner, you outperform your peers. You\u2019re willing to learn from experience and you\u2019re able to apply that learning to perform successfully in new and challenging situations. You learn new information quickly and figure out how to interact effectively with others. You come up with resourceful solutions in circumstances where others have struggled to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>If you have learning agility, you understand that what\u2019s needed to succeed at one level or in one setting doesn\u2019t necessarily translate to the next. And you know that <strong>your <em>current<\/em> skillset is of secondary importance to your ability to learn<\/strong> <em>new<\/em> knowledge, skills, and behaviors that will equip you to respond to future challenges.<\/p>\n<h2>What Traits Do Agile Learners Possess?<\/h2>\n<p>People with learning agility who know how to have a long career show many common characteristics and behaviors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They\u2019re often looked to, and even relied upon, as <strong>innovators.<\/strong> They\u2019re willing, even eager, to\u00a0challenge the status quo.<\/li>\n<li>They have high levels of <strong>intellectual curiosity.<\/strong> They push, explore, ask questions, seek\u00a0knowledge and insight.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re <strong>energized by challenges.<\/strong> They don\u2019t get overwhelmed; instead, they stay calm, get\u00a0focused, and work through obstacles.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re very <strong>resourceful<\/strong>. If one approach doesn\u2019t work, they try another.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re great at <strong>jumping into action<\/strong> \u2014 performing \u2014 but they also know when to step back.<\/li>\n<li>They <strong>draw on past experiences<\/strong> and intuitively make connections from previous lessons learned.<\/li>\n<li>They like to live on the edge, <strong>seek out new experiences,<\/strong> and undertake diverse challenges.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re <strong>not foolhardy<\/strong> \u2014 self-aware enough to see limitations but not daunted by not knowing\u00a0the answers.<\/li>\n<li>They\u2019re <strong>works in progress:<\/strong> restless, self-critical, always striving \u2014 compelled to keep\u00a0challenging themselves and learning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You can probably guess that these behaviors can be overdone, and they certainly don\u2019t make a person immune to failure. In fact, failure is often part of the story of learning. But agile learners aren\u2019t likely to make the same mistake twice.<\/p>\n<p>When people excel at learning agility, it\u2019s more of a way of life than a specific skill.<\/p>\n<p>People who rate high in learning agility and who are most likely to have a long career are often the \u201crock stars\u201d in their company or field. They outperform their peers and get promoted more frequently. They learn new information more quickly and are versatile enough to interact effectively with diverse people in diverse contexts. In many ways, being an agile learner and a high-potential leader are synonymous, as learning agility is <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/20-questions-to-ask-about-high-potential-development\/\">how you can discern high-potentials from high-professionals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Over time, if you\u2019re an agile learner, bosses and organizations will recognize you as having \u201cthe right stuff\u201d and being high-potential talent. (That\u2019s why it\u2019s often said that <a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/great-leaders-are-great-learners-how-to-develop-learning-agile-high-potentials.pdf\">great leaders are great learners<\/a>.) As a result, you\u2019re afforded some of the most sought-after opportunities for leadership and career advancement.<\/p>\n<p>So, what does it take to be an agile learner? And how do you gauge your level of learning agility and the likelihood that you will have a long career?<\/p>\n<h2>Am I an Agile Learner?<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re unsure whether you\u2019re an agile learner on track for career longevity, consider these questions:<\/p>\n<p><em>Am I open to new ways of thinking? Do I struggle when doing things differently? Do I like to continuously learn new skills?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our researchers investigated these questions resulting in some important conclusions for leaders. Learning-agile individuals tend to be more social, creative, focused, and resilient. They are less interested in accommodating others and are not afraid to challenge norms. Specifically, we identified these 5 facets of learning agility:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong><em>Innovating:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Agile learners are not afraid to challenge the status quo.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Performing:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Agile learners remain calm in the face of difficulty.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Reflecting:<\/em><\/strong> Agile learners take time to reflect on their experiences.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Risking:<\/em><\/strong> Agile learners purposefully put themselves in challenging situations.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Defending:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Agile learners are simply open to learning and resist the temptation to become defensive in the face of adversity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Take This Quick Self-Assessment to Gauge Your Learning Agility<\/h2>\n<p>To get a good sense of your personal learning agility and whether you\u2019re likely to have a long career, consider your behaviors in the same 5 categories:<\/p>\n<table class=\"dataTable\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th width=\"15%\"><\/th>\n<th style=\"font-size: 130%; line-height: 150%;\">Do I&#8230;<\/th>\n<th width=\"10%\"><\/th>\n<th style=\"font-size: 130%; line-height: 150%;\">Do I&#8230;<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Innovate<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Challenge the <em>status quo<\/em> in an attempt to make improvements? Experiment with new ideas and endeavor to find the best solution to each individual problem?<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>OR<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Try to achieve the best with what I have at my disposal? Choose the most readily available solution and move on to the next challenge?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Perform<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Pick up on subtle cues to build a better understanding of the problem? Stay calm when faced with a challenge or stressful situation?<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>OR<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Trust my intuition to guide me to a solution? Use stress as energy to get things done more quickly?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Reflect<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Make time to critically reflect on my experiences? Examine past failures for lessons?