#1 - Future-Proof your career with Through-Life Leadership Learning!
2 Mar 24
Through-life leadership development is the approach effective leaders use to ensure they evolve and keep at the top of their game.
Over a typical career, most people focus purely on developing technical skills. However, over time the proportion of technical skills required to be effective in your role decreases. Whereas, the requirement to develop more generic leadership skills increases as your responsibilities and prominence increases. Senior roles will require a move away from directed, task-centric leadership towards the use of influence and collaboration to get things done.
To mitigate this you should continually hone your existing skills, but also work to acquire new leadership skills. Most companies won't make this investment, so you need to take charge of your own destiny.
This allows you to refine your leadership style the more senior you get and to keep pace with the style of leadership changes required as you operate within different contexts. It also ensures you maximise your earning potential and remain relevant.
Invest in through-life leadership development, it is the best personal investment you can make!
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#1 - Future-Proof your career with Through-Life Leadership Learning!
What?
This week I thought I would outline exactly why, as a leader, you should be looking to continually develop your leadership skills throughout your career.
This is known as through-life leadership development and it is often overlooked.
Why?
Most people concentrate purely on continual development of technical skills associated with their particular niche area. Whilst this is important in the early stages of your career, it is not a sustainable model.
As your career progresses, and you are promoted into more senior leadership positions, the focus shifts away from technical skills.
For example, a software engineer will typically start their career coding/programming. But as they move into leadership roles, they will eventually move away from the coalface activity, and start to deal with broader, more wider issues.
The balance shifts more towards the acquisition of generic leadership skills which you are then able to deploy within a range of contexts. Specifically the focus shifts towards ensuring that you are able to become accomplished with dealing with people.
It is inevitable if you want to progress your career and to maximise your earning potential.
How?
So what is the best way for you to do this? In the military, they have a structured leadership development system. This sets personnel up for success.
It ensures their personnel have the skills they need exactly when they need them - 'just enough, just in time.'
Most companies don't do this. They are afraid of investing in people over the longer term in case they decide to leave for a better offer elsewhere.
So, this means you need to take charge of your own destiny. The onus is firmly placed on you to ensure you are future-proofing your career.
Which part of the leadership journey are you on?
Are you a new or emerging leader?
Or aspiring to lead your first Department?
Perhaps you are about to take up an Executive role?
Wherever you are in your journey, you can take charge of your career and invest in your own personal leadership development through any of the methods below:
- Read - often,
- Push yourself out of your comfort zone at work and grow your leadership expertise by doing it,
- Invest in online leadership courses,
- Invest in leadership coaching bespoke to you and your situation.
In Summary
I hope that you enjoyed reading this newsletter and that it has given you food for thought.
Take charge of your own personal development, develop the leadership skills you have and acquire the leadership skills you don't.
Think of leadership as a through-life, ongoing activity. It will be the best investment in your future that you will ever make!
Have a great week!
Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help you:
- Resources - Reading is an essential component to developing your own authentic leadership style. Check out my resources page for really inspiring books which I have found invaluable within my own leadership journey,
- Coach Station - Singular issue 60 minute coaching sessions,
- Coach Journey - Bespoke coaching packages of 6 or 12 sessions for transformative change,
- Schedule Optimiser - Online course allowing you to take back control of your diary.
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