As the back-to-school season kicks off, BITE asks industry leaders what they are committed to unlearning.

As a leader, what got you here today, won’t get you where you want to be tomorrow. It’s time to unlearn.

This is doubly true of the creative industries, where many people end up in leadership positions without experience of leadership. It means learning new skills and behaviours but doing so in a way which means you have to leave behind things that got you there in the first place. Every creative leader, in particular, will recognise this.

As Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book “Future Proof” said: “The illiterate of the future will not be those who can’t read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

And because time, and the world, doesn’t stand still, your learned behaviours will inevitably need to change as you adapt to the ever-changing world of work and life, and much of what you built your career upon becomes ineffective or obsolete. Which means, it’s time to unlearn.

But it has to be said, unlearning is not easy. We each have ingrained ways of working, thinking and behaving, that over time become the natural order of how we do things. They are second nature. And unlearning those models of second nature, to create new models of second nature is not easy.

The starting point is to recognise the things you have learnt that are not necessarily serving you well today.

It’s a paradox that has generated much scrutiny over the years but was summed up nicely by author and CEO (that’s Chief Epiphany Officer to the uninitiated) Mark Bonchek as a process of three parts.

Firstly, you have to recognise that the old mental model is no longer relevant or effective; second, you need to find or create a new model that can better achieve your goals and third, you need to ingrain the new habits.

But of course, this isn’t as easy as 1,2,3. The first main challenge is that we are usually unconscious of our mental models and even when we become aware we may be too afraid to admit that our existing model is growing outdated. Afterall, according to Bonchek, we’ve got to where we are by building our reputations and careers on these models, so letting go can seem like starting over and losing our status, authority, or sense of self.

Creating a new model can be tough, particularly if you are still viewing the world through your old lens.

And change tends not to be linear. Just like being on a diet or trying to screen detox, the tendency will be to slip back into the old way of doing things – just one more biscuit just a quick 5 minutes of doomscrolling.

So, when asked what I would commit to unlearning this September, I thought long and hard about second-nature behaviours, particularly those that affect my performance as a leader.

And as a result, I am going to commit to unlearning "always being available".

I have always been of the belief that being a good leader meant being available whenever anybody needed my support. But on reflection, is that behaviour counterintuitive?

This is my standard "Out of Office":

Thanks for your email. I am out of the office on holiday with little or no access to email and will be returning on Monday. If you need to contact me urgently for anything, please message me on 07XXX XXX XXX and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Many thanks,

Fergus

But this second-nature behaviour is a bad habit and a signal for people that I will be there to fix any problems when it might actually benefit other people to solve the problem themselves. It’s giving them permission to delegate upwards and act in a way that works against one of our Agency values “hug the hedgehog” – a value that encourages people to embrace difficult challenges and feel empowered to learn from soft failing.

It also creates a perceived idea that, as a leader, I expect people to be the same as me and be available 24/7. A misplaced case of do as I do. I have always believed that when your work is done you need to switch off – there are no prizes in life for giving the impression you’re working late when you don’t have to do so.

I need to unlearn this “always available” behaviour to be a better leader and to give people the space to flourish, both by tackling issues themselves and understanding it’s OK (and good) to switch off.

Next week, I’m on Jury Service and I won’t be available.

My “Out of Office” will read:

Thanks for your email. I am out of the office and not working. I will be back on Monday 24^th September and will be available to catch up then.

Many thanks

Fergus