Leading outside the bubble

Life in any organisation –?be it corporates, schools, churches, small businesses –?can be hectic and all-consuming. So much of a leader’s brainspace is taken up by what’s happening now and what’s happening next. The typical busy day doesn’t always allow much time for thinking beyond that, but it’s important to step outside of your bubble, to consider how other organisations operate and if there’s anything you can implement to improve your own processes and create a stronger team.?

Discover new ways to lead?

Every leader has their own style and every organisation has their own processes. Even working in the same sector, or a different team within an organisation, things can be drastically different.?

The way you lead may work well for your team right now, but teams are always changing, with new dynamics, new opportunities and new challenges in front of them. Stepping out of your own team or organisation can give you, as a leader, a chance to see how other leaders operate in the situations they’re navigating and take their learnings back to your own team.?

Best-practice leadership?

When you take the time to observe strategies and approaches taken by other leaders, there’s a chance you’ll learn that what you’re doing is perhaps outdated or could be altered to become more effective. That’s okay! Seeing other strategies in action can help you to know the steps you need to take to adopt best-practice leadership.?

Conversely, this experience can also reveal to you that you are already getting it right. It can be a great confidence booster to know that your approach is already effective and that confidence can be passed onto your team, too.?

Carving out time to think about your leadership strategy

Stepping out of the busyness of your own team, even just for a day, can allow you to gain invaluable knowledge and insight into other leadership strategies and organisational approaches but it can also give you the gift of time.?

Time is always thin on the ground, for any leader. As you move from one project to another and spend your days in meetings, it can be harder to zoom out to see the bigger picture, not just in relation to your own organisation but also in relation to the impact you’re having in your community and beyond.?

Disrupting your usual busy schedule gives you the headspace that you wouldn’t usually have while you’re ‘on the job’. It can be a valuable time to think about your business and the strategies that you might want to implement for the future.?

The reality for any leader, with any amount of experience, in any organisation, is that learning only starts to happen when knowledge is shared. Remember to step out of your bubble to see what’s being put into practice beyond your own organisation. And, remember that you’re not the only one who stands to gain. When you share your own knowledge and experiences, you can be part of a community of leaders who learn from each other to be better for their teams and organisations.?

Want to step out of your bubble to shape your leadership for the future? People Make the Difference can help. To find out more, visit www.pmtd.com.au or call us on 0412 333 415. Try our online leadership training videos - $99 for complete access. Great value if you’re committed to growing your leadership potential.?