How are you developing your executives?

Has your team’s development been a priority this year? Leaders that focus on developing the skills, habits and goals of their teams maintain momentum in the face of routine changes in business such as new technology, politics, and new competitors in the market. It also equips you to better handle unexpected changes, like a global pandemic.

Often employee development falls to the wayside when top management does not encourage or facilitate it. Therefore, it is your responsibility to commit to developmental activities for both yourself and your team. Create a culture of learning within your organization, providing multiple opportunities throughout each quarter for your employees (and yourself) to partake in.

It pays to invest in your people! The overarching goal of learning and team development is to enhance the capacity for each individual to be effective in their given role. When your whole team is focused on individual growth and organizational discipline, their skillsets and development will lead to lasting results for your company.

As a leader, you should commit to continued learning.

Seek out new advice, new speakers, or new techniques to keep you and your team operating at the highest level.

87% of millennials rate “professional or career growth and development opportunities” as important to them. Keep them, and all of your employees, growing with workshops, seminars and conferences that aligns with your leadership style and organizational vision. A successful workshop will allow you to exercise your strengths while broadening your experience.

Learning is a journey, not a one-time event.

One-off learning events aren’t as valuable as you think. While it can lead to surface-level understanding, you need to have a deep comprehension not only of the skill but understand how to implement it on your own within your organization. No skill is truly learned, developed, or improved upon in an hour-long seminar or weekend conference.

Continual learning is key. Don’t let your learning opportunities become too sporadic or ad hoc that they become ineffective. Consider looking into longer-term learning opportunities that can help you to build upon your knowledge and skillsets over time.

It is not knowledge training that you need, it is behavior training.

If you don’t change your behavior, learning is pointless.

The focus of your training should be on the skillset you’re looking to develop. While seminars, webinars, books, and conferences can give you baseline knowledge toward the skillset, you need to put a reinforcement plan in place to continue to work towards mastering that skill when putting it into practice in your organization. Remember, success is 10% learning knowledge, 90% activity knowledge. Experiment and identify what works, then do more of it!

As a leader, improving your executive and organizational discipline and productivity is one of the best things you can do to grow your business. When you invest in your team, your organization grows as well! Plus, they’ll feel valued within the organization, which leads to increased productivity and retention. Contact me today to see how executive development will help grow your organization.