Leadership development, growth or continued learning is a key component to continued success within any organization, or in helping find your way to the next job, promotion or career. More often than not, before you are promoted you will find yourself doing the new job, putting in the long hours and not getting paid for it. Proving you can do the job and earning the job before you receive it and are paid for it.
In a Leadership Academy kick-off last week I was reminded of, and told a story to illustrate this point. I once became a manager of an existing team. As might be customary in that situation, in the first few weeks I met 1:1 with each team member to better get to know each other, establish shared expectations etc. One particular individual asked “will you develop me?” And while that may sound like a normal question, she was actually expecting that I would spoon-feed “development” which just isn’t how it works. Instead, I helped her figure out where she wanted to go and what her goals were. Once established I may have mentored her, coached her and provided clear and consistent feedback, but ultimately she developed herself.
No one can develop you. If you want to continue to learn and grow, figure out what it is you really want to achieve, find a coach or mentor to help guide you on your journey, and start learning for yourself. You own your personal development and growth. Inevitably you may find yourself doing the job before you are recognized or paid for it, but the experience should make it worthwhile.
Authored by: Zack Clark, MBA
Zack is a Senior Consultant and one of the founding partners at Five Degrees Consulting. This is a blog we share between several of the Consultants at Five Degrees, guest authors and colleagues. We work with companies large and small on People and Organization strategies. Our work specializes in organizational development, leadership effectiveness and executive development. With a focus on working with leaders at all levels to create an intentional corporate culture, we help organizations increase employee engagement, energize working teams, develop critical leadership competencies and enhance strategic communications for more information about our services, please connect with us.