It is purely a matter of priority… and focus… and energy… and commitment. Which is why it is such a back-burner activity for most hyper busy leaders. After all, in a business world chock full of responsibilities, projects and activities, it can almost feel selfish for a leader to invest time in their own development. It seems like a perfectly logical and selfless choice to invest your limited time elsewhere. But this is one example where “selfless” is not a good idea.
By definition, a leader gets results through their people. Effectiveness is measured by their ability to make things happen through the aligned efforts of others. But every leader starts out as an individual contributor, where success is measured by how well they generate output based on their own efforts. Strategies and tactics are identified and put in place to meet goals that are communicated by their boss. Typical among these are working harder and longer.
Then an interesting thing happens. They get promoted into a leadership position. Relying on their successful past strategies, they work harder and longer. But for some strange reason, the people working for them do not respond. For the first time in their career, they start to miss the mark. And so they work even harder and longer. But to no avail.
The funny thing is, the answer does lie in working harder… on their leadership skills. Typical areas where leaders, especially new leaders need to focus on their own development include strategic communication, active listening, performance management, employee engagement and alignment. Even more tricky, is how to combine the aforementioned skill areas in the right combination to foster inspirational leadership.
Which brings us back to the beginning point. To be an effective leader takes a whole lot more than an announcement of a promotion. It requires focused energy and commitment to close the gaps in key leadership skill areas. To identify your gap areas, start by asking others… but that’s another story.