We spend way too much time and effort on
developing outer leadership skills, and not enough attention on unearthing the
inner sources for bad leadership habits, releasing the hold those habits have
on us, and developing more useful ones. In order to learn, you likely
have to unlearn first.
Thought for the day
Skills have methods, habits have sources
- Gilbert Ryle
1. Leadership skills have methods: We can teach leadership skills, through methods.
This is informational learning or what is sometimes called horizontal
learning. It is about adding applications to our personal operating
systems (our mindset) or filling up our toolbox with additional skills,
knowledge and competencies. It addresses the outer game of leadership, or “what
a leader does”.
2.
Leadership habits have sources: This is a different beast, as these habits are there
to protect an image we have had of
ourselves. These habits are like an immune system that protects us from change
or developing and sustaining new skills. We have to discover the source,
and this source likes to hide deep within us. This source is usually in
the form of a big assumption or a belief,
that maintains the “bad” habit. We then have to question or test its validity, or accuracy, in terms of
today’s world. Does this habit still
serve me, or only get in my way? If in the self-reflection and
testing process, we see that the belief or assumption is no longer accurate,
than we can begin to release the habit without threat to our identity or
integrity. This is transformational learning, or what is sometimes
called vertical learning. You can’t do this through adding
applications to your personal operating system (mindset). You have to
change or evolve the operating system into something bigger or more
complex. This vertical journey
addresses the inner game of leadership or “who a leader is”. The process
is like discovering how we have the brake on and then learning how to release
it, so that when we apply our foot to the gas (developing a new leadership
capability) the adaptive progress won’t be sabotaged by that hidden foot on the
brake.
Brian Brittain
Executive Development
work, through helping executives and their teams get results by
talking about what matters
416-999-3217
No comments:
Post a Comment