No time to develop leadership skills?? – OK, raise your hand if you have said, or thought, this statement before. Come on, be honest! Based on my experience I’m betting at least 7 out of 10 hands are raised. It is more challenging than ever for leaders to develop and reinforce sound fundamentals and dedicate time to improving their skills. Faced with hyper-communication, rapid innovation, and heightened expectations even the best of intentions can get derailed. The strong magnetic forces of tactical activities have a way of taking over and months or quarters later realization sets in that reinforcing important fundamentals took a back seat.
In the dynamic environments we operate in it is important to make sure our leadership skills continue to evolve. Situational awareness and knowledge are essential to continue to grow as leaders. But how do we make time to reinforce and develop leadership skills and keep up with day-to-day activities? A few suggestions:
- Baby Steps Add Up – Setting time aside for personal development is an effective way to nurture fundamentals gradually. Carving out 15 minutes 3 times a week to read, listen to a podcast, or video session can make a meaningful impact over time. That’s 3 hours a month or almost 40 hours a year soaking up knowledge, new ideas, and broadening perspective. It can have a meaningful impact on your leadership development.
- Ask for Feedback – Most would say this is an obvious and important thing to do. However, it is my experience that few leaders actually do it. Not only will asking for feedback demonstrate authenticity, it will provide valuable information and improve your self-awareness. You have a wealth of opportunity within your sphere of influence – take advantage of it.
- Seminar/Virtual Conference -Conferences are an excellent way to get out of the office and broaden your perspective. It is important for leaders to break normal routine from time-to-time and broaden perspective and get new ideas. There is an abundance of virtual conferences being offered these days. Jump in a try one out.
- Start a Mentorship Program – Mentorship programs are a great way to continuously invest in leadership development throughout the organization. The program does not have to be complicated, with some basic content it can provide both mentor and mentees exposure to valuable development content. Begin with a book that is relevant to your current situation and go through it together. I have participated in several over the years and found that revisiting even basic leadership fundamentals was extremely valuable.
- Executive Coaching – Executive coaching can serve as a disciplined framework to make sure your development gets the attention it needs. An executive coach can help reason through challenges, improve critical thinking, and identify blind spots. They can be an accountability partner to help keep personal development on track.
The old saying, if you are not learning you are not growing is very true. Effective leaders understand how important it is to continue to hone their skills. In today’s rapidly evolving and dynamic environments the leadership learning process never ends. So how are you going to make sure you continue to reinforce fundamentals and grow as a leaders?
As an Executive Leadership Coach Joe partners with leaders to help them reinforce fundamentals and expand their leadership capacity. Learn more about coaching and advisory services at: www.peakformanceconsulting.com