“I learn something new every day. But, even more importantly, I learn the same things over and over again.”
I was immediately struck when I heard these words. They were spoken by a world-renowned physician and neuroscientist, Dr. Steven Galetta, in his acceptance speech for a prestigious award recognizing his excellence in his profession.
Dr. Galetta said that he was always excited to acquire some critical piece of knowledge every day that he could apply to his research and in the treatment of his ailing patients.
I believe this is the central learning challenge for every leader. If you want to keep your leadership efforts vital and fresh, if you want to reach the heights of career success/fulfillment and stay there, then it is important to always be learning. But what exactly do you need to learn?
Let’s use the example of Dr Galetta to set two goals for yourself:
1. BECOME AN AGILE LEARNER.
The most important skill a leader or any professional needs to master in order to succeed is that of becoming an agile learner. In that vein, create a Personal Learning Plan. Write down what you need to learn from the perspective of your direct reports and key stakeholders.
Personal growth and by extension, leadership growth, does not happen automatically because people are living or necessarily because they have experiences. Leadership development must be planned, deliberate and consistent. In other words, if we want to realize our true leadership potential we have to work at it daily.
There are four primary ways to develop leadership capability.
The first is to study leadership and apply the lessons learned. In addition to Smart leadership classes there are plenty of great podcasts and videocasts (E.g. TED Talks), webinars, blogs, meet-up groups to supplement your company-sponsored formal leadership education.
The second way is to learn from your experiences at work. For example ask to be assigned to a challenging project that will provide you an opportunity to exercise your leadership. Remember that leadership is about influencing positive change. Also, stay alert. Observe situations from different perspectives. Watch how different people handle leadership challenges. Have a teachable spirit and ask for feedback and be open to criticisms about your performance. And above all don’t be afraid to fail. You’ll learn more from failing once or twice than from succeeding all the time.
The third way dovetails with the second which is to engage a professional leadership coach. The best leaders are a lot like professional golfers. The one thing that every elite golfer has, is a coach.The coach is there to watch the pro’s swing.
Why? Because the golfer can't change what they can't see. Because the coach can see what the golfer can’t, change is possible. This kind of feedback builds champions and great leaders.
The final way to develop your leadership ability is to find a true mentor. The mentor should have life and business experiences that you want to gain, a genuine willingness to help you along, and a positive relationship with you.
Click here to discover the origins of the word mentor.
Industry Expertise: What industry expertise should you acquire that will help you to provide necessary insights to your direct reports, peers, managers and stakeholders. Read books about your profession and industry. Follow specific LinkedIn discussion groups in your target industry and read the discussion threads to learn about key industry concerns. Pick a mentor who is successful in your field and learn from them to to absorb some of their knowledge and expertise.
Stakeholder Knowledge: Do your research into the stakeholder's organization, services, products, and customers. Set up Google alerts for every key stakeholder to facilitate this. Use tools like Nimble to track the conversations your stakeholders are having online. This can point you in the direction of new knowledge that you need to acquire.
Become A Source Of Value: The challenge you must set for yourself is the following: How do I become a source of value for my direct reports, manager, peers and other stakeholders? How do I acquire the knowledge, understanding and insights that will enable me to become the trusted adviser to my direct reports, manager and peers?
Use
your Personal Learning Plan to set learning goals for yourself and to
commit to the specific actions you will take to acquire that knowledge.
Most importantly, share your Personal Learning Plan with a manager or a
peer within your organization. You want their help to hold you
accountable for achieving your goals. But, whatever it is, do at least
one thing every single day. Even if it just reading for 30 minutes
before you turn off the lights for the day.
2. LEARN THE SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER AGAIN
This is just as important as Lesson #1.
Never
assume that you have learned everything there is to know about the
fundamentals of your profession or as a leader. You can always ask the
question better. You can always listen better. You can always prepare
more thoroughly for the 1:1 conversations with your directs.
Your
success is more dependent on your successful execution of leadership
fundamentals than in mastering specialized leadership skills. Why?
Because if your fundamental leadership skills and habits are lacking,
then you’ll never get the opportunity to demonstrate your advanced
knowledge.
The
first step you can take to start learning the fundamentals over and
over again is to turn-off your autopilot and start paying attention.
You’re not perfect. There’s always room for improvement. Take the time
to ask the right questions of direct reports and then really listen to
their answers.
Remember:
learn something new and big and exciting everyday. Look at the
fundamentals of your leadership with a fresh eye every single day and be
conscious of what you can improve in order to better serve and deliver
more value to your direct reports, manager, peers and other
stakeholders. The reward will be that you’re a better leader. And, a
better person.
Click here to read a related post: Leaders Like Great Athletes Never Stop Practicing the Fundamentals
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