The end of the beginning
I’ve been privileged to interact with so many leading professionals over the years through Vertical Momentum. They’ve had a massive impact on their organisations after accessing our programs and likewise improved our offerings in the process.
We usually follow up on our attendees to get feedback on their progress as well as what has worked or what could be improved. I particularly take personal interest in the kind of attitudes or actions they adopt because there’s no end to learning and growth should be the only constant.
From those countless follow up conversations, I have rounded up top eight action plans that these leaders adopt to further their growth and career development.
1.Join a supportive community
There’s a critical individual path of learning and a group aspect that helps you grasp new lessons from other people’s experiences and enhance your own when you teach others. None is better, they complement each other well.
Joining a supportive community will also help you stay above of industry trends and positions you to quickly access further opportunities for growth. In practice, this may look like signing-up for chat groups or joining platforms where they discuss topics of interest. The simplest and yet most powerful form is following and interacting with similar minds on social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn, in real-time and from anywhere across the world.
When you’re deliberate about the circles you create with your following, they automatically become your handpicked community members. It’s that time to add industry thought leaders and influencers to your favorite football team and TV shows on that timeline
2. Rinse & repeat
We go through loads of practical and theoretical lessons during our programs. As per several graduates of those programs as well as from others around the world, the principal cheat code is continuously putting those key learnings into practice.
As the old adage dictates, don’t be afraid of failure and in fact fail fast. By rinsing and repeating, success becomes a guarantee and the diverse challenges you pass through are opportunities to learn something new.
3. Seek for more responsibility
Whether you’re an early career professional or a top executive, proactively seeking responsibility should be the norm.
When you continuously set new challenges for yourself, you expand your circle of influence and therefore open yourself up for promotions and unstoppable growth. Apart from the extrinsic rewards, you’ll find that your work will become more fun and fulfilling when you’re always stretching yourself.
Proactivity is key here, and it happens to be the first habit of highly effective people as per Stephen Covey’s best-selling book.
4. Read, read and read some more
Readers are leaders or vice versa as common wisdom dictates. The benefits of reading wildly and widely are well documented and it’s worth repeating.
In addition to picking up new information about your field and industry, reading expands your mind and enables you to get alternative viewpoints from diverse cultures and regions. It also enhances your imagination and creative problem solving abilities.
Results of a study conducted by researchers at National Taichung University of Education with 196 students, revealed positive correlation between reading and writing, and creative performance.
In practice, proactively drawing up a list of publications and books to read as well as creating an action plan around that list, helps you to become more consistent.
5. Regularly assess your progress
Teaching you to set SMART goals is one of the hallmarks of an effective training or coaching program. You’d should put these skills to use even as you assess your growth journey.
Don’t wait for performance approvals to learn where you’re at, but go ahead and take charge of your growth journey by measuring your results against established goals. Cultivate a habit of seeking feedback from colleagues and superiors on more subjective and qualitative goals. For hard skills, you can easily take up online assessments to measure your grasp of those subjects.
6. Unplug frequently
Set aside time to unwind from the everyday routines and take up divergent activities that reset, refresh and recharge your mind. Unplugging is not only beneficial for your physical and mental health but can improve your creative abilities.
A study published by Frontiers in Human Neuroscience revealed that regular physical exercise improves our brain’s cognitive ability and creativity.
7. Attend networking events
I once fell for the trap of ‘they’d be nothing new to learn at that event, my time would be better used elsewhere.’ Other than knowledge sharing, the value of networking events and conference lie in the attendees.
Meeting new people regularly organically grows your circle and enables to access wide-ranging opportunities. Don’t stop at attending those events, network effectively by creatively following up on the new colleagues and continuously exchange value to sustain the relationships.
8. Enhance your credentials
Cultivate a habit of documenting your professional achievements and competencies. You’ve worked hard for your growth and success, make it easy for people to see your value.
Discover new learning pathways and study for more professional certifications that demonstrate your experience and industry knowledge. Start a blog or regularly share educational insights about your field on social media to build a robust online profile as a thought leader.
Bringing It all together
The moment you stop learning, you stop growing. Proactively cultivating habits that help you assimilate new knowledge or expose you to networks of people who’ll challenge you is one sure way to further your growth.
I’ll leave you with a quote by one of the founding fathers of the United States of America, Benjamin Franklin;
“For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head.”Benjamin Franklin
Give everything to learning and that’s how you sustain your growth and development, and ultimately success.