Feeling like you need to jump start your learning at work, but concerned that you don’t have the time to dedicate to a class or year-long mastermind group? Have your good intentions for new behaviors at work and at home already been lost in the swirling vortex of your day-to-day responsibilities?
I get it.
As an executive coach, the most common obstacle I hear when talking to leaders about investing in their own or their team’s development is time. “We just need to come up for air,” and “next quarter we’ll be able to focus more deeply,” are phrases that fill my inbox.
There’s another way.
What if I told you that material, powerful professional development could be fast and (dare I say it?) fun?
I spend my days deeply immersed in professional development. I read books and write articles. I deliver workshops and psychometric assessments. I work with clients and teams over weeks and months to craft and deliver development and change plans. Those are valid and effective ways to expand professional horizons, deepen learning and strengthen performance. I believe in the power of those efforts. But development doesn’t only happen that way.
When I looked back at all the learning I invested in over the last 12 months, I discovered some of my most powerful development experiences weren’t formal professional development exercises at all.
Here are the top five experiences that accelerated my learning this year:
5: I saw myself in a new way.
I took the Hogan Insight Assessment and in less than 2 hours had a deep, nuanced picture of what motivates me, what colleagues perceive as my strengths, and best of all, how I get in my own way and derail under stress. New, fresh perspective gained in a single afternoon is hard to beat.
4. I changed my scenery.
I traveled to Havana and London. I walked different streets, managed different logistics, and surrounded myself with people who spoke, ate, and thought in unfamiliar ways. I got lost (literally and figuratively) in these worlds, exploring and remembering what it was like to be immersed in something new and learning constantly.
3. I listened to the stories of people who are different from me.
Like many of my clients, I have very little free time to read. So, I make use of the time I have in excess: I listen to books in my car. I don’t listen to leadership books. I listen to stories like Tara Westover’s best-seller Educated and Michelle Obama’s Becoming. Both reminded me of the power of learning about and talking with those we perceive to be ‘other.’
2. I tested a long-held belief about myself and got really uncomfortable.
A friend invited me to join a 28 day reflection challenge called Me and White Supremacy. For 15 days, I demurred based on my beliefs that 1) I am not a racist and thus wouldn’t benefit from the provocatively named challenge and 2) who has 28 days to write on one topic? My friend called me out on my sideline behavior. In or out, she challenged. I jumped in and am a different person for it.
1. I kept practicing my new (and not so new) behaviors.
I often make bold commitments in my calendar around exercise, reflection and meditation. They don’t stick, in the perfect sense. But, I keep moving my body, even after weeks of sluggish inactivity. I journal, even though it is sporadic. I start and continue and restart my meditation practice. I don’t let the times I fail to meet those shiny new commitments derail the big picture progress. I keep at it, imperfectly.
Want to be a different, better leader 12 months from now? Take your vacation, at home or abroad. Follow your natural curiosity and learn about yourself and others in a new way. Keep doing the stuff that makes you productively uncomfortable. These small efforts take less time than you think and together make a powerful impact on your leadership.