DEVELOP THEMSELVES
WHY IT MATTERS
Leaders can never be content with their current level of knowledge, skills, attributes, and capabilities. Because the world is continually changing and progressing, they are determined to continuously change and progress too. They know their level of competence today will meet today’s needs, but that tomorrow’s needs will require something more. Leaders that develop themselves invest their time in their own learning, and prepare themselves to accomplish whatever they are asked to do, whenever they are asked to do it. Leaders who fail to develop themselves, either their professional skills or their leadership abilities, risk one day coming to work only to find they are no longer qualified to do their own job.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
Leaders that develop themselves believe they have a responsibility to become the very best they can be. They make the effort to grow. They are obsessed with learning. They feel responsible for their own future so they don’t wait for someone else to develop them. They see personal development as an integral part of what they owe themselves, their colleagues, and their organization. They want to learn, not just for the sake of learning, but to be better able to get results.
Leaders that develop themselves don’t need their boss to ask them to create a meaningful personal development plan. They don’t look at their development as mere compliance to an annual organizational process. They assess their own skills and abilities, determine where they need to improve, select development activities they want to complete, decide how they will measure their success, and determine how to hold themselves accountable. They proactively schedule time with their leader to report their development goals and progress.
Leaders that develop themselves ask for feedback on their behavior, performance, and competence. They are not afraid to admit they can improve. They see their acknowledgement of their need for learning and growth as a sign of strength, not weakness. They listen to feedback from anyone, be it their leaders, peers, or those that report to them, and act on the feedback they receive.
Leaders that develop themselves take full advantage of organizational opportunities to receive development assignments and training. They are the first in the organization to sign up for seminars and workshops. They attend industry related conferences. They read constantly, and take advantage of other development offerings. Their goal is to become a world-class professional, and they use every possible resource to help.
Leaders that practice self-development proactively seek after other leaders who can act as their coach or mentor. They identify people that they trust and ask them to regularly meet one-on-one with them to answer questions, share personal experiences, test thinking, provide counsel, and help them climb to the next level.
Leaders that practice self-development see every experience as a learning experience. They are not content with an experience until they have analyzed what happened, ask why it happened, question what they could have been done better, and identify key learnings.
BELIEFS
BEST PRACTICES
SELF-REFLECTION
WORDS OF CAUTION
PSYCHOMETRIC 360 QUESTIONS
Leaders can never be content with their current level of knowledge, skills, attributes, and capabilities. Because the world is continually changing and progressing, they are determined to continuously change and progress too. They know their level of competence today will meet today’s needs, but that tomorrow’s needs will require something more. Leaders that develop themselves invest their time in their own learning, and prepare themselves to accomplish whatever they are asked to do, whenever they are asked to do it. Leaders who fail to develop themselves, either their professional skills or their leadership abilities, risk one day coming to work only to find they are no longer qualified to do their own job.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE
Leaders that develop themselves believe they have a responsibility to become the very best they can be. They make the effort to grow. They are obsessed with learning. They feel responsible for their own future so they don’t wait for someone else to develop them. They see personal development as an integral part of what they owe themselves, their colleagues, and their organization. They want to learn, not just for the sake of learning, but to be better able to get results.
Leaders that develop themselves don’t need their boss to ask them to create a meaningful personal development plan. They don’t look at their development as mere compliance to an annual organizational process. They assess their own skills and abilities, determine where they need to improve, select development activities they want to complete, decide how they will measure their success, and determine how to hold themselves accountable. They proactively schedule time with their leader to report their development goals and progress.
Leaders that develop themselves ask for feedback on their behavior, performance, and competence. They are not afraid to admit they can improve. They see their acknowledgement of their need for learning and growth as a sign of strength, not weakness. They listen to feedback from anyone, be it their leaders, peers, or those that report to them, and act on the feedback they receive.
Leaders that develop themselves take full advantage of organizational opportunities to receive development assignments and training. They are the first in the organization to sign up for seminars and workshops. They attend industry related conferences. They read constantly, and take advantage of other development offerings. Their goal is to become a world-class professional, and they use every possible resource to help.
Leaders that practice self-development proactively seek after other leaders who can act as their coach or mentor. They identify people that they trust and ask them to regularly meet one-on-one with them to answer questions, share personal experiences, test thinking, provide counsel, and help them climb to the next level.
Leaders that practice self-development see every experience as a learning experience. They are not content with an experience until they have analyzed what happened, ask why it happened, question what they could have been done better, and identify key learnings.
BELIEFS
- The only person responsible for your growth and development is you. If you don’t take charge of it, no one else will.
- Organizations want to invest in the growth of people who want to learn. Show you want to learn and opportunities will come to you.
- If you want to stand out from others, learn faster and learn more than others do.
- You should never wait for someone else to take the lead in developing you. You need to take the lead.
- If you want to, and if you make the effort, you can learn from every moment and situation you are in.
- The one thing in life that is truly unlimited is a person’s capacity to grow. Never be content with what you know and who you are.
- Self-development is something that will never put itself on your calendar. Part with your work to take time to focus on you.
- The key to real development is humility. Ask for other’s help, admit you have room to grow, and let them help you.
BEST PRACTICES
- Be willing to learn from your mistakes.
- Know where you need to grow the most.
- Be humble enough to be teachable.
- Create meaningful development plans.
- Review progress with your leader.
- Take time for classes and learning programs.
- Seek the counsel and help of others.
- Ask for feedback from others.
- Go to those with more experience for help.
- Study industry publications.
- Accept development moves and assignments.
- Take assessments to find where to improve.
- Take full advantage of learning resources.
- Seek out personal mentors and coaches.
- Be honest with where you need to improve.
- Read constantly and look for new ideas.
- Measure your progress against your goals.
- Report your personal development progress.
- Don’t rely on others to manage your learning.
- Learn from your successes and failures.
- Assess your strengths and weaknesses.
- Ask people to help you improve.
SELF-REFLECTION
- Do I feel the need to always improve and grow, or do I feel like I am already as good as I need to be?
- Do I consider myself an avid learner, or do I consider myself someone who only learns when they have to?
- Do I see my development as something I need to own, or do I wait for others to develop me?
- Do I see my own growth as a burden, or as something I get to do to improve my situation?
- Do I proactively review my development efforts with my supervisor, or do I wait for them to bring it up?
- Do I seek and act on feedback, or do I shy away from asking others what I need to do better?
- Do I have someone acting as my coach and mentor, or do I hesitate to involve others in my personal development?
- Do I pause to consider what I learn from the experiences I have, or do I rush on to the next assignment?
WORDS OF CAUTION
- Don’t spend so much time on your learning that you avoid spending the necessary time on your assigned work.
- Don’t forget that the ultimate purpose of learning isn’t just to learn, it’s to deliver better work-related results.
- Don’t become a learning junkie, and invest in learning things that are interesting but have no application to your job.
PSYCHOMETRIC 360 QUESTIONS
- I set my own goals.
- Having a mentor is important to me.
- I get a little better every day.
- I go out of my way to get honest feedback on how I am doing.
- Conferences are learning opportunities, not time to relax.
- Regardless of what happens around me, I am always the one ultimately responsible for my successes and failures.