<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>OR<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Move quickly from one task to another in order to accomplish more? Put failure quickly behind me in order to focus on the next challenge?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Take\u00a0Risks<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Volunteer for roles that are ambiguous, new or otherwise challenging? Take enjoyment from struggling with a challenging problem?<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>OR<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Take on challenges where I know I can be successful? Take enjoyment from managing a well-oiled machine?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Defend<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Consider my personal role in both successes and failures? Seek feedback because I need it?<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>OR<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Take credit for success and quickly make excuses for failure? Listen to feedback because others want to give it?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>When you read the above statements, which side of the line seems to describe you better? If you identify more with the statements on the left, you may already embody many of the components of learning agility.<\/p>\n<p>If you fall on the right, you\u2019ve got some room for improvement, and you\u2019ll want to follow our tips to increase your learning agility and your likelihood of having a long career.<\/p>\n<p>Learning how to be an agile learner takes practice, but if you can <a href=\"\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/tips-for-improving-your-learning-agility\/\">improve your learning agility<\/a>, then you hold the key for how to have a long career \u2014 and a deeply satisfying one.<\/p>\n<h2>Ready to Take the Next Step?<\/h2>\n<p><strong><em>Help your leaders become agile learners with a customized learning journey using our research-backed modules. Available <a href=\"\/leadership-solutions\/leadership-topics\/\">leadership topics<\/a> include Conflict Management, Emotional Intelligence, Innovation Leadership,\u00a0<a href=\"\/leadership-solutions\/leadership-topics\/learning-agility\/\">Learning Agility<\/a>, Self-Awareness, and more.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s how to ensure career longevity: become an agile learner. Learn the traits of agile learners and how to gauge your learning agility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":48417,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48416","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categories-leadership-skills-competencies","categories-learning-agility","impact-level-individuals","region-global","article-type-leading-effectively-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Have a Long Career? Be An Agile Learner | CCL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here&#039;s how to ensure career longevity: become an agile learner. Learn the traits of agile learners and how to gauge your learning agility.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Have a Long Career? Be an Agile Learner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#039;s how to ensure career longevity: become an agile learner. Learn the traits of agile learners and how to gauge your learning agility.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CCL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T11:07:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/agile-learner-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"486\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CCLdotORG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Have a Long Career? Be An Agile Learner | CCL","description":"Here's how to ensure career longevity: become an agile learner. Learn the traits of agile learners and how to gauge your learning agility.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Have a Long Career? Be an Agile Learner","og_description":"Here's how to ensure career longevity: become an agile learner. Learn the traits of agile learners and how to gauge your learning agility.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/","og_site_name":"CCL","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","article_modified_time":"2025-05-08T11:07:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":864,"height":486,"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/agile-learner-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@CCLdotORG","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Helton","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec"},"headline":"How to Have a Long Career? Be an Agile Learner","datePublished":"2020-11-16T12:22:53+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-08T11:07:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/"},"wordCount":1126,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/agile-learner-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/","name":"How to Have a Long Career? Be An Agile Learner | CCL","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/agile-learner-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","datePublished":"2020-11-16T12:22:53+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-08T11:07:18+00:00","description":"Here's how to ensure career longevity: become an agile learner. Learn the traits of agile learners and how to gauge your learning agility.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/agile-learner-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/agile-learner-center-for-creative-leadership.jpg","width":864,"height":486,"caption":"How to Have a Long Career? Be an Agile Learner"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/leading-effectively-articles\/are-you-an-agile-learner\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"LE Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/article-type\/leading-effectively-articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"How to Have a Long Career? Be an Agile Learner"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","name":"CCL","description":"Leadership Development Drives Results. We Can Prove It.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#organization","name":"Center for Creative Leadership","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/center-for-creative-leadership-ccl-featured-logo.jpg","width":864,"height":483,"caption":"Center for Creative Leadership"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CenterforCreativeLeadership\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CCLdotORG","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ccldotorg\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/center-for-creative-leadership\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c3de2cfff0bc13a548c633bbf60c15ec","name":"Carrie Helton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Carrie Helton"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/author\/carrie-helton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/48416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/48416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccl.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}