“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” Rosalynn Carter
Our life is one long learning process. Learning does not come to an abrupt halt after the completion of school or college, but it continues throughout our lives.
Leadership should include providing everybody with the scope to learn and develop. You may say, ‘but I do, they just don’t seem to take it up’. It’s worth finding out if this is because they haven’t made the connection between the learning and development on offer and the future direction of their role. Equally another common reason is they’re worried to take on something new in case they make mistakes in the process and it will not be appreciated by their leaders.
Are you in the habit of :-
– highlighting improvements made
– offering words of encouragement
– helping them learn from their mistakes
– offering guidance at every stage so they don’t lose their focus / direction
Or do you tend only to have conversations when things have gone wrong?
A great leader is conscious of all the quintessential ingredients which make up great leadership and as part of this is often already developing the future leaders of the department / organisation. Managing that balance between striving for the growth of the organization and exerting equal preference for the growth of the staff.
Learning and development is not just attending a course. Courses are great when new skills need to be acquired. More often though your staff don’t need a new skill, they need to learn the finer points and experiences of how to make more of what they already have. A different conversation and one you can have with them on a regular basis. If you don’t feel you can do that then talk to a business, career or leadership coach.