When is the right time to learn leadership skills?
The question “When do you think leadership development needs to form part of your career?” is something I am often asked by aspiring young employees who are looking at their career path, or by middle management employees who are in positions of leadership.
The next question is usually “What course do you think would be best for me?”.
I work with Corporates globally that want to make a difference for their people. They seek me out because they want their Executives, their Leadership Teams, and the Managers to be high-performers in life. Companies who are prepared to invest in their people so that the training provided is more than just for show are the ones who genuinely inspire their people to lead effectively and elevate those around them.
Every academic institution can teach leadership through a curriculum, but I would be fascinated to know how many of their lecturers have lived experiences in business, in leading teams across cultures, across various industries and practise the disciplines of what they are teaching?
What is Leadership?
Leadership includes (and is not limited to) being disciplined to practise what you are teaching. This is where my beliefs of “SHOWING” comes into play. Actions speak louder than any words and everyone around you knows what you stand for.
If we want our leaders to take risks then we need to be able to show them how to do that. We need to allow them to do that in a safe place so as they take risks and fail. We also need to look at how we have contributed to the situation and adjust what we do as much as what the team does to strengthen from what we have learnt.
We need to draw on lived experiences in the discipline and make it relatable so that they can better understand what is required of them to succeed. We need to be able to share what actions we have taken to mitigate risk so that we can provide lived knowledge.
Studying is great and theory helps to support what is lived and practised but, as we all know, theory is often different to real life where we need to consider the multi-complex situational events that will inevitably occur because we work and live with people.
How theory is only part of the solutions
Just like watching the Olympics and understanding the sport, its rules, and applications doesn’t make you an Olympian no matter how hard you try, the same applies to everything else in life. You need routine, disciplines, the right people around you, practice, practice, practice, and a coach who has tried and failed and kept trying and adjusting as they stepped forward with you.
I love learning, but education will only take you so far, and the incredible lecturers and teachers are part of great institutions but if we want more for ourselves, more for our people, team, and children then, when it comes to providing support in leadership, we need to apply the same logic to what we do in sport. It is not about a one-day course, these need to become part of our practices where we have the support and structure to reflect, be guided and mentored until we have it right by those who sit in that place as their “place of genius”.
You can’t be what you can’t see
That saying “You can’t be what you can’t see” extends to being who you are and showing up for it. As we share knowledge, it is important to recognise that we do so from a place of genius and we should own it in the capacity that we sit.
It needs to be without bias, without integrated relationships that rely on personal gain and one that will stretch the person, team, or child.
If we teach business, I would hope that you have run a successful business.
If you teach leadership, I hope you have run high-performing teams that have outperformed industry practices.
If you teach Maths, I would hope that you understand the multiple principles and practices of mathematics
As I go back to the original question of when is the right time to learn leadership skills well, I would say as young as in primary school. Why? Because the most important skill to EVERY LEADER is to practise discipline
Without discipline, we all fall into old habits, bad habits. If we are genuine about shaping a better world for our children, then let’s give them the best opportunity and rethink what we want not just for ourselves, but for the world we will leave behind.
If we are to genuinely talk about leadership, then let’s look at how we are contributing. Is our primary focus on self? The truth is what it is, but we can all make a change.
No matter who you are, you have the ability to bring about change for you, your family, your team, your work and of course the one thing we all have in common, the world.
There is so much more to leadership than what I will share today but let’s face it if we truly want change, we need to afford our children to develop the skills that we need as adults as soon as they are ready and willing. Yes, they need to want to do it, but first, we must give them the opportunity.
Children need to learn the art of leading
Children want to learn to influence, not for social media purposes, but so that they can build confidence and have a voice that will be heard. To be brave to share a different vision, to take risks, to better understand their values and their greater purpose, but we hold them back because we somehow think that leadership is attached to a role.
Leadership is not about being a prefect, a school captain, or a position of management, it is about:
Developing situational awareness,
Becoming more self-aware,
Communicating in multiple directions,
Understanding differences,
Being able to form better relationships,
Being part of a community or multiple communities,
Inspiring others and elevating others,
Learning the art of following,
Being a discerning listener so that you better understand,
Knowing that you will always need to learn more and know more,
Resolving conflict, and
Negotiating to achieve “win/win” situations.
So as you step away, leave your thoughts behind for us to share and learn from, and know that if you are genuine about leadership for you, your team or for your child, we have lived experiences and framework to support you achieve what you want in life and work.
Solutions2you delivers leaders of tomorrow for:
The Corporate world
Executives and Manager
High-Performing Teams
Aspiring or existing Entrepreneurs that want to bounce forward and think limitlessly
Raise the Baseline programs delivers leaders of tomorrow for:-
12-14 year old’s who want to influence and be confident as they transition in Primary School
15-17 years old’s who begin to recognise they are ready to build on what they have learnt and elevate their personal awareness and be change-makers
18 – 21 year old’s plus who are not sure how to step into the world but want to make a difference as they step into the workforce
18 + who know they want to take charge of who they become and step out into the world of Entrepreneurship.
Contact us to learn more about our different training opportunities.