How can you make leadership development a continuous process?

Leadership development is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that requires ongoing learning, feedback, and practice. In this article, you will discover how you can make leadership development a part of your daily routine, your team culture, and your organizational strategy. You will also learn some tips and tools to help you design and implement effective leadership development initiatives that align with your goals and values.

1 Assess your needs

The first step to make leadership development a continuous process is to assess your current situation and identify your strengths, gaps, and opportunities. You can use various methods to evaluate your own and your team's leadership skills, such as self-assessments, 360-degree feedback, performance reviews, or coaching sessions. The key is to be honest, open, and constructive, and to use the data to set specific, measurable, and realistic goals for improvement.

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Tara O'Brien, ACC, CEC, CLC, CNLPC, M.Ed

ACC and Certified Coach | Helping professionals transform their mindset and skills to achieve their most desired outcome. 1:1, Group Coaching, and Workshops
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Leadership is a combination of skills and mindsets. It is easier to see gaps in skills. Seeing gaps in mindsets can be more challenging, even for those who are incredibly self-aware. Leveraging the tool of coaching or mentoring can help a leader get a clearer understanding of the gap between where they are and where they want to be as a leader. It all starts with a willingness to engage in the development process.

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2 Plan your actions

The next step is to plan your actions to achieve your leadership development goals. You can use a simple framework like SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to create a clear and actionable plan that outlines what you want to learn, how you will learn it, when you will learn it, and how you will measure your progress and impact. You can also consider different learning styles and preferences, such as visual, auditory, or kinesthetic, and choose the most suitable formats and resources for your needs.

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Tara O'Brien, ACC, CEC, CLC, CNLPC, M.Ed

ACC and Certified Coach | Helping professionals transform their mindset and skills to achieve their most desired outcome. 1:1, Group Coaching, and Workshops
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One thing I've found that helps when deciding what goals to set or actions to take is to step back and visualize where I want to be. In this visualization, engage all the senses and create as much detail as possible. Once you see your desired future, you can start to map the way forward. This map creates SMART goals and a clear plan.

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3 Learn by doing

The most effective way to make leadership development a continuous process is to learn by doing. This means applying your new knowledge and skills in real-world situations, such as projects, tasks, or challenges, and reflecting on your results and feedback. You can also use various techniques to enhance your learning by doing, such as experiential learning, action learning, or peer learning. The idea is to create a cycle of action, reflection, and improvement that helps you grow as a leader.

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4 Seek feedback

Another crucial step to make leadership development a continuous process is to seek feedback from others, such as your manager, your peers, your team, or your customers. Feedback is a powerful tool to help you understand your strengths and weaknesses, your impact and influence, and your areas for improvement. You can use different methods to solicit and receive feedback, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, or observation. The key is to be open-minded, respectful, and curious, and to use the feedback to adjust your actions and plan.

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5 Celebrate your achievements

The last step to make leadership development a continuous process is to celebrate your achievements and recognize your progress. Celebrating your achievements can help you boost your motivation, confidence, and satisfaction, as well as acknowledge your efforts and contributions. You can celebrate your achievements in various ways, such as sharing your success stories, rewarding yourself or your team, or expressing your gratitude. The idea is to appreciate your journey and your results, and to inspire yourself and others to keep learning and growing.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Jackie Clifford

Helping technical specialists and subject matter experts thrive as team leaders through coaching and skills development. Packages available: Online live🟣Online self-paced🟣In-person🟣
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From my perspective we can enhance any development process and make it an ongoing one by building in regular reflection and planning. Line managers can support leaders at all levels by including reflective and coaching style questions into regular and ongoing dialogue via 1-1s or other similar processes.

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How can you make leadership development a continuous process?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Assess your needs

2 Plan your actions

3 Learn by doing

4 Seek feedback

5 Celebrate your achievements

6 Here’s what else to consider

Staff Development

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How can you make leadership development a continuous process?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Assess your needs

2 Plan your actions

3 Learn by doing

4 Seek feedback

5 Celebrate your achievements

6 Here’s what else to consider

Staff Development

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

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