Hello Steemians, hope you are all wonderful. I'm writing my next article in this Effective Leadership series. Let's now discuss the importance of learning from others. No one can be a master by themselves. Any subject matter expert will definitely have a coach or trainer from whom the skills are acquired. The masters train their students to make them an expert. The same thing applies to a leader as well. The learning happens by observing other leaders or by being coached by people with leadership skills. The skills acquired in this manner can further be developed by coaching others. There is a famous quote:
Men learn while they teach. - Seneca the Younger
Access and Improve skills
The thirst for learning and improving skills should always be there. A leader should be always looking for an opportunity to learn a new skill. Accessing their performance is one of the key things a leader should be doing. Continuously monitoring their performance will help them understand the areas where they are lacking and give more focus on that particular area. For improving and excelling in a particular skill, self-analysis helps. Observing others is very important to learn new things and implement it to get success. When it comes to observing, the observation can be made from a person who is getting results. Approaching a mentor to learn skills can be very helpful. Alternatively, you can look for a training course for a particular skill and attend it to make it an even more formal avenue for learning.
Importance of Formal Training
Formal training is very important for any individual. Even though a person becomes an expert in a particular area and becomes a leader, there will be lots of opportunities for the person to learn and understand from a formal training session. Leaders can benefit from formal training sessions even though they have several years of experience. A fresh perspective is obtained with a formal outside training. A person can get away from their day to day work and be fully focus on the training without any distractions. If there is any specific skill that a person needs, it can be easily obtained from a formal training with some practice. It will also provide access to current trends and will help in keeping a person updated on the latest trend.
In order to attend a training and up-skill, one need not wait for an opportunity or for someone to come and ask. A self-evaluation will be very helpful in identifying the required training. Understanding the needs regularly and attending a training course can keep a person be updated. A perfect leader should always analyze the current trends in the market and align with it by attending training courses.
Coaching Others
Coaching others is a great skill and not everyone can get it easily. It is one of the mandatory skill of a perfect leader. It is very important to mentor in a way the information reaches the trainee in the right manner. That is where the success of coaching lies. Though it is a fact that a person can gain the skills by attending multiple training courses, it is also a considerable fact that coaching others will also help in providing valuable experience in becoming an effective leader. Some of the effective leadership skills that can be achieved by training others are :
- Effective Communication
- Clarity in speaking
- Giving instructions
- Delegating
- Getting feedback
- Providing feedback
- Developing people and their skills
- Motivating people
In order to increase the performance, a leader should also be asking feedback from the people they coach. The feedback provided can be very helpful in improving a leader's performance. Your personal experiences and perspectives can also be shared during the coaching sessions. This will help people who are being coached and also helped in analyzing your own performance. This helps in getting a good clarity on your attitude towards people, beliefs and the priorities that you set. Observing the response of your staff to your leadership style is very important.
Spending lots of time with the staff for coaching will make them feel comfortable and help you understand their needs. A leader should always try to develop skills on other people to be able to delegate some of the tasks. Delegating tasks to the team can help in having a free mind to focus on other activities that you can do as a leader. Coaching becomes a base for all these. You need not necessarily be a manager for your colleague to coach or help. You can help any colleague by sharing your knowledge, expertise, skills etc and make them a good performer. This not only helps the individual grow but it will also benefit the organization.
Previous articles in this series:
Effective Leadership #1 - An Introduction
Effective Leadership #2 - Focusing on Quality
Stay tuned for future articles on effective leadership.
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