Hindsight is always 20/20, as they say. Looking back at this turbulent year as the dust settles (more or less), several trends in business, learning, and leadership have reinforced why we do what we do, namely:

• an increasingly hybrid (or even fully remote) workforce,
• a rising concern for employee wellbeing,
• and traditional training companies struggling to reinvent their L&D initiatives.

As news of a pandemic quickly broke out in January, NewCampus, like many of you, were forced to adapt to new safety and social distancing measures. In under a week, we shifted our operations for in-person classes and events to fully remote, live workshops and conferences.

In the end, the adoption of live, remote learning gave us the opportunity to help our community with continuous learning and leadership development in times of unprecedented change.

Leadership of the past and present

When we think of the traditional idea of a leader, the image conjured might be of a “corporate leader”: someone, often male, who is a high-powered, C-suite boss of a large organisation.  

The concept of modern leadership, however, is replacing that image. A modern leader is someone who makes the decisions in the face of uncertainty, looks after a community of diverse people, and is someone who stands strongly behind a purpose or cause.

With the challenges that today’s global landscape brings, we need to adapt our leadership with the changing times, and leaders today are expected to:

• manage hybrid, remote teams,
• lead ethically and create more value for society,
• prioritise continuous learning and upskilling in their organisation.

As a modern business school, these are the qualities and skills in leadership we at NewCampus want to see bloom within our colearners, and we’re proud of a few learnings in 2020 that will change how we educate the next generation of leaders.

Leading change in 2020

As a small team of 10, this year has tested our limits and shown us that we’re able to remain resourceful and agile.

In June this year, NewCampus was proud to collaborate with the Singapore government in tackling the future of higher education and adult learning. It was huge for us to be able to work with policy-makers on the national level.

In a short span of three months, we’ve launched the Agility Growth Index (AGI), a learning assessment tool to give managers valuable insight on how they can build stronger teams through better learning.

More recently, we’ve also learned how we can help underserved businesses in Singapore and the rest of Asia. Our conversations with small- and medium-sized enterprises this year have highlighted a key problem to solve: they need a way to motivate and retain their staff, and more importantly, get their staff into growth mode.

We're looking forward to helping these companies create a 21st-century learning solution that aligns to their culture, evolves their workforce and becomes something their employees will actually use and enjoy (hint: it's not going to be hotel-room corporate training).

Learning to lead for the future

Going into 2021, we’re excited about working more closely with different government partners in education and enterprise development. Starting from Singapore, we’re reaching out to more companies in Asia, focusing on supporting small businesses with scalable and engaging management training.

Our curriculum is also taking a leap into the new year with the recently launched NewCampus Learning Tracks, a series of leadership workshops that homes in on core skills and competencies for effective leadership.

Last but not least, we’re excited to let our beloved colearners know that a NewCampus web app is launching in January next year. This long-awaited app will improve the overall experience of booking classes and managing your account. You can look forward to additional learning and community features in the coming year. 

Onwards, leaders

Even with the benefit of hindsight, being an entrepreneur in 2020 has felt like fighting a war. We’re sure many of you out there can relate. 

Cheers to all of us for making it through a crazy year, and for growing and learning through a crisis. Here's to bigger and better things in 2021!

— Will, Fei & the NC fam