What's the best way to choose learning activities for your executive leadership development plan?

Full auto-transparency (being completely honest with yourself) is essential here. Many of us tell ourselves that we are better at something than we actually are. For this to be effective, we have to be truthful, especially to ourselves.

Any good leader can't find or discover their own gaps themselves. This needs a strong experienced coach who knows the gaps which are opportunities to get trained and adapted to scale up to the next level leadership. Line manager as a coach is really fortunate-that is really rare and if it happens to you, it is easy to sail across the leadership journey

There is some merit in choosing activities that play to your strengths, per advice of folks like Marcus Buckingham and Clifton. But avoiding working on areas of weakness can lead to less adaptability, more hubris and more blind spots, particularly when we start overusing strengths to diminishing return. Choose a balance of learning activities that stretch you out of your comfort zone in order to truly expand your impact as a leader in an ever-uncertain world.

A leadership development plan should be inclusive of feedback received across levels, not just a 360. My experience is that 360 may not capture this fully. Hence, a good starting point should be the consistent feedback received from others. Thereafter a developmental frame work needs to be setup. This could involve some experiential activities also.

I would also encourage an evaluation of work/tasks aligned to strengths to ensure that energy spent is on things that are strengths rather than gap items. This will make you feel more energized and ultimately more productive each day.

Rethinking leadership development, I advocate focusing on mission rather than just mechanics. Leadership isn't about self-improvement for its own sake; it's about guiding and growing your organization and team. Tools like Clifton Strengths are valuable for identifying strengths, allowing leaders to focus their efforts effectively. It's crucial to complement these strengths by building a diverse leadership team with varied skills. This approach shifts the focus from individual leadership prowess to collective mission fulfillment, ensuring leadership is more about the organization's growth than personal accolades.

It’s also useful to align these basis relevancy in role over the near/medium term. This will increase the ability to put into practice what has been learned to further anchor development and also generates more immediate impact and return.

Leaders must maintain a sharp focus and unwavering drive toward their vision. Every activity they undertake should be strategically aligned, either directly or indirectly, with advancing them closer to achieving their goals and realizing their vision.

I believe that the best learning activities are those that are in harmony with one’s vision and strategic objectives, serving as stepping stones toward those ends. Choosing programs that foster innovation, for instance, should expose us to a variety of perspectives and practices that not only challenge our current thinking but also propel us closer to the impactful outcomes we envision for our team and industry.

Key here is to identify the skills and knowledge areas that will help you achieve your long-term goals and leadership aspirations. This alignment ensures that the learning activities you select are not only relevant but also contribute directly to your desired trajectory in leadership development. By focusing on activities that resonate with your vision, you enhance the effectiveness and impact of your learning journey.

Aligning your learning with your executive leadership vision is a vital step in ensuring that your executive development plan not only fosters your personal growth but also propels you towards your long-term leadership aspirations and organizational objectives. When your development activities are in harmony with your vision, your growth is not only personal but also deeply connected to your professional objectives. This alignment ensures that the skills and knowledge you acquire directly contribute to your ability to realize your vision, making your learning journey both relevant and impactful.

Aligning your learning with your vision is crucial as an executive leader. It's essential to prioritize activities that directly contribute to your goals for your role, team, organization, and industry. By selecting learning opportunities that align with your strategic priorities, you ensure they are relevant and applicable to your current challenges. For instance, if you aim to strengthen your leadership in digital transformation, focusing on courses or workshops that delve into emerging technologies and strategic digital initiatives would be beneficial. This alignment ensures that your learning efforts are purposeful and contribute meaningfully to your professional growth and organizational success.

Learning styles vary from person to person, so it's essential for a leader to understand what works best for them. Experimenting with different formats is valuable, as it helps identify the most effective methods for personal growth. Before I discovered that I learn best by reading and taking notes, I explored various approaches, including podcasts, online courses, traditional and digital books, and YouTube videos. This experimentation allowed me to tailor my learning process to what truly resonated with me.

Learning by doing is the most effective strategy. Practicing and making mistakes are part of the learning process. Spend 70% of your learning time on experimenting with new behaviors in your existing job role. Spend 20% of your learning time on taking on new projects or assignments that help you learn. Spend the remaining 10% of your learning time on reading books and articles or listening to podcasts.

For the Leadership cadre, the choice of tool / learning format should be such that it leads to deep meaningful introspective thinking and brainstorming and action. Even better if you can bring together the learners to brainstorm and ideate together and even have intellectually stimulating conversations. This is where the possibilities and solution building happens.

