Great leaders are lifelong learners
How to bring lifelong learning into your leadership practice
Katleho Mohono
It is without doubt that leadership in this day and age happens in the context of great complexity, rapid-change and precariousness. It is in this state of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity), a term derived from the work of leadership theorist Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, that leaders have to navigate their way to lead their teams and organizations to success.
So how do we, as leaders, respond to the demands of leading in the VUCA era and how can we ensure that we stay on the cutting edge of everything that is happening around us?
LEARNING IN LEADERSHIP
Alvin Toffler, the American futurist is credited for saying: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
This sentiment remains true in the context of leadership in the 21st century. Effective leaders in the VUCA era will be defined by their ability to incorporate learning into their leadership practice. To be effective leaders and to add value in their organizations, leaders need to be in a state of permanent beta, constantly learning, evolving, becoming better versions of themselves.
Effective leaders appreciate the fact that the world is changing at such a rapid pace that what you knew a few months ago might be irrelevant today. Thus leaders who will succeed in this tumultuous leadership landscape are those who see learning as a core part of their leadership journey and see themselves as lifelong learners.
LIFELONG LEARNING LEADERS
The term lifelong learning was developed by Leslie Watkins and recognizes that learning in its fullest sense is not confined to childhood or the classroom but takes place throughout life and in a range of situations. Lifelong learning, however, isn’t a new concept. In 1562, an 87-year-old Michelangelo expressed the essence of this idea when he inscribed the words Ancaro Impari (“I’m still learning”) on a sketch he was developing.
A leader who embraces and embodies the idea of learning in leadership, as a lifelong process, sees learning not just as a periodic experience for certain stages of their journey, but as an endeavour they need to commit to on a daily basis. They are deliberate about creating spaces for learning and have an openness and a willingness to learn and grow. They are willing to have their views and perspectives constantly challenged and create a working environment that allows for it. They are constantly asking themselves the question: “What is something new that I have learnt today and what do I still need to learn?”
HOW TO BECOME A LIFELONG LEARNING LEADER
Some of the common ways one could develop a lifelong learning mindset and practice include: Going to training seminars and conferences, doing online courses or MOOCs, reading books, listening to podcasts while traveling to work, subscribing to newsletters/online magazines around topics that interest them, becoming a member of an association in the field of their work and attending networking events.
But for the purpose of this article, I would like to share a few unconventional approaches I have adopted into my personal leadership development practice and that I have observed in others:
- Starting or joining a book club
We all know that reading is an important part of continuous development, but if you are anything like me you can get so caught up in the day to day that you find it challenging to make time to read. One thing that I have found most effective to help me read at least 12 books a year, is joining a book club. Other than it being a great space to learn from others and their reflections on the content, book clubs provide a great accountability mechanism to ensure that you read at least one book every month. Some of the books that we have read in the book club, and that I would recommend to any organizational leader, include: Multipliers by Liz Wiseman, Good to Great by Jim Collins, The Hard thing about Hard things by Ben Horowitz and Start with Why by Simon Sinek.
- Setting aside a monthly budget for a Learning Lunch
I first came across the idea of Learning Lunches in John C. Maxwell’s book Good Leaders Ask Great Questions. Maxwell describes a learning lunch as a lunch meeting you schedule in your calendar every month to meet with someone who can teach you something new. The idea is to pick someone you would not typically talk to in your day to day and who would challenge you to think differently. Over the past 3 years I have had learning lunches with people from different backgrounds: artists, consultants, CEO’s, students, religious leaders etc. Quite often these lunches have turned into deep meaningful conversations about everything from God, to purpose, to marriage and would always leave me with new insights and perspectives. They, without a doubt, have been one of the greatest investments I have made in my personal development. Learning lunches have been a great opportunity to form relationships and have meaningful conversations with people who challenge me to see the world from a different vantage point.
- Break the mold and do something deviant every year
My mentor, friend and ALGroup Senior Advisor Steve Boehlke has, as part of his personal development practice, a commitment to do something ‘deviant’ in his life every year. Doing something deviant is about doing an activity that moves you out of your comfort zone, it’s about doing something that you would typically not do. Over the years Steve’s “deviant’ activities have included taking up Aikido (a modern Japanese martial art), participating in a literary seminar, and most recently learning how to play the vibraphone.
A lot of research has been done about the benefits of learning new skills, some of which include: rewiring your brain, increasing your learning speed, and even making you a more interesting person. As a leader, being able to learn new things outside work can make you more open to learning within the context of your work.
- Flip the script in your mentoring relationships
Mentoring has been a great way to impart knowledge and impact the lives of the next generation. Over the years, I have had the privilege of mentoring some amazing, high potential young people. But something I have recently started exploring is flipping the script on some of my mentoring conversations. I do this by challenging my mentees to share with me some of the things they have been learning on their journey. I have also recently started sharing some of my leadership challenges with them and asking them for advice. This has been a powerful practice in helping me develop alternative points of view on things, while at the same time, has also deepened the quality of my mentoring relationships.
To conclude, it is often said that the moment we think “we have arrived” as leaders is the very moment that progress stops. The world around us is changing constantly and our organizations are in need of leaders who will be able to constantly and consistently rise to the occasion, and the only way to do it effectively is by adopting a lifelong learning mindset.
In the speech that JF Kennedy had intended to to deliver on the day that he was assassinated in 1963 he had written that “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” Those words still ring true for leadership in this day and age.
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About the author: Katleho Mohono is a leadership development facilitator, coach and speaker with a passion for youth development and unlocking human potential. He was a founding team member of the African Leadership University (part of African Leadership Group) where he pioneered the development of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership and was part of the Entrepreneurial Leadership faculty. He currently works as an independent consultant based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
