Nabs’ top Career Leaders tips of 2024

It’s been a very busy year in adland and at Nabs. Many of the team here are in reflective mode as we process the work that we’ve put into place, especially our Managers’ Mindsets training programme.

As we look forward to the festive break, it seems an appropriate time to look back on the insights we’ve shared with you throughout 2024. Which one resonates with you the most and what are you inspired to put into practice next year?

Dealing with redundancy

Redundancy is unfortunately a challenging fact of life and it’s crucial to understand that it is an emotional issue. Be on hand to offer support and signposting to your affected team members.

Remember that it’s not just the person or people being made redundant who will be upset. Their colleagues will also feel sad to lose colleagues and worried about taking on more work. Change and uncertainty can be daunting. Nabs is here to help anybody affected, so call us for a chat.

Get training

The benefits of training go well beyond “hard” skills. Great training boosts participants’ mental wellness and acts as both recognition and reward. As a result, self-esteem and motivation rise along with the competencies addressed in the training.

We saw this first hand during our spring pitching course Fast Forward, where our industry’s rising stars truly shone during six weeks of programming.

Click here to book your talent on to Fast Forward 2025.

Supporting ADHD

ADHD has been in the spotlight over the past year or so and, at Nabs, we’ve found more and more people coming to us for support with the issue.

We discussed leaders’ responsibility to support those living with ADHD. One practical action is to encourage people to share how they prefer to work and communicate, and what supports their need during meetings.

Book on to our December ADHD workshop for more support.

Fighting sexual harassment

Nabs is a partner in the TimeTo campaign to end sexual harassment in the ad industry. It’s crucial to empower bystanders if we’re to combat sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment often occurs in front of people, so we need to train those who may witness this behaviour, encourage reporting and offer emotional support.

Employers are now legally required to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and to create a safe working environment.

Enrol your leaders on to TimeTo’s bystander training.

Building communities

We’ve been focused on community-building activities this year. Coming together and being with people can do great things for our mental wellness.

As we geared up for our Walk and Talk event, which got people from across our industry together for a gorgeous sponsored stroll, we explored how being around other people can help to boost us.

If you’d like to fundraise for Nabs next year, get in touch here. 

The juggle

A hot topic for the hot(ish) weather in July: how to manage the summer holiday juggle.

With so many aspects to this challenging time for working parents and their teams, we shared a number of practical tips that we put into practice here at Nabs.

Leaders are key: they need to role-model their own solutions to the juggle and work with staff members to understand what they need and how to support them. 

Back-to-school vibes

The end of summer brings a back-to-school mindset for many of us, even if we’ve been out of education for a while.

We considered the advantages of adopting this mindset to encourage teams to be open to learning new skills. Learning and mental wellness are intrinsically linked, with a number of benefits to enjoy.

Check out the training opportunities open at Nabs.

Final push

Busy season started in September, with Q4 and its legendarily hectic nature looming on the horizon.

Although it can be easy to forget your mental wellness when you’re frantically working, we asked you to consider that your emotional health as a non-negotiable.

As we stated in our community consultation All Ears, mental wellness needs to be the thread that runs through everything you do.

So create open cultures, set boundaries to help protect you and your team, and get away from your desk every day.

No more conscious unbossing

Nabs launched our Managers’ Mindsets training programme in direct response to industry feedback.

We found that 40% of respondents to All Ears would go to their line manager if they were experiencing a mental wellness challenge, yet many managers are not trained or supported to have these conversations.

In a month when news was revealed of “conscious unbossing”, where Gen Z are turning away from management careers, we discussed how mental wellness training for managers is a key action to get Gen Z feeling confident in this career path.

Louise Scodie is senior PR and communications manager at Nabs (credit: Bronac McNeill)