Are you devoting adequate time as a leader to your learning?
Most popular business leaders are giving their time for purposeful education and practice.
You might wonder how they can afford to do that. How can they reserve at least five hours per week for learning despite their busy schedule?
The five-hour rule, as they call it, takes the form of reading, reflecting, and experimenting. All of these contribute to their success as great learners who became great leaders.
To some business leaders, learning should not be a struggle; Instead, learning should integrate into your daily routine, like eating or watching the news.
When you add learning into your daily practice, you can achieve “expert” status in a field in 3-5 years. Thus, you might as well set aside time today to build on the gains that can drive you to success for years to come.
Why great leaders are great learners?
Great leaders who have anchored in learning provide a better direction.
Being a great leader starts with oneself.
In our previous article, ‘How to Develop Authentic Leadership in an Organization,’ we identified practicing self-awareness as the initial step to developing authentic leadership. Only after you discover your strengths will you have a clearer sense of what you should work on as a leader.
Accepting that you do not have all the answers makes you take steps to learn to resolve your concerns. We are lucky that we live in the digital age, and we can search through answers with a few clicks.
Or you can also read books, attend conferences and online courses, or participate in training programs. Some who have trouble focusing even listen to educational podcasts while working out.
It’s your call. These days, learning takes various forms, many of which are through self-directed learning.
Once you become more confident in your knowledge, you can lead your team members better.
Exceptional leaders who have a knack for knowledge are better performers.
It is in our nature, as humans, to have a thirst for more.
But for outstanding leaders, that thirst or hunger attribute to knowledge. It becomes your entrance to the world of new opportunities and exciting challenges.
When you have proper knowledge, you also become more open to whatever comes your way, even though it means taking on a risky project that will allow you to be more well-rounded and increase your team’s performance.
Acknowledging that life’s lessons are best gained through actual experiences, the best leaders are always open to possibilities.
Your knowledge will propel you to set higher and more ambitious standards to enhance your and your team’s performance.
Influential leaders keep up with the changing times.
Staying relevant is a crucial challenge among companies today.
You must keep growing and experimenting and continue with the business environment changes.
Great leaders are great learners that inspire innovation. It means reaching the peak should not let you rest. Instead, use this as leverage to drive innovation in your company, systems, products, and services.
We have all seen how the industry leaders decades ago in smartphones, technology entertainment, healthcare, and insurance fell from their pedestals. It shows us that using strategies once thought of as ‘genius’ must be continuously redesigned.
Consistency in seeking new information and possessing learning agility is required from leaders to stay ahead of their game. A common pitfall of leaders is their fear of failure and the unknown. Recognizing that failure is part of learning is vital to experiencing the other side of fear.
As French author and Nobel Prize winner in Literature André Gide described, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
Remarkable leaders learn from and through others’ experiences.
Though experiences are indeed life’s perfect teachers, why go through it if you can learn from others?
Incredible leaders know how to skip the hassle of picking up lessons from others’ mistakes. Instead, listen to others’ experiences and use this to think strategically and gain a more competitive advantage.
You don’t have to risk time, money, and your team members’ skills if you understand how others climbed their way up. It will be advantageous to your company if you avoid the trial-and-error phase and save your resources for better compensation and rewards system for your team.
Wouldn’t it be a more gratifying and motivating strategy?
Excellent leaders drive team learning.
Outstanding leaders understand the value of building knowledge within their team to adapt effectively to business shifts.
By realizing the advantages of continuous learning, team leaders invest more in each member’s development as they invest in themselves. In addition, it helps develop the culture of having a growth mindset that encourages the team members to achieve their full potential.
Team learning occurs when members are engaged in regular reflection and action. It is where they ask more questions, seeks feedback, try new things, analyze results, and test the unexpected outcomes or errors. When leaders boost team learning, their teams become more adaptable and positively enhance their knowledge.
Wouldn’t it be a more gratifying and motivating strategy?
As a leader, what aspects do you need to learn? What must you focus on to drive your team?
To be a ‘future-proof business,’ leaders must exhibit learning agility. The only way to stay relevant and be adaptive is when great leaders are great learners. Global business leaders Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg prove this as they strive for continuous improvement.
Discover what learning practices suit you to increase your knowledge, awareness, and productivity. In turn, this will drive your team’s creativity and performance to reach success.
Contact Waking Giants.
If you want the advantage of purposeful strategy within your business, get in touch today.