When, if ever, is it a good time to choose self development?

Hi all.

We launched our new Leadership Mentoring Programme last week and it has been great to get lot’s of positive feedback. We are looking for six to eight people for our first run starting in January 2025.?

It has been really interesting talking to people about their decision making process - particularly about the choice to focus on one’s own development.

The headline is - it is not an easy choice.?

I remember my time back at the BBC, an organisation that really took seriously the need to invest in the development of its staff. For me, at the time as an emerging leader, it was fantastic how others took it upon themselves to sign me up for programmes that I know I wouldn’t have chosen for myself!

It wasn’t that I was trying to dodge self development. But I remember this moment, part way through an iconic leadership programme that I had been signed up to, when I just couldn’t quite believe that I was allowed to spend time thinking about myself and my own approach. It felt on the edge of self indulgent! But as I moved through the programme I started to realise that it was essential - and that there would just be no way for me to have the time, space, willing collaborative peers and structure for that kind of thinking in the day to day of my job.

It was partly this real sense of gratitude I had for those programmes that inspired me to want to develop a new programme with our team at Unthinkable. We have created an experience that is built around the lives of busy people - but that is designed to create just enough cognitive space for personal reflection, new ideas, collaborative and critical thinking - all of which results in the development of a plan for you, made by you, with friendly and expert support from us.

I have been listening closely to a real debate about whether digital is a thing leaders should be focusing on these days. The presence of the debate is revealing in itself - digital technology is so pervasive and embedded into our lives it has to some extent either disappeared or been delegated away into our new organisational structures. But having lived my digital working life with leadership teams for over 15 years it seems to me that developing our digital mindsets is more important than ever. Revealing that which is invisible is an essential?part of leadership.

Being able to supply your organisations with digital vision, feeling confident working with the digital experts within and outside of your organisation, building your innovation processes and culture, being able to spot the distinctive digital opportunities and challenges your company faces and knowing what to do about them is at the heart leadership today in my view. Our digital mindset programme will give you that rare opportunity to think through, critique and plan your approach.

Let me know if you would like a chat about it - either here or via the form on our website.

Justin | Director - Unthinkable