It’s always a revelation to listen to teenagers talking about what’s “in” and what’s “out” — they know every detail — or who the best- and worst-dressed celebrities are. For a teenager, it pays to be abreast of constant changes in fashion and trends. Similarly, I believe that in today’s fast-moving world, teenagers should not be the only ones who have a craving to know everything that’s happening around them.
I have found that one of the best things about life is that we never have to stop learning. There are always new skills to learn and techniques for us to adopt.
When you look at the most successful people in the world, I am certain that they understand this fact. For example, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett spends most of his time reading. Larry Fink, the CEO of the giant asset-management firm BlackRock, and the Financial Times “CEO of the Decade” in 2011, has said, “I’m still a student.”
“[I]t is imperative that all of us worldwide take the time to be a student,” Mr Fink adds. “That’s the most important lesson I’ve learned watching other firms. [Leaders] actually forget that their job has to evolve and change all the time, and that what worked in the past will not work in the future. In my opinion, if you’re not a student, you’re probably going backward (and taking others with you).”
In a nutshell, the best entrepreneurs and leaders in the world don’t act like they know everything. They all understand that they have to be learning continuously if they want to continue being successful.
Two weeks ago, I had an opportunity to continue my learning on leadership and talent development at the annual ATD 2015 conference in Orlando, Florida. I’ll share more details in the coming weeks. However, all in all, what I learned the most from this event is that effective leaders similarly should seek out learning opportunities so they can be up to date about all the latest developments in leadership practice.
The leader who learns is one who looks for opportunities and challenges, both internal and external, in organisational change. This kind of leader is capable of constantly developing and adapting to new skills, knowledge and practices.
Now to challenge your learning, let me ask you this question: as a leader in a highly competitive and turbulent economy, what new skills do you need to develop in order to proactively and positively shape organisational achievement? Will an off-the-shelf management strategy be adequate to carry your organisation to its goals?
Our research has found that more than 75% of American enterprises that fail do so because of poor management and development of talent. So, are you willing to risk failing to develop the skills of your organisation’s next generation of leaders?
Given the constant change of our business landscape, we need leaders who can produce significant change. This, after all, is the ultimate test of a leader.
In practice, however, such leaders must be very patient, because they cannot magically change the way people think overnight; it demands continuous work and the development of people’s belief systems, values and, most of all, mindsets.
Most renowned training programmes fail to develop leaders and take them through successive levels of expertise in an organisation because they lack the element of continuous learning engagement and development. Key success factors for organisational development are the identification of strategies to prepare leaders for succession and finding appropriate talent for the future of the business.
Leaders should be expected to develop new skills — facilitative, interpersonal and communication — especially in networking and developing communication channels that connect people across levels, to share personal and professional experiences easily and effectively.
In your organisation you may have some young employees and others with potential who want to start learning how to lead. To help them, you must provide them with a variety of learning opportunities — not just the typical classroom training. Leaders should seek out challenging job experiences for their young talent and work with them as facilitators, ensuring that they develop along the right track.
All in all, for us to live lives to the fullest, we must continually look for ways to improve. Even in our own organisations, we should strive to help our people in areas that are outside of our comfort zone, finding the best approach to help them improve and seek for the right solutions.
Leaders sometimes need to take a step back, so that the world once seen as small becomes bigger and brighter, revealing different facets and opportunities that could return big payoffs. Open your eyes, look ahead, and prepare yourself to accept something new and something better. In short, leaders need to continue learning and must encourage their people to keep learning as well for unbeatable outcomes.
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Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand’s leading Organisational and People Development Consultancy. For more information, e-mail arinya_t@apm.co.th or visit www.apm.co.th. For daily updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/apmgroupthai