An executive leader must realize that learning is not limited to formal courses or structured training. The most powerful activities often come from everyday experiences, decision-making moments, and daily challenges. The best way to build a development plan is to transform these moments into intentional learning opportunities. By adopting a growth mindset, every interaction, project, or feedback can become a development tool. For example, engaging in strategic dialogues, mentoring others, or even putting yourself in challenging situations outside your comfort zone can be transformative learning activities that directly impact your effectiveness as a leader.

To choose the best learning activities for your executive leadership development plan, consider these steps: 1. Identify Your Learning Style: Determine if you prefer visual, auditory, or hands-on learning to tailor your activities. 2. Diversify Formats: Mix formats like online courses, books, and podcasts for theory, with workshops and mentoring for practical skills. 3. Implement and Reflect: Engage in action learning projects to apply knowledge and use peer learning for feedback and adaptation. This approach ensures a well-rounded development experience that aligns with your needs and goals.

We will all have preferences here – however, learning must involve more than intellect alone. People need help to step outside their comfort zone and encouraged/stimulate to experiment, practice and review. Learning takes place by actually doing new things…taking different actions and reviewing.

On-the-job experience is the best learning approach, especially for an executive. For example, if one of the things you want to get better at is your executive presence, a coach who helps executives become more confident in their speaking opportunities will also help you develop a stronger presence.

By integrating a variety of learning formats into your executive leadership development plan, you create a rich, multifaceted learning experience that can accelerate your growth, enhance your adaptability and enrich your leadership capabilities. Leverage workshops and seminars that focus on specific skills or topics; use online resources that offer flexible leaning opportunities. Consider enrolling in formal courses or programs that offer in-depth exploration of topics relevant to your leadership goals. Seek out coaching and mentoring since it can provide tailored guidance, feedback and insights that are directly applicable to your leadership context and challenges.

In the LDPs that I have designed and led, I have combined formal learning with action learning projects where participants can immediately try out their new skills. By grouping participants into teams and having their projects evaluated by a panel of senior executives, we can measure how much progress they have made and examine who has exhibited leadership behaviors both in the meat of the project and in their roles on the team.

Diversifying your learning formats is key to maximizing your development as an executive leader. By selecting a range of options like online courses, books, podcasts, webinars, workshops, mentoring, peer learning, and action learning projects, you cater to different aspects of your learning needs and preferences. This approach ensures a comprehensive approach to gaining theoretical knowledge, practical insights, skill development, and feedback application. For example, pairing online courses with books enhances theoretical understanding, while webinars and podcasts provide real-world insights.

Continuous learning and self-improvement require feedback and support, and multiple sources can provide a well-rounded perspective. For example, your manager can provide insight into your performance. Peers may offer a different perspective based on their interactions with you. Mentors and coaches can provide guidance based on their expertise, and learning partners can foster camaraderie. Actively seeking feedback and support will also motivate and hold you accountable. Knowing that others care about your development is motivating. Giving feedback and support to others can also be rewarding: it enhances your learning and fosters a supportive environment.

Learning is neither a solo nor an event based activity, in that we attend or undergo events and learning happens While knowledge gain and skill development can happen through events and situations; learning happens when we experiment, explore, reflect, share and connect the dots In my leadership development programs, I ensure that leaders go through learning events, peer discussions, case studies, in basket or simulation sessions and discussions with coaches and mentors I ensure that when the leaders are implementing new actions and behaviours and face challenges, they have the resources in hand I keep in mind that each leader has their own preference and style of learning and I seek to address these preferences through coaching

It can be very useful for coaches to gather input from a leader's stakeholders at the start of a coaching engagement. Identifying the stakeholders' perceptions of a leader, how they come across, their strengths, and where they might focus their attention to become more effective in the future can lead to valuable insights.

Once you have identified the areas you want to get better at, tell a trusted colleague what you are trying to change/develop and ask them to give you ongoing feedback when they see you doing it well and when you aren't so successful at demonstrating the skill or behavior. It is especially important to get the positive reinforcement so you know what success looks and feels like!

Feedback provides a mirror to your leadership behaviors and decisions, offering an external view that can highlight areas of strength and opportunities for growth. Support, whether from mentors, peers or coaches, provides guidance, encouragement and accountability, all of which are vital for navigating the complexities of leadership development. Identify stakeholders that you trust and establish a routine of seeking feedback from them, making it an integral part of your leadership practice. Use a 360-degree feedback process to get insights from different people and perspective; from the result, identify areas in your development plan where you would benefit from additional support.

