Self-development and leadership
In recent times many of us have been forced to take a pause and in previously unforeseen numbers more and more people across the globe have discovered that self-development is not just a section to avoid when shopping for our next read.
Instead, having had the time to pause and spend time with our loved ones and ourselves we are looking for ways to look at career in a much broader context of our lives as a whole, searching for better balance with scope to reprioritise our career and life goals.
Increasingly, we are searching for ways to make our next career move meaningful and good, to achieve our full potential while stepping lighter and kinder to ourselves and others. So how does this translate to the new now in the workplace and how can we continue to stride forward with this new gentler outlook? Where to next?
The pandemic has actually given many of us a head start with this process. We are already thinking that our priorities, goals and environments are changing. The next logical step would be to formalise these thoughts and feelings into a coherent work/life review and adjust where necessary to allow for change and personal and professional growth as we see it now.
To map a self-development plan to help you on your revised work/life plan, here are some questions to ask yourself and reflect on whether you feel an improvement in any of these areas will help you reach your potential while being kind to yourself and others:
- How perceptive are you, and how often are you wrong?
- How do you access and verify whether your assumptions of the situation are correct?
- Are you able to predict people’s reactions?
- How do you respond to conflict?
- Do you know what your team think and feel about you?
- What do you do to ensure people have understood you?
- How do you deal with uncertainty?
- How do you deal with emotional situations?
- How aware are you of your own feelings, behaviours and values?
- Do you ever pause to consider impact of your behaviour on others?
Like any strategy and implementation, self-development also requires a continuous loop back to access, review and adjust before the next iteration. Start small, pick an area that you feel would benefit you and your team most and research techniques to improve that area and implement in your day to day. Review your results, adjust your outlook where needed and build it into your life.
Self-development can be a very rewarding and wonderful experience if approached with an open mind and a honest self-reflection. It can help building strong relationships and organisational culture, improve overall performance and wellbeing of everyone involved.
Explore some of the courses we offer on this subject:
CMI Level 7
Award in Professional Consulting
1 unit – 8-10 weeks
724 Personal and Professional Development for Professional Consultants
£404.00
CMI Level 5
Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring
7 units – 56-70 weeks
Includes 5001 Personal Development as a Manager and Leader
£1802.40