In our series on leadership attributes, we now look at continuous learning. In the organization I worked in my entire career we used to say that “school was never out”, to indicate a life-long learning mentality. That’s an approach every leader should have, as good leaders never stop learning.
Although I would later see leadership as my calling, early on being a leader was the last type of job I would have pursued. I was an introvert who was shy and lacking confidence. I got my first opportunity to lead, while attending college, supervising one person, when I was asked to be a floor supervisor for a contract cleaning company in a large corporate headquarters building. Basically, I was responsible for assuring that the floor, a 24-hour data processing floor, was cleaned and inspected each evening. From there, I became a building supervisor, with more responsibility (floors and people), and then later an area manager with responsibility for multiple buildings (accounts) and up to 60 people. I pretty much learned on the run, being responsible for hiring, firing, budget, quality control and customer relationships. I didn’t take any leadership classes, read any books, or work with any mentors.
That all changed when I started with a Fortune 50 organization. I had very little responsibilities the first year, with the exception of learning. Actually, after having handled all aspects of the area manager position, it was a little frustrating. But all of that learning was the foundation for a nearly 38-year career. I learned a great deal from Mel, who would become my career mentor, beginning with emergency procedures and essential policies, and from Gayler, who drilled personnel policies into us.
Every few years our jobs would change, resulting in a steep learning curve. After 19 years in the Administrative Services (facilities and services) department, I was ready for a new challenge. I decided to move to the IT department. It was like I had landed on another planet as everything was new for me. In addition, whereas I was a second-level leader in my former department, with 4-5 direct reports, the new department was organized differently. I was now a first-line leader with about 25 direct reports. It was a huge change for me, but one I’m glad that I made.
All of this to say that as a leader, things will always be changing for you. You’ll constantly be working with new people on your team, learning new tools and technology, and adjusting to the expectations of new bosses. Good leaders never stop learning. Here are 4 ways that you can keep learning as a leader:
Read good books. Leaders are readers. It wasn’t until I joined the Learning function in the IT department, a little half way into my career that I started to read leadership and professional growth books. I started reading books by John Maxwell, Jim Collins, Malcolm Gladwell and others. Reading Lead Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard and Ken Hodges introduced me to servant leadership, which I believe is the best leadership model there is. Even in retirement, I continue to read leadership and professional growth books, and learn something new in each of them, and participate in multiple book clubs.
Continuous education. Leaders are life-long learners. Going back to when I joined the Learning function, it was there that I began to attend learning events put on by a professional learning organization. I later joined the leadership team for the local chapter, which included serving as president for one year. Now, even though I’ve retired from my primary vocation, I continue to attend leadership seminars and learn from them.
Learn from others. Don’t underestimate the value of learning from others. You may not have the original idea, but you can adapt it and make it your own. For example, I learned from a leader who consistently scored high on an employee engagement index. I observed her to see what she did with her team, and incorporated some of them, including a monthly team birthday lunch. Another example was learning how to lead remotely. In the last year and a half of my career, in addition to the majority of my team being in the same location as I was, I had team members in two remote locations. I reached out to two leaders who were known to be effective leaders of remote teams.
Mentor others. I always enjoyed mentoring others, and never turned anyone down who wanted to mentor with me. Usually, these were people who wanted to grow in their leadership skills. We would usually read a leadership book, often John Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. What I quickly found about these mentoring relationships is that I would often learn as much from the mentee as they did from me. Mentoring others is an excellent way for a leader to continue to grow.
These are just 4 ways that a leader can continue to grow. What others ways would you add from your experience?
