“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
– John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States.
As summer nears its end, and thoughts turn to Back to School preparation, take a moment to think about and plan for your own learning. Perhaps you are already enrolled in a program at a formal institution of learning, or an inhouse company program. Congrats – we all wish you well! But many will be facing September waiting for their boss or HR to enrol them in a training program which may or may not happen, depending on budget, time and the foresight and commitment of those involved.
Instead of waiting, take charge of your learning and create your own leadership development program. With the plethora of resources readily and inexpensively available, your problem is likely to be what to choose! Here are 10 ideas to get you started:
- Choose a skill or area of expertise that you would like to improve. Review your most recent Performance Appraisal for areas of improvement. Or just think of something unrelated to your immediate job that interests you e.g. if you work for an international company, how about learning another language?
- Set a specific objective e.g. instead of deciding to “improve communication”, how about learning how to use Gmail? Or how to create multimedia Powerpoint presentations? Or learning 100 phrases in Spanish?
- Establish your timeframe. Keep it short, e.g. a month to 3 months, so that it does not become onerous and remains fun and exciting.
- Decide how you like to learn – Books? Audiobooks? Videos? Podcasts? Live talks? MOOCs? TedTalks? You may decide on one, or a mix of these.
- Research resources. Google is your friend in helping you find resources. But don’t forget the bookstore – spend a relaxing afternoon browsing the shelves for books on your topic. Develop a shortlist of resources, but don’t think you need to have everything decided on from the start – be flexible as other resources will emerge as you start your program.
- Allocate “class time” in your calendar. Set an hour a day, or Saturday mornings, or whatever time works for you and stick to it!
- Get a dedicated journal or open a digital folder to take notes and record your insights as you go through each session.
- At the end of each session, commit to one action that you will take the very next day to apply the learning from that session. Record it in your journal or folder and track your progress each day.
- Enroll an accountability partner – a friend, co-worker (or even a coach) who will hold you accountable to your program and give you feedback.
- At the end of your program, CELEBRATE! Hold your own graduation – take your accountability partner to lunch, or treat yourself to something special and memorable. And even award yourself your own certificate, frame and all!
Own your leadership and your learning. It’s your responsibility.
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
– Peter Drucker, American management consultant, educator, author