The world changes quickly, so what served you well last month might not be relevant this month. Include a good mix of evergreen learning opportunities (like media training) and cutting-edge development activities (like AI risk assessment), and you’ll have a strategic executive leadership development plan to propel your growth.

I'd caution people to think carefully about how you go about reviewing and adjusting your plan. While it's good to stop or adjust when something isn't adding value or making a positive change, don't forget that skills are like muscles. They take time to build, and when you stop working on them, they atrophy. What I mean by that is, you will absolutely need to shift and adjust the kinds of activities you're investing time in to build skills based on what's working and what's not. Your environment or situation may also require you to shake things up. However, you shouldn't be regularly changing directions on your desired outcomes. If you're targeting the right skill at the right level, those targeted outcomes should remain consistent.

From my experience, regularly reviewing and adjusting your executive leadership development plan is crucial. As your career progresses, your goals, and the skills required to achieve them, might evolve. Periodically assess the effectiveness of your learning activities and their alignment with your current objectives. Be flexible and open to incorporating new learning opportunities that emerge and address any new challenges or goals. This iterative process ensures that your development plan remains relevant and effective in supporting your ongoing growth as a leader.

Once you have been practicing the skill or behavior you want to improve for 3 months, get some feedback to see how much you have progressed. If you are feeling confident and competent in the new activity, go back to your development plan and pick another area. Don't forget to look at your strengths and see if you can expand on any of them to make them even stronger.

The business landscape and your personal and professional objectives are not static; they evolve over time. Reviewing and adjusting your executive leadership development plan is essential for making sure that your growth stays aligned with your leadership goals and the dynamic nature of the business environment; it keeps your learning journey relevant, targeted and impactful. Set regular review intervals to ensure you're staying on track, moving closer to your objectives. Also assess the actual relevance of your goals; do they still align with your priorities and challenges? Get feedback on your growth and the impact of your efforts from different stakeholders; it'll give you valuable insights for adjustments.

I don't think it is about finding a way as much as it is about having the right attitude along with an open mind. The biggest stumbling block to any kind of learning is our own mindset and a 'I know it all attitude'.

The Leadership operates at Vision - Mission - Strategy level and hence any learning tool or format should elevate that operating level. The tools and formats should promote and encourage thought process at V-M-S level rather than O'perational level.

How can you make learning fun? Can you gamify it? Can you make a community part of it? Whatever you can do to make learning something you look forward to and something that's fun will accelerate the process. For example, a language app can help you learn a new language in a few minutes each day. * The gamification of developing a daily "streak" can keep you motivated to continue. * There's some friendly competition on a leader board. * And you can build community by encouraging others and celebrating their successes in learning.

The words executive development were used above, so I am assuming you are asking about learning for the very senior leaders, those in the top executive team or those leader that lead business functions. First and foremost, potential learning content should be directly tied to helping these executive improve their leadership team performance or their business performance. These people have alot on their dashboard, there is no time for issues that don't help them improve their leadership team or there business results. Anchor everything you do in these principles and you will find executive leaders begging for your support.

Choosing learning activities for my executive leadership development plan involves a mix of self-reflection and strategic planning. I start by assessing my strengths and areas for growth, identifying specific skills I want to develop. Then, I look for activities that align with my learning style—whether that's workshops, online courses, or peer coaching. I also consider seeking feedback from colleagues and mentors to gain insights into what might work best for me.

1. Identify specific leadership skills crucial for organizational success and growth. 2. Tailor activities to address weaknesses and enhance existing leadership strengths. 3. Incorporate diverse learning methods, from workshops to mentorship programs. 4. Align activities with real-world challenges to promote practical skill application. 5. Regularly assess progress and adapt the plan based on evolving needs.

Intentionally integrate learning with leadership practice; look for ways to apply what you've learned directly to your leadership practice since using your new skills and insights in real-world contexts deepens learning and demonstrates your commitment to growth. Leverage your learning activities not just for personal growth but as a strategic tool to enhance organizational capabilities, drive innovation and address business challenges. Also encourage a culture of learning within your team or organization; by modeling continuous learning and development, you inspire others to pursue their growth, fostering an organizational culture where development is valued and supported.