How can you create a training-friendly leadership style?

In my role as CEO of Business Announcer, I've always believed in the power of continuous learning. I pride myself on nurturing a leadership style that's training-friendly. It starts with humility: I recognize I'm still on my learning journey, just like everyone else. I make it a point to maintain open channels of communication, always inviting feedback and questions from my team. We've invested in top-tier training resources and celebrate each learning milestone achieved. I don't just advocate for training; I actively partake, ensuring I'm always evolving. Most importantly, at Business Announcer, we see mistakes as growth opportunities. It's this ethos that ensures we're always moving forward, together.

If your company has outlined strategic goals or core values, aim to align any training visions to those goals. For example, if your company values training while also emphasizing the mental health and work/life balance of your employees, consider paid training or allowing training on the clock. By prioritizing both employee and company health, you may get much more buy-in to your training vision than if training must be done outside of designated work hours.

First, leaders need to discover and make their personal brand visible to the team. Don't let the team say, "we're still studying his style." As a global multicultural leader, my mission is to build an effective personal branding that focuses on improving our spheres of influence together as a team, building a stronger work-life culture with "people first" mindset while creating the most value for the business and for ourselves anywhere we go. To support this mission, I post daily about "Be A Leader" followed by a leadership call to action with focus on people first mindset, simplicity in complexity mindset and highlight on my unique personal branding journey through the lens of my personal brand symbol, Rubik's Cube.

Some may notice that SMART turns up in a lot of discusions, whether it be leadership, lean six sigma, project management, etc. It is a tool that can be used over and over to improve your goal setting and expectations throughout your daily life. If your goal isn't SMART, you may find acheiving it, or even knowing if you achieved it, much harder.

A leader is some sort of sports trainer: you have to provide means and support to make the team thrive, spotlighting each ones talent. - This is what today they call "servant leadership" - I don't like the term though, as it conveys passiveness, when it's anything like that.

You can lead by example by creating time in your schedule to prioritize training and development opportunities. Vocalize what you learned with your team, use these topics to start discussions and get their feedback. If you show your team that investing in yourself is a priority they will know where your values lie. If you encourage your team to do the same they will know how much you value their development and their career. A leader shouldn't ask you to do anything they wouldn't be willing and able to do themselves, this applies to training as well. Watch where your leaders spend their own time and you'll know who values the growth and development of the individuals in your organization.

Absolutely, training is an ongoing journey, not a one-time event. Every organization should allocate a yearly budget for a comprehensive training calendar that covers various teams and topics aligned with their strategic goals. This continuous investment in learning ensures that employees stay updated, acquire new skills, and contribute effectively to the company's growth. It's a proactive approach that nurtures a culture of development, innovation, and adaptability, ultimately benefiting both the employees and the organization.

An important thing to note about leadership in a training role, or with leadership in general, is to understand who you are trying to lead. This could mean understanding indivuals in smaller leadership positions, or understanding groups in larger leadership roles. Using this understanding allows you to cultivate a leadership style more appropriate to the situation and more effective overall. For example, what if the group you are leading is self motivated, highly skilled, and commited to to the working goal at hand? Then a Laissez-faire leadship style will allow those your are leading the individuality and autonomy to work at their full potential. Where as coaching my make them feel as if their abilities were under-assessed.

Developing leaderships skills that foster a strong learning culture goes beyond training programs. It’s built on the foundation of storytelling, where employees create and share narratives that shape their individual and collective learning experience. Narrative learning empowers employees by enabling them to reflect on their experiences, extract valuable insights, and apply those learnings to grow personally and professionally. Leaders can harness the potential of narrative learning to foster a culture of continuous learning. People that grow will build companies that grow.

A training-friendly leadership style is one that fosters a culture of continuous learning and development. To cultivate such an environment: 1. Clearly articulate the value of training and development to your team. 2. Encourage Continuous Learning: a learning culture where learning is seen as a lifelong pursuit. 3. Support Employee Growth by actively identifying and discussing individual development needs with your team. 4. Provide Constructive Feedback and Coaching 5. Recognize and Reward Learning: 6. Celebrate team and individual successes in training and development. 7. Be flexible and accommodating of employees, encouraging them to take risks 8. Track employee progress in training & evaluate the effectiveness of training programs