You're in a leadership role. How can you keep growing and learning?

Leadership growth is a journey. Continuously assess your progress, seek feedback, and adapt your approach as you learn and grow. Personal Development 1.Self-Awareness 2.Continuous Learning 3.Emotional Intelligence 4.Adaptability Skill-Building 1.Communication Skills 2.Decision-Making 3.Strategic Thinking 4.Team Building 5.Problem-Solving Relationship Management: 1.Networking 2.Mentorship and Coaching 3.Feedback 4.Conflict Resolution 5.Influence and Persuasion 6.Delegation Leadership Presence: 1.Lead by Example 2.Inspire and Motivate 3.Accountability 4.Cultivate Innovation 5.Build Trust

Situational leadership is what people should be learning to grow in their leadership journey i.e., ability to recognise the need of the hour and adapt yourself quickly to take up the the appropriate role which leads the team to success. Leadership is a journey of constant learning. To embark on this journey, important thing is being humble and to improve your listening ability. Create an open environment, Seek feedback continuously because there is always something to learn from everyone and what we need is an eye to identify and learn to improve/get better at doing things. As long as we are always looking for consistent improvement in everything because there is no limit to learning/improving, you will be on this growth path.

Feedback is a gift but sometimes the people you need feedback from the most are afraid to give it to you as you are in a position of power. Overcome this obstacle by giving explicit permission to key stakeholders to give you feedback regularly. Ensure you show gratitude and grace when you receive feedback and when possible share examples to the wider team of how receiving feedback helped you grow and the company succeed. Role model the behaviour that actively seeking and providing feedback is good for everyone.

As a leader, here's how you can keep growing and learning: Seek feedback regularly to identify areas for improvement. Set aside time for self-reflection and introspection. Stay updated on industry trends and best practices through continuous learning. Attend workshops, seminars, and conferences relevant to your field. Engage in networking to exchange ideas and perspectives with peers. Mentorship or coaching relationships can provide valuable guidance and insights. Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and development. Encourage a culture of learning within your team, fostering an environment where everyone can share knowledge and experiences.

As a professional leader, I set clear vision and goals, build empowered teams, provide guidance, make strategic decisions, communicate effectively, manage resources efficiently, and lead by example. I prioritize inspiring, guiding, and empowering my team to achieve success while driving positive change within the organization.

As a leader, setting goals isn't just about tasks; it's about fostering growth. Goals inspire us to aim higher, uniting our team with purpose. Achievements are celebrations of progress, failures opportunities to learn. Ultimately, it's not just what we achieve, but who we become in the process.

Goal setting is a phenomenal tool to help a team work cohesively towards success. Ensure goals are aligned with the vision, mission and values of the company. The GROW model can be helpful. Share your strategic goals with the team to help them understand what they are working towards. Communicate openly and regularly with updates on progress, road blocks, successes and learnings. Create psychological safety by sharing mistakes, learnings and check in to understand the reality of your team's experience. A question my leadership clients find useful in 1:1's is to ask "what's one thing in my control as your leader that I can do to help you achieve this goal" and "what's one thing in your control that you can do to help us achieve this goal"

Goals and vision are generally important. But recently during a training with a famous leadership guru, he said "I have know idea what a smart goal is - I don't value such things - better is to become still, return to your own presence and wisdom, and be guided by an intuitive way forward".

Set Personal Development Goals: Clearly define your personal and professional development goals. Identify areas where you want to grow, such as leadership skills, industry knowledge, or communication abilities.

To continuously develop in a leadership role, make sure to seek feedback, always be open to learning, connect with others, mentor and be mentored, and take time to reflect on your experiences.

How leaders learn and grow: Be open to feedback from their team members, peers, and mentors. Feedback helps them understand their strengths and areas needing improvement. Always be curious and open to learning new things. They can read books, attend workshops, take courses, and stay updated on industry trends. Reflect on their experiences and learn from both successes and failures. Reflecting helps them understand what worked well and what could have been done better. Surround themselves with people who challenge them and provide different perspectives. This helps them grow personally and professionally. Adapt to new situations and challenges. Being open to change and willing to try fresh approaches is key to growth as a leader.

We are living in a VUCA world and our mental models are not always perfect and it requires leaders to stay informed about industry trends. This is to build multi-dimensional perspectives to navigate complexity, make informed decisions and seize opportunities. Embracing a growth mindset and continuous learning to stay relevant is important in today's context. I personally benefitted from: 1) Power of networks through professional networking or via LinkedIn communities. 2) Keeping abreast with the latest market trends by attending conferences, roundtable discussions. 3) Constructive input from mentors, coaches and team members help one to refine their leadership style.

Remain curious, frankly. Experts know everything. Don’t be an expert, Be a student forever. Curiosity is essential. If you think you’ve figured everyone out and everything out there’s little point to exist. Tackle absolutely idiotically tough problems. For fun. Not every idea has to be dollars. Think of stuff that’s just good ideas. Tinker. Build. Blow stuff up. A leader has to be inventive and flexible and creative when needed. You can’t do that sitting in box. Manage by walking around. Don’t have an office get involved and lead from ground. Curiosity in people and teams fuels their day.

