Page 218 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

Leading Yourself 207

Questions to Consider: Growing Yourself

Growing yourself professionally is the single best investment you can make to be-
come a leader, but the job is ultimately in your hands, not anyone else’s. If you’re
wise, you’ll be learning constantly from other people every day, but steering the
journey in a way that builds the important skills and knowledge that you most need.
Here’s a short self-diagnostic to help you get started and to take control of your own
development. You can use it throughout your career:

■ After self-assessing your character, style, and knowledge, where are the
greatest opportunities for growing yourself? What are your strengths to
build upon, and what’s holding you back? How will you find the right bal-
ance in managing strengths and weaknesses?

■ What formal and informal opportunities for learning and improving in the
coming year would provide you with the opportunities you identified?

■ How can you get feedback from your different stakeholders more consis-
tently, as a regular part of your job? Should you consider having a formal
coach or take some other action to get ongoing professional advice?

■ Are there specific industry or functional conferences to attend or other
sources of new strategic and market knowledge you should pursue? Which
offer the right value for time and money invested?

■ Can you develop peer relationships in your industry or create a community of
practice for collective learning and support with other professionals doing
your kind of work?

■ Have you dedicated time to reflect on, write about, or discuss with others
your own challenges and accomplishments in personal growth? Are you
doing that regularly?

■ Can you construct an explicit overall plan to improve yourself in light of all
the previous questions? What would your plan for the coming year look
like? What priorities and timing will you assign to your goals?