Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
You learn something new every day, right. Of course you do … you wake up and learn what the weather is doing. You learn what is happening in the news, if you watch the tele. And at work, you learn about what your team is struggling with, or what their goals are for the day. But is that really learning? Or is it just living, and passively looking and listening to new information.
Every day is a school day; Only if you are active with your learning strategy. And yes, learning is a strategy, and it is the number one most important thing that leaders can do for their personal development and professional growth. In our training programs, the first morning of our two days workshops is about the L from the LEAD process (learning), and we follow that up with engagement, articulation, and demonstration.
For me, if you are waking up and learning, that is passive. If you are making your learning and your personal and professional development a priority, you are doing active learning.
So, what are the key elements of a being an active learner?
1. Pick a topic to learn about
Makes sense, right? Pick a topic that you would like to know more about. Maybe it is just leadership in general, or maybe it is empathetic leadership or adaptive leadership or conscious leadership. Or leading under pressure! With created conscious control! Importantly, though, pick a topic that really lights you up. That you feel is not only important, but that will help you as a leader. The more interested in the topic you are, the most likely you are to be invested in the process of learning more.
2. Develop a plan and a process
This part of the process is about finding the process that works for you. Given that the knowledge on the planet is doubling every 12 hours (crazy, hey). In 1945, knowledge was doubling every 25 years. There is no shortage of information out there. Here are some of the ways you can build an active learning plan (what you will learn). Start with the topic you chose, then find a book to read. Watch some YouTube videos, read some research reports, or listen to audio books – turn your car into a university. Work out what will be easiest to fit into your life, and it doesn’t have to be every day, every week would be a good start. Then, put the process together (when you will learn). Is it in the mornings, instead of watching the news, is it at night, before you go to sleep? Is it listening to Audible when you are driving? Commit to the process, and watch your learning go up!
3. Get committed, not just interested
Some leaders reading this have already started to think about all the extra time that this will take. Anton, I am crazy busy already. I know, I get it. But some of the ideas that I listed are not time stealers. They are actually NET (no extra time – like while you are driving) investments in time. Seriously. You can learn stuff on your drive to work and back. Easy!
Fun fact – we have had 20-year leaders come through our programs, and when I ask them what the last book they read (on leadership or otherwise) was, they tell me that they have not read a book since high school. True story. And that is not wrong, it is ok, they are still in leadership roles. And we all have our own strategies, but if you want to make every day a school day, being committed to your learning is important.
Want to learn more about leadership, including the LEAD process?
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UPGRADE your Mindset
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