Learning new things is vital for leadership growth. It's more than just gaining knowledge; it's about fostering curiosity and adaptability. Whether it's through books, courses, or communities, each new learning experience broadens horizons and sparks fresh ideas. Lifelong learning keeps leaders inspired and ready to tackle challenges with creativity.

A growth mindset is important for continuing to develop leadership skills. You can learn as much, if not more from those that you are leading as you can from peers and the leadership of your organisation.

Attend Leadership Development Programs: Participate in leadership development programs that focus on enhancing leadership skills, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking. Look for programs offered by reputable institutions or organizations.

As a leader, sharing what I've learned with others is super important. It's not just about telling people stuff; it's about connecting and starting conversations. Whether it's talking, writing, or teaching, sharing helps me learn even more while helping others grow too. Plus, it builds trust and respect, making a big impact in the leadership world.

Working comfortably may seem appealing, but true growth lies beyond our comfort zones. Engaging with an accomplished and supportive professional who saw potential in me beyond my own perception shifted my outlook. I've realized that growth necessitates stepping out of comfort zones, setting ambitious goals, and executing strategic plans. Continuous learning, self-care, and reflection are essential components. Networking with peers and industry experts fosters fresh perspectives, while remaining open-minded and adaptable to change drives innovation. Embracing discomfort ultimately paves the way for professional advancement and personal fulfillment.

Taking a coaching approach to leadership can be transformational. This can be as simple as choosing to use open questions - questions that require the individual to think about their response, rather than answering "yes" or "no". So, instead of saying "can you see that working?" you say "HOW can you see that working?". This shift in your approach can turn chance events with staff - walking from the car park to the office, or standing in a queue for coffee, into micro-coaching opportunities. Once you have this practice in place, you can then start to share insights from your own experience. This is a powerful combination for leaders who need to be leading at every opportunity - not just in meetings for instance.

I've learned that taking on challenges is key to getting better. When we try new things or solve tough problems, we grow stronger and more confident. So, let's embrace challenges as chances to learn and improve, pushing ourselves to new heights in our careers.

The best way to grow is by challenging yourself. Look for opportunities to help people or to cross-train yourself within other teams in the organization. Understand how you can improve upon those challenges and put everything you learn to practice. Be honest and humble to recognize roadblocks that may appear and be ready to receive help and feedback from others.

In my experience intentional and consistent reflection is one of the most powerful and accessible leadership tools available. My leadership clients journal regularly to gain insight into what's going well, needs improvement or holding them back. A simple way to build a reflection practice is to use the STOP, START, CONTINUE model weekly to do a temperature check. Stop - what didnt serve you or held you back this week? Start - what opportunities did you notice, what do you want to do differently? Continue - what are the wins, what are you proud of?

A good way to reflect is to conduct a presentation or sharing about your career journey. The process of preparing for a presentation can help you think about what you have done, how and why you did what you did. It can also inject new energy and impetus into your purpose for the work. Your act of sharing can help you acquire new insights and depth of perspective, and position yourself to be a leader in your profession.

Regular journaling is an important element of leadership development. Find 10 minutes every day (before you open your emails, for example) and write down some responses to simple prompt questions such as: 1. What went well yesterday? 2. What could I have done better? 3. What did I create? Write for yourself - don't worry about spelling and grammar. What is important is the discipline of holding yourself to account, for the things that matter to you as a leader. Over time, you'll begin to spot patterns in your behaviour. If the patterns result in a negative outcome, you have a specific area to focus your development on. For positive outcomes, try and work out why this is the case. This will help you mentor others to become great leaders.

Additional points to consider for leaders to continue growing and stretching themselves include: 1. Subscribing and listening to Podcast 2. Reading leadership books 3. Seek out mentor and mentee opportunities 4. Everyone benefits from coaching

Growing as a leader is utilising and ebracing the rich resource around you in the team members that you lead. Relationships, whether remote or in person cannot be underestimated. Building and growing a positive culture within a team is arguably more important than skills or competencies. Anyone, with the right mindset, in the right culture, can learn and master a new skill, and do it excellently. Having a team you can trust that will do thier upmost every day for you and the company is a rare treasure.

Read the books? Done the workshops? Taken the company training? Still feeling stuck? Get a mentor- someone that can be a sounding board for situations, strategy, and implementation. Be intentional with what you want to learn and find the right guide to get you there. If it means career investment, growth, promotion opportunities, etc. It may be worth laying out an investment. The ROI will be significant to overcome the leadership plateau. Or you can follow someone like me who puts out advice daily for free :) Either way, your goal and interest to improve and develop will lead you to actions.

Hone your observation skills. Observe what your boss does. Observe what others do. Observe what peers do. Identify what you lack and observe how others acquire it. For example, I was on a panel listening to a company pitch, and I realize that the speakers know how to deliver their points in a concise and impactful manner, using layman language and yet not being condescending to the panel. For someone who is used to jargon in my industry, I realize that I can learn a thing or two from these speakers in using layman language to connect to people from other industries.

I will give just metaphoric opinion: "There is no learning or progress, growing and development unless you have positive way of confrontational mind.