This article was first published in the Autumn 2021 edition of VICDOC. Read the original story here.

Professionals seek leadership development as their careers progress and they take on senior roles with more complex responsibilities.

Investing in leadership development can increase effectiveness and satisfaction at work – by creating awareness of the potential in leadership roles to develop and nurture both self and others, processes and structures to support the desired way of working and outcomes. Therefore, it is both an investment in oneself – and one's skills and capabilities – and in the other people around you, your teams and organisation as a whole, as the benefits flow to others working with you and the organisational climate more broadly.

There are a plethora of opportunities and methods for embarking on professional and leadership development, from business school courses to micro certificates to coaching and mentoring. So, where and how should you start?

After more than a decade working in leadership development, I believe that while there are many useful entry points for people wanting to develop their leadership capabilities, the key is to start in a way that immediately embeds your learning and development goals in your current day-to-day work. So, whether you decide to read a leadership book, join a webinar, enrol in a leadership program or one-on-one coaching, what’s important is that you can meaningfully translate any learning into your daily work.

For example, if you are keen to improve your skills in giving feedback, can you find or design a suitable conversation with a colleague or staff member where you can practise some new skills, and where you feel safe and supported to ensure that you can learn from your efforts and make sure that both you and the other party benefit? And can you design a way to practise this regularly, so it becomes a sustainable habit? My point is that the ‘input’ from a book, talk, program or coaching conversation is only part of the work – the rest is translating that experience into learning, and then into reliable and effective regular practise in your workday.

The reason it’s so important to ground your learning in your current role and day-to-day work is:

1. It ensures that you work on what’s relevant to you in your role right now.
    
2.  It ensures one can apply and practise new skills and behaviours in the work setting immediately, i.e. one can put learnings into practice straight away.

A specific starting point should be where you are now – who you are, and performing the core responsibilities of your current role. This allows you to plan some development work in a way that is securely anchored both in terms of the person you are (and current skillset) and the work you need to do. Indeed, self-awareness is generally regarded as fundamental in leadership development, because we bring ourselves into the role, and think and act in ways that is the product of our history and experience. It’s important to understand how your experience contributes to effective – and perhaps ineffective – leadership behaviours.

In developing and strengthening self-awareness ask ourselves (and, in time, ask others for this feedback), “How do I lead? Who am I as a leader? What am I doing right now that seems to be working well? And what isn’t working so well?” Pay attention to the information, stay curious and spend some time thinking and reflecting on this data.

This helps to locate a starting point that concentrates on building and expanding the strengths and also developing areas of weakness. For example, “I think I’m quite open and friendly – so this is helpful in building relationships and trust – but I have difficultly in being forceful when I need to be and tend to shy away
from confrontation.”

In summary, while the leadership area can seem excessively broad and perhaps intangible, developing skills to support a leadership role can be very rewarding. Start small and specific. And build a strong base of self-awareness.

Your development work is a constant conversation between the way you take up and enact leadership in your current role, and the new skills and practises that can be effective in the role.

In other words, we all do leadership slightly differently, with our own style reflecting our history, experience, beliefs and values. Indeed, it is usually leaders who are strong in their self-awareness, able to regulate and refine their strengths and weaknesses and work effectively with a diverse range of other people, that make the best leaders.

So, invest in yourself and allow yourself to be curious and reflective about your leadership work, but go slowly and enjoy